5 Ways to Prepare for Back to School:
Guest Post by Tazim Damji

This post on 5 Ways to Prepare for Back To School was written by Tazim Damji. Tazim is a content creator and virtual assistant from Vancouver Canada. She writes the DIY/Home Décor blog Love Snap Make and the lifestyle and adventure blog Being Tazim.

It can be overwhelming to get in the swing of back to school after being away from the routine for so long. Take a look at my tips for 5 ways to prepare for back to school.

Evaluate

Before you start a new school year, take a look back on how well the previous year worked. Did you like where you stored your children’s homework, school bags and the activity calendar? Maybe you had some ideas throughout the year about how you could more easily organize your front entrance to have a place to put things so they’re ready to grab in the morning. Or, perhaps you found that the dining table didn’t work out very well for doing homework, and you’d like to get a dedicated desk for your child.

Experiment

Now is your chance to try out some different for the new school year. Maybe you saw something you thought would be a good idea on Pinterest, or on a blog. Try it out, and re-evaluate at the end of December to figure out if you like the new changes.

Organize

Make a list of everything related to back to school—like, homework, calendars, school supplies, phone numbers and important dates. Decide on a central place for your calendar, marking in important dates (holidays, school closures, extracurricular activities), and have a message center (with writing instruments, paper, a chalkboard, white board or whatever you’d like, as well as a cork board to pin homework and assignments to). Set up a study area with all needed supplies in one spot. If you’re using your dining or kitchen table for homework, a little cart on wheels with supplies in it can be very handy—and you can simply wheel it away to your child’s room or elsewhere, when homework time is over. It’s easy for paper to pile up when your children begin school, so make a plan now for what you’d like to do with art projects, old assignments and reminders and announcements from school. How long will you keep things for and where will it all go?

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Educate

Now that everything is organized and prepared for the upcoming school year, share the locations with your children and family members. If everyone knows where things are supposed to go, you’re one step closer to having an organized and tidy space. At the same time, inform your children of their upcoming school year schedule—make sure they know about bus or carpool pick-up times, extracurricular activities (if you know the schedule already), when you’ll be away from home, and where to find the calendar.

Entertain

Celebrate having everything organized and ready to go when school starts by enjoying the last remaining days of summer—have a picnic in your backyard or in a park, and take comfort in knowing that you’re ready for a new school year.