Sample Mudroom closet for backpacks, shoes, sports equipment, coats and whatever else comes in the door.
A life full of juggling many details requires routines. Ideally, begin planning your routines before school starts. Refine your routines as you find out what works and what doesn’t. Practice flexibility and notice which parts of the routine are critical – so often we can put the plan in place, but life doesn’t always go exactly according to our plan.
Back to school routines include
- Morning – getting ready, eating and getting out the door – sanity intact with all needed materials
- Returning home – have a place for backpacks, lunch boxes, papers that need an action, sports equipment and anything else that comes in the door
- Homework – Plan a time and place for homework. Help you child learn time management by helping him or her estimate how long homework will take. Beyond a couple of quick assignments, help them make a list and use their planners.
- Evening – Before bedtime, put everything in it’s place to go out the door in the morning. Make sure homework, signed papers and supplies are inside backpacks or school bags.
Create places to put things
- Backpack Station – Hooks on the wall, shelves in a closet or a full system planned around what comes in the door. Check out this example at The Container Store. There are so many solutions – get creative!
- Papers – My general mantra for papers: Act / File / Toss (recycle / shred)
- Action: Sign / Respond / Return – Have a place for kids to put these papers. Use a file pocket on the wall of the entry way, put a file folder on the fridge or inside a closet door. Check out these ideas at The Container Store.
- Action: Classwork that needs to be kept for the duration of the class, but doesn’t need to be carried back and forth to school. If papers aren’t bound into a notebook, create a file, tray or bin for these papers to live. After the course is completed, review with your child what needs to be saved.
- Action: Basic information for review. Add calendar items to the calendar. For general info, review and decide if it needs to be kept and for how long. Consider a classroom information file for each child.
- Action: Review and toss.
Homework
- Where does this activity take place? Have all tools needed for homework available – supplies, calculators, etc. Did I mention I love The Container Store? Here are some great ways to keep supplies together and if necessary make supplies easy to move to different locations. Simple options include a clear shoe box or other decorative container.
- Consider your child’s learning style. If small distractions are a problem, find a quiet space and honor it. Other children may be very comfortable in a higher traffic area, or with some music.
Enjoy some extra family time instead of looking around for lost papers, homework, lunch supplies and sports equipment. Breathe easier in the morning knowing you are ready for your day. Live a life that feels more spacious, whatever the pace.
What routine do you use that makes school days flow more smoothly?
Organize With Charee 