Tips for getting the kids ready for the new school year.

I can’t believe in just 8 short days school will start again. It seems like summer just began. We’re busy this week getting our kids ready for the big day. If I go missing you know why. Our son will start fifth grade, and our daughter will take the big step into Kindergarten. The baby (she may be 3, but she’s still my baby) is begging to go to “dinderdarden” with her sister, and doesn’t agree with the rule that you must be five years old to attend ;) My oldest will be doing the class change thing this year complete with his very own locker. I still can’t believe the 9 pound baby I gave birth to 10 years ago is a fifth grader! I predict lots of tears (most from me) on the first day of school.


Here is a peek at the back to school prep happening this week in The Fiction Enthusiast household.

• Shopping! Everything from uniforms to nap mats to lunch boxes to shoes.
• Meet the teachers! We met our daughter’s teacher last night, and we’ll meet my son’s later this week.
• Haircuts! We let my son grow his hair over the summer and it definitely is not compatible with our school’s very strict dress code.
• Family meeting to discuss bedtimes, wake up times, and how much (if any) video game and television usage will be allowed during the school year. We find the kids don’t rebel as much if they have a (reasonable) say in the rule making. This also gives us a chance to discuss goals for the year, what books the kids hope to read, and set up special evenings for family time (like family movie or game night).
• Discuss what extracurricular activities the kids will take part in this year. My daughter is a dance fanatic, and my son loves baseball. We might even try Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts this year!
• Physicals for school and sports. Our hospital on base has a special Saturday where they do nothing but physicals. We’ll be the first in line :)
• Lunch planning! My kids are the king and queen of picky eaters so usually they take a lunch instead of eating what the school is serving. I try to come up with creative (and yummy) ideas besides the basic PB&J.
• Ease the kids back into a school friendly schedule. We’ve taken advantage of the summer by staying up later, and sleeping in. With school starting next Wednesday, we have already started to adjust bedtimes. This will hopefully make the early wake up call not such a huge shock to their systems.
• Last but not least on my list of back to school musts is to have a little fun. My husband took two weeks of leave, and we hope to squeeze in a trip the zoo and pool while we can.

I’m sure this list will grow (and grow) as I think of more things to stress about err...I mean prepare in order to get the kiddos out the door and ready for a fantastic school year.

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