It is that time of the year again, when we are beginning to count the days left of summer vacation. Getting back into the school mode can be difficult for both kids and adults, but below you will find ten tips for getting your kids ready to go back to school.
1) Work on the reading list and include some back-to-school themed books (The more they read, the easier it will be to keep up once school starts back up).
2) Set up a reward system for the reading list (At our house the boys will each get a certain book allowance once they read a certain amount of books, the allowance increases with the number of books they read.
3) Start setting routines again (bed time, getting up early etc.).
4) Go back-to-school shopping with your children (This will get them excited about getting back to school. (Set a budget for the bigger kids who wants everything, and let them handle the money.)
5) Make a few play dates for your children. (This will help your children form alliances once they get back to school.)
6) Use computer programs/online programs to get your kids back into the learning mode while keeping it fun.
7) Use starfall.com for the younger grades to practice sounds, letters and reading.
Get organized (A good wall calendar is essential for keeping everyone sane once school and all the extracurricular activities, meetings etc. start up again.) 9) Sit down with your children and talk (Talk about their concerns, what are they looking forward to, who do they miss, what do they miss about school, what was their favorite thing about their summer vacation.)
10) Celebrate summer vacation with a blast. (have a party, go bowling, go to the movies etc., just to celebrate and make a clear transition.)
With back-to-school comes lots of issues, concerns, anxiety and excitement, it can be a very scary yet exciting time for our children, and it is important that we remember this when the emotions run high. Siblings might fight more, our children will no longer listen, and this last part of summer can easily be ruined, if we do not take a step back and remember that we are supposed to celebrate our time together.
Make the most out of this special time together with your children, soon we all be back into the high gear of the school year, our calendars will be maxed out, and healthy dinners will often take the back seat to something easy, as we try to balance gym class, homework, PTA meetings, work and sleep. “I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging
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