Back-to-School Checklist

Summer is on its homestretch. Daylight hours are waning, and shadows are getting longer, but there’s fresh excitement in the air as the new school year nears with each passing day. As eager as your student might be to get back to learning and seeing their friends, the beginning to the school year can be chaotic. Having a checklist is the secret to stressing a little less.

It’s fun to buy all the back-to-school supplies (Who doesn’t love that?!), and teachers and schools are often great about providing those lists, but there’s more to preparing for the year than picking out cool pens and folders. Following are some important steps to take to help prepare your student for success:

Schedule appointments. Appointments are often overlooked in the scramble to get ready for school. Does your child need any of the following?

• A sports physical
• A well-child exam
• Immunizations: Check to see if your child needs any required school vaccinations
• Paperwork if your child has medication administered at school
• A vision exam

Please contact your school district nurse if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s health while at school.

Begin school-year routines for bedtime and wake-up time. Gradually make bedtimes earlier until you reach your child’s schoolyear bedtime. The same applies to wake-up times. This will help make getting up and out the door in the morning much less of a shock to their system when school starts!

Establish regular mealtimes at home. At school, meals and snacks are eaten at designated times. It’s helpful to strive for that at home, too, so your children get used to eating at certain times instead of throughout the day.

Set up a dedicated place to study and do homework. This is especially important for middle and high school students, but it’s also helpful for elementary-age students to get in the homework habit as well. So clear off the desk or table, declutter the space, and stock it with the supplies your student will need.

Talk with your children about what kinds of healthy lunch foods and snacks will help them feel their best throughout the day.  Life is busy, and it’s easy and convenient to buy packaged foods to put in lunchboxes and backpacks. But those processed foods are not the best for helping children focus on learning and get through the day without hunger pains. Encourage fresh fruits and veggies, string cheese or yogurt, lean meats (but limit process deli meat), and whole-grain bread or crackers.

Put all the important school dates you know into your personal calendar. This way you’re aware of when parent-teacher conferences are being held; the dates of fall, winter, and spring breaks; and holidays for which there might not be school. Not everything you’ll need to know (like classroom parties and special events or activities) will be planned by the first day of school, but having the ones you do know on your calendar will save you time (and maybe frustration) later.

Go over school and after-school schedules. Talking through (and even walking through, if you are able to get into school before classes begin) your child’s class schedule can ease anxiety about finding classrooms as well as fuel excitement about the upcoming school year. Bonus if you can meet your child’s teachers, too!

Plan a back-to-school shopping trip. While you might be able to use some leftover school supplies from last year, it’s fun—and often a necessity with growing children—to spend some time together picking out a few new items. Whether it’s an outfit for picture day or gym shoes in a bigger size, make your time together an event to celebrate the coming year.

Checking off as many of these items as you can before the first day of class will help set your student—and you—up for a successful school year!