How to Get Ready for Back to School

My boys started school yesterday! I officially have two in school. It’s crazy to see how time flies by and our kids grow up right before our eyes. Getting two ready and out the door in the morning is a lot different than just needing to get one child ready. Here are ways to help you know how to get ready for back to school and into a successful school year.

How to Get Ready for Back to School

3 weeks before school starts – Start shopping for back to school clothes. This will give you time to wash and organize their next size up if you need to change sizes and will make sure you have enough time to return items, if needed. Don’t forget to stock up on socks, underwear, new shoes, uniforms if needed, and other outfits to round out their wardrobe. You often don’t need to completely restock their clothing, a few new outfits can make a big difference in giving your child confidence and to feel excited for a new school year.

2 weeks before school starts – Shop for school supplies from crayons, notebooks, school glue, pencils, etc. Don’t forget to pick out a backpack, lunchbox, water bottle, and the optional requests from your child’s teacher like kleenex, disinfecting wipes, and hand sanitizer. You may want to purchase a little bit extra on the often used up supplies to help your child’s classroom restock throughout the year. Glue sticks are often the first thing requested, but may of these inexpensive supplies will be asked for through the school year.

1 week before school starts – Start your back to school routine by getting to bed an waking up following your typical school schedule. You can even help your child get on track with the lunch schedule by serving lunch and snacks at similar times to help them prepare for their upcoming schedule.

3 days before school starts – Fill backpacks with all the necessary school supplies and hang the backpack by your front door or a designated area for backpacks so it’s ready to go. If your school is hosting a meet the teacher night, you can usually bring all the supplies that night to help your child lug in all their necessary supplies.

The night before school starts – Lay out an outfit or school uniform for the next day including their socks and shoes so everything is easy to find in the morning. Consider laying out an easy breakfast or prepping ahead of time a more filling breakfast like an overnight breakfast casserole. Your child is likely to be excited for their first day and nervous too, having this little steps ready will help the day run smoothly.

If your child is worried about heading off to school, whether they are going to a new school or starting school for the first time, keep open conversation about what they can expect at school and assure your child you’ll be there at the end of the day excited to hear all about their first day of school.

This year, we headed in to our local Target for all of our back to school shopping. My soon-to-be Kindergarten an 2nd grade boys were both most excited about picking out a new backpack! As soon as we walked down the aisle approaching the back wall of backpacks, they had already spotted exactly what pack they wanted for the new year!

One picked a Spiderman backpack and excitedly showed me how it sparkled and lit up! My other son picked out a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle backpack which included a matching lunchbox that clipped right to the outside of his backpack.

Target had everything on our school supplies checklist and everything was neatly organized in a back to school section easy to find. We even found these awesome water bottles that were hands down my boys favorite thing we picked out! They’ve been using their new water bottles every day since we got them, even before school started.

I was really impressed how Target had all the fun characters and styles that are in right now that made it fun and exciting getting ready for back to school. My boys will both be sizing up to the next size clothes next month, so we put off our big apparel shopping trip for a few weeks, but we will be heading into Target as I know they’ll have everything we need for back to school.

Every little thing is a really big deal.

Do you have any tips for how to get ready for back to school?

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Target via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Target.