Are you ready for the new school year?
Are we? Uh, that’s a hard nope.
Full disclosure : this is our first “back to school” experience…last year was our first start of school. So we’re really just getting started. *big gulp*
I like low fuss when it comes to kid stuff which comes in handy for this time of year. So we don’t, + likely won’t ever, go crazy for “back to school”.
For example :
- We’ll be using the same back pack + lunch bag as we purchased last year, even though one of the lids is missing from his container set. We’ll just swap it out for a different container.
- We might get a new outfit?…maybe? But likely won’t if it means a trip to a store we’re not planning on going to in the first place. My little guy has lots more clothes than he currently wears, so I figure we can find something nice + wait to see what he really needs for the coming fall season.
We’re still in the early years – SK – so don’t need to worry about supplies just yet, but when that becomes something we need to consider, we’ll go with the bare minimum for things that need to be replenished. No matter my kiddos age, our values will remain the same + that will be our guiding framework for back to school. It will not be new new new every year, because
- because that lowers the number of things to think about,
- it’s more cost effective, +
- less consumption is better for the environment + this is something that drives a lot of our buying decisions.
For us, a simple back to school starts with routine.
+ the most important one, in my mind, is for sleep. See the recording of a webinar I did on how we do simple sleep below (password : THESUMMERSESSIONS), but basically, we get our kiddo to bed at the same time (within 20-30minutes), do the same actions (bath 2-3x/wk, teeth brush, jammies, diffuse an essential oil for sleeping, read a story, have some connecting time, hugs, kisses, tucked in).
I’ve been very regimented about sleep since a sleep expert came to a mom + baby group I was a part of when my guy was 5 months old. In retrospect, it’s complete common sense, but it was a revelation at the time. Sleep is foundational to our overall health + well-being. If you’re not getting enough sleep you won’t be reaping the benefits of eating well + exercise. You’re not going to be able to balance stress + emotional well-being. So I have been super strict about making sure that our son gets enough sleep – most kids don’t + it shows in all sorts of ways. Summer is usually a time when sleep routines + bedtimes slip, + it is nice to be more relaxed about it, but a word to the wise, sleep deficiency is cumulative. So for every hour of sleep you or your babes are missing, that’s an hour that needs to be made up. If you’re not sure, here’s a chart for reference to make sure you’re kiddos (+ yourself!) are getting enough sleep. This is a great place to start, + will make the first week of school so much more manageable.
I try to use transitional times of the day as an opportunity to experience emotional mindfulness + to create a supportive vibe. We’re not perfect at this, by any means, but every day is a new chance to get it righter than I did before 😉 We use essential oils to anchor these transitional times. So when we wake up in the morning, I’ll diffuse wild orange + peppermint to wake the house up, + now that we’ve been doing it for a few years it’s part of what morning feels like.
As we’re transitioning from home to school, we’ll take a moment before we get to the playground to smell an uplifting blend, very warm + citrusy. I like to ask him a question, like “are you going to have a good day today?”…which isn’t very open ended, but the intention is to let him start to feel empowered for the kind of day he’s going to have. This year I’ll be asking him what kind of day he’d like to have, or will have, so he can make that decision…our days don’t have to be ‘good’, but it is important to learn that how we feel about our days is up to us.
At the end of a day at school, he’s usually a bundle of emotions…or super quiet from keeping things locked down all day. This is when I like to let him pick his own choice of oil – he likes the smells of wood oils, we take a moment, + I’ll get a sense of where he’s at emotionally; asking open ended questions, making space for feelings, + keeping in mind that he’s still learning how to experience his emotions. He’ll learn this best through seeing it modeled by me + his dad. Of the two of us, I’m the experienced adult, + won’t be teaching him anything positive by reacting to how he’s expressing his emotions. Sometimes it’s hard. I’ve had a long day, I’m tired, needing space of my own, but if I react negatively + strongly to how he’s expressing himself all he understand is that he’s being rejected – because as far as he’s concerned who he is + what he is feeling is the same thing. We try to get in some physical activity, time to connect, + a snack…because Lord knows he didn’t finish his lunch.
One of the things I’ve done with my guy, when there are transitions coming is to make a visual calendar for about a week or so, + talk about what’s coming each day. We don’t make a big deal about it, but we just make sure he knows what’s up. Kids do so much better when they know what to expect, + it’s been a great tool for opening up conversations too. I literally just quickly draw an outline of however many days I need to cover off on, + sketch really simplistic, badly drawn images for each day. For example, last year in the week leading up to the start of school I drew stick figures of a woman + child for days that were “mommy/buddy” days. Then for the first week of school, I drew a simple box building, with some trees + flowers. We could count down the mommy/buddy days before school started, + he could see how many school days there were before the next mommy/buddy or family day. It was super helpful, so we’ll be doing the same this year.
A much under-appreciated routine is menu planning. This is key for me not losing my mind. I plan it out a week at a time – for a brief stint when I was + unemployed I did a month at a time, bought in bulk, prepped all the foods, + froze them. It was hella easy + hella cheap, but monthly planning takes some effort to plan + set up: mostly the first time, until you have a set of go-to recipes that work for you + your family. When you menu plan, you’re only buying what you need – there’s way less impulse shopping. So there’s less waste + it helps control + manage cost. I usually incorporate one or two left over nights, + we get pizza Friday nights, so that really only leaves 3-4 meals of “planning”. + to keep things really simple during the school year, it’s a protein, rice or potatoes, + a frozen veggie mix. It’s not always exciting, but is still tasty + easy. This summer I’ve been experimenting with more recipes, trying to incorporate more plant based meals into our meal que.
This is the menu planner I made years ago to help me keep organized.
I focus menu planning on dinner, + we’ll have a few standards for breakfast + lunch. Breakfast is either toast or oatmeal, with yogurt + fruit. Lunch is easy + we do easy, healthy, whole foods that are super packable, like baby carrots, snap peas, apples, strawberries, crackers + cheese or a cream cheese wrap, boiled egg, + a stainless steel bottle with water. I’ve found a couple of super easy blender muffins which use black beans or chickpeas, + these are awesome to include as a dense nutritious “treat”.
Flourless Brownie Muffins
Chocolate Black Bean Blender Muffins {High Protein}
We give our kiddo choices about what fruit + veggies he wants, + either a wrap or crackers. But it’ll be the same for the week. These are foods that he likes + will eat. Whether or not he eats them at school is another story + I’d rather him figure out his own hunger levels instead of coercing him to eat by including heavily processed or sugar filled foods. We also keep packaging to a minimum. His lunch bag came with containers, + we use these awesome fabric “ziplocks” which you can get at well.ca.
One of my favourite school prep hacks from last year was to create + have two binders which I kept in the kitchen for easy access + reference. As it was our first year at school, + I’d heard all the terror stories of how absolutely insane it can be, I was scared to death that as a new-school-mom I would totally screw it up. Mamas…we can just be so damn hard on ourselves… So! The first binder was to organize all the reference material we’d received prior to the start of school + during the first bit month of school – this includes lists of stuff to make sure to pack, foods to not include in their lunch, the school schedule, each month’s calendar, which I slid into the front cover sleeve so it was easy to see what was happening + coordinate with our family calendar. The other binder was filled with empty plastic sleeves to insert all manner of drawing, birthday invite, valentines cards, swim report, report card…etc, whenever my buddy came home with stuff. My parents had these really neat binder/scrapbooks which documented my sister + I’s years of school from JK to post-secondary…it’s overflowing + busting apart, but it’s an awesome keepsake to look back on. This is what I wanted to create for my kiddo, but is much more cost effective than a lot of scrap books out there.
There are a few other tools + resources I use for school time.
As I’ve mentioned, we use essential oils to support our health + well-being. OnGuard is a blend by doTERRA with Wild Orange, Cinnamon, Clove, Rosemary, + Eucalyptus, + is very effective at supporting your immune system. We’ll diffuse the blend, starting about now through the first month of school. + I’ll be sending the OnGuard hand sanitizing spray with my buddy to school in his backpack. It’s more effective than other hand sanitizers, + uses ingredients I feel much more comfortable exposing my son to. Click HERE to learn more about how you can use essential oils to uplevel how you do holistic health in your home.
I’ll also have a little spray bottle with tea tree oil ready…because lice.
I came across this blog post recently, which is full of great tips. This post is geared to parents of older kids, + multiple kids in a fam. One of the best take aways which I’ll want to implement in the coming years is the routine cards. When things are written out it means you have to spend less time + effort holding the info in your brain…so the more mental space + energy you have to manage other things…like dinner plans…+ emotions…
Dr. Laura Markham at aha parenting has incredible parenting support. I’ve been receiving her emails for years, + I save each one so I can easily look back to read up on advice + case studies for various situations that we find ourselves dealing with. From bickering in the backseat to helping your kids deal with bullying, it’s been an incredible resource.
Ok, we can’t talk back to school without talking about self-care. You MUST take care of yourself! It’s a non negotiable. The kiddos need us to be our best, so if you won’t do self-care for yourself at the very least do it for them! Boundary setting, taking time for a bath for yourself, doing whatever you need to do to get some quiet alone time. Figure out what fills your cup + make that happen at least once a week.
(password : THESUMMERSESSIONS)
Our kids are looking to us for guidance on what it means to be a human. So if they see us driving ourselves to exhaustion + overwhelm, that’s what they’re learning it means to be a human. If they see us taking care of ourselves, + prioritizing self-care while they still feel loved + cared for, that’s how they’ll approach their relationships with themselves + others too.
In conclusion : Be intentional. Think about the experience you want to have + that you want your kids to have. Write it out. Establish routines. Menu plan. Be flexible. + above all, keep it simple.
Back to school doesn’t have to be crazy + overwhelming, but it won’t happen by accident.
+ I’ll let you know how it goes in our household over the next few (several!) years 😉
Disclosure : some of the links in this post are affiliate links. But know I’ll only link up to products that I use + have found really useful/effective/valuable. xo.
Check out what else we’re up to RIGHT HERE 🙂