Article Excerpt
A new school year is upon us, but this is not a conventional school year for Texas students. Here are some unconventional back-to-school tips.
A new school is set to begin. Every year, parents are inundated with lists of back-to-school tips, ideas, and offers. Some of them mentioned here may allow for more creativity and DIY craftsmanship if you own your home! Nonetheless, here are some you may not have tried yet.
Make DIY School Kits
Making the transition from summer vacation to the school year is difficult for kids of any age. Heading back to school seems even more stressful these days. The COVID-19 pandemic threw almost everything we thought we knew about school routines into disarray, and that’s just one of the challenges that kids continue to face at school. Parents might have a hard time knowing what they can do to help.
Sometimes little things go a long way. You can apply a little creativity to make sure your kids have everything they need to get through the first days and weeks of the school year. One idea, which comes from Taste of Home magazine, is to make “back-to-school survival kits” full of “things that you think your kid might find helpful or comforting when they head back to class.” Get a small box or zippered bag and fill it with stuff that you think your child will find useful, helpful, fun, or comforting — and that preferably won’t get confiscated by teachers. You know your kid best, so let your imagination run free.
Stage the Kids’ Departure for School Ahead of Time
Getting ready for school in the morning can be one of the most stressful times of the day for both kids and parents. Jordan Page, who blogs at Fun Cheap or Free, has some suggestions for how to avoid last-minute a crisis like missing lunches or textbooks:
Create a lunch/snack system: Set up spaces in the refrigerator and pantry where you keep the kids’ usual lunch and/or snack foods. You might have bins in both spaces that hold sandwich components, fruit, drink boxes, and other items. Have the kids make their own lunches the night before, to the extent that they are able based on their age. That way, they can just grab them when it’s time to leave in the morning.
- Make a “backpack station”: Create a dedicated space near the door where the kids leave to go to school for backpacks, shoes, and other things they’ll need. Have them pack their backpacks and put them in the “backpack station” before they go to bed. That way, they won’t scramble around looking for something in the morning when they’re already running late.
Establish a Study Space at Home
The pandemic taught many families — including both adults and children — about the importance of having a space in the home to do work with as few distractions as possible. Not everyone has enough space to create a dedicated home office, but many options are available to adapt the space that you do have. You can add some fun twists to make a study space more appealing to kids.
Taste of Home suggests setting up a “kid cave” to give a child a space where they can unwind from the school day and focus on their homework. It could be something as simple as a blanket fort or cardboard box with pillows, stuffed animals, and other things that make kids feel at home. You can add a “portable homework station” consisting of a caddy box filled with school supplies and a few fun things.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels
Retain Some Hygienic Habits from the Pandemic
The pandemic taught us some safety measures that are probably a good idea even if we weren’t experiencing a pandemic. Before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19, kids often picked up a bug from classmates, such as the common cold or the flu, and brought it home to their families.
But if we’re already used to the extra steps in hygiene, we may as well keep a few to lower the risk of kids bringing home the various bugs going around at school. A few reasonably simple procedures you may consider include:
Keeping a bottle of hand sanitizer by the door and having everyone clean their hands as soon as they enter the house
Having everyone remove their shoes when they come in and leave them by the door
Having kids immediately change clothes when they get home and leave their school clothes by the washing machine
Photo by Devyn Holman on Unsplash
Step into your Dream of Home Ownership!
Building little desks into walls, re-painting study areas, and upgrading your fridge for a growing family aren’t always possible if you’re renting. The Wood Group of Fairway would be ecstatic to help welcome you home. Answer a few quick questions online to see which mortgage options you qualify for!
