Hello everyone! It’s hard to believe that school starts in a month! While several of our family and friends will be starting in just a couple of weeks, Bug won’t start until after the Labor Day holiday. Still, that’s plenty of time for the “summer slump” to be reversed. Here are a few of our favorite de-slumping methods.
1. Return to the Sleep Schedule. In the summer, we try to keep the children pretty close to a regular sleep schedule, give an hour or so. That means the smaller children may go down at 9:30 instead of 8:30, and Bug may stay up until 10. With school returning to regular session, we start returning children to regular schedules about three weeks out. Everyone is in bed freshly bathed with brushed teeth at their proper bed times. The schedule helps Honeybee know that things are returning to a point where her brother will be gone during the day, helps baby A. get used to the evening darkness coming sooner. It also helps Bug return to a normal school routine.
2. Read. Bug is an avid reader already, but I like to have him read at least some the suggested grade level reading books before returning to school. I feel it helps him get an understanding on the syntax, vocabulary, and word play that he will be exposed to in class for the upcoming year.
3. Writing. One of the things we encourage our son to do is write in his journal. It is the same thing that we will do with our younger children when they are able to write. It is also the same thing I do in my own personal writings. He writes in his journal daily though we give him a little grace during summer. With the schedule rapidly returning to school mode, we encourage him to write more consistently. His handwriting and sentence structure has greatly improved. We just need to work on him carrying that into the classroom. He doesn’t always like his peers to know that he is capable of some really beautiful handwriting and written thought.
4. Load up on the supplies. With school comes school supplies. At the end of the school year, our country distributes the school supply list for the upcoming list so parents have ample time to get everything. This year I’ve been focusing on items that will assist in Bug staying organized, a concern I’ve written about previously. We’ll be looking at organizing and introducing a command center that will help him succeed. The goal is for everything to have its place. All of his supplies will be included there with backups kept in our room so we can help monitor what we have and what we need.
5. Prep the back to school meals. This will probably be a spin off post in a few weeks, but every school term I try to plan a series of make ahead breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that will help us stay fed and on time with all of the academic and extra curricular activities. A favorite is the make ahead breakfast sandwiches. I take English muffins, scrambled eggs, cheese, and sliced deli meats, make an amazing sandwich, wrap in wax paper, and freeze in a large gallon size freezer bag. I place it in the upstairs freezer and it lets Bug, S., and myself grab and go while allowing time to make the littles (who haven’t quite found a love of breakfast sandwiches) their favorite oatmeal or cereal.
It’s time to get back into the swing of things. Time to get ready for school!
