Ways To Simplify The School Week
I’m only a few months into a child at public school and I’m already feeling how crazy it all gets. Our homeschool schedule was completely different. We would wake up when we felt like starting our day, enjoy a good breakfast together, and ease into our school work. Then we were done by lunchtime and ready to have family and friend time!Public school is a whole different ballgame.Bedtime becomes life or death. If my kids don’t lay their heads on their pillow by 7 pm I know the following morning will be horrible. The next morning I have to get the kids up by 6 am, help them put their clothes on while half awake, and then leave the house by 6:45 am.Then you have the drop-off line.. The dreadful and infinitely long drop-off line. I typically spend our time waiting on my Instagram stories, complaining about how long it’s taking.By the time I make it back home, I’m completely exhausted but too wired to fall back asleep. Not to mention my younger two kids are wide awake waiting for their days to begin.I don’t know how all of you have survived it for so long! I count down until the weekends so I can get a bit of extra sleep and sanity. Only to find out my kid's body clocks won’t even let them sleep in!This is exactly why I started asking for advice from my momma friends about one day into our public school adventure. Here are all of the tips they have that help them make it through school mornings with a bit of sanity!
Breakfast Prep
Prepare your breakfast the weekend or night before. We don’t always have time for the kids to sit down at the table and enjoy a bowl of cereal. Sometimes, it’s simply a grab and go morning.Okay, most mornings are grab and go.I like to make hard boiled eggs, masala egg cups, smoothies, homemade granola bars, and samosa hand pies.The more that you can prep beforehand, the less you will need to do on school mornings.
Have Your Child Lay Everything Out The Night Before
Help your child pick out their clothes and school supplies out the night before. This way all they need to do when they wake up is put their clothes on. They don’t have to take the time to stress out over what they’re going to wear. They can simply roll out of bed and get dressed.On their way out the door, they can even grab their backpacks and lunches. No more of the whole looking for the notebook they misplaced the night before. Do all the handwork the night before when you’re not in a time crunch.
Keep The TV Off In The Mornings
If your kids are anything like mine, it can be incredibly hard to pull your kids away from their favorite show. Instead, you can turn off the TV and turn up the music. We have a few playlists that the kids have created and they choose our which ones they want to listen to for that morning. It helps get them moving, but it’s also easy to turn off when we’re done. Or you can even transition it to the car and listen to it on the way to school!
Stick To A Routine
Find a routine that works best for everyone and stick to it. This helps promote independence for your kids because they know exactly what they should be doing. It will be tricky at first because they’ll try to get out of it or pretend they can’t remember what they were supposed to be doing.Once they see your morning routine isn’t going anywhere, they’ll start to do it on their own!
Reward Your Kids For A Good Week
I am a big fan of positive reinforcement. Okay. Okay. I’m a big fan of bribery! I find little ways to reward my kids for good behavior and it helps! Did your kids have a good week? Were they getting ready quickly or did you find this week better than last week?
Reward them!
Let them know you’re proud of their hard work in the mornings and find a way to show them. It can be a special breakfast in the morning, an early trip to Starbucks, or take them to the movie over the weekend. It doesn’t have to be big, just let them know you’ve noticed their hard work.
