I remember when I was a little girl; I couldn’t wait for the end of the school year. Summer was a much anticipated season and there were so many things that we could do. I loved being able to sleep in late and have the freedom of not having a schedule. Even though I really loved summer vacation I was one of those kids who actually enjoyed school but when the end of summer started coming to a close I was still sad to see the end of the fun and have to go back to the everyday routine of the school year. My kids are not at all like me; they do not like school and dread the ending of summer time and the starting of a new school year.
When we homeschooled we didn’t have a summer break since we did a bit of schooling all year round but since the kids have been in public school for the past four years I have found a few ideas that work for us to start getting ready to ease back into the school year routine. Since it won’t be long till school starts I thought I’d share a few of my favorite ideas with you over the next few days.
One of the most important things that I do with my kids is to start getting them back “on schedule” before school starts. For us this means that we go back to 8:00 bedtimes and 7:00 wake up time. My kids hate this but I have to admit that I despise this new schedule even more than they do! In the summer time I am accustomed to going bed around 1 or 2 in the morning (sometimes even later) and getting up around 8, 9, or even 10. LOL I am not a morning person and I really enjoy my late night work sessions. For me I have to start adjusting my schedule about 3 weeks before they go back to school so that I can get into the habit of going to bed at 10:30/11:00 and getting up at 6:30/7:00. The kids adapt a bit easier and since I don’t need to make as drastic of a change to their schedule two weeks is enough for them.
Along with adjusting their bedtime schedule I start getting them back into their school year routines which includes setting out their clothes the night before, doing their chores in the evening after supper, earlier story times, and less television. I also make them get dressed right away in the morning before breakfast just like we would during the school year rather than allowing them to lounge around in their jammies. Another adjustment I make is having them start wearing shoes a majority of the day. My kids are barefoot nearly all summer long and they hate it when they have to wear shoes to school all day.
By getting the kids back into a school routine a couple of weeks early I have found that they are more prepared for the start of school, they’re less cranky, I’m less cranky, and things seem to flow pretty easily during the transition from summer time to school time.
I’ll see ya in a couple of days with another idea to get our kids ready for school.
