Routines That Make Starting School Easy

August 11, 2012 by Attached Mama

Child going to school

Your child may feel excited or scared about starting school. Make this a smooth transition with routines that help your child become familiar with school and the new schedule as well as routines that help you stay organized to avoid last-minute stress.

What Is School Like?

It will be easier for your child to start school if she or he knows what to expect. Trial runs can take the edge off worrying about the new situation by making getting ready for school and being at school a bit more familiar. Your child might ask, “When will I eat?” “What if I need to go to the bathroom?” “May I come home if I don’t like it?” Try role playing each situation. Draw pictures that show how the day will go. Encourage your child to ask questions.

The School Morning Routine

School itself may be completely new, but there will also be a new way of doing things at home. Mornings will likely be busier. Talk through how school mornings and school nights will go and why it is important to stay on schedule. Make sure there is enough time to eat, brush teeth and hair, and get dressed without anyone feeling upset or pushed.

Set your timetable. Work backward. What needs to be done in the morning? How long will it take? What time do you need your child to be ready? How long will that take? Double that for the first few days. How much time do you need before your child wakes up? Do the math for all of this, then decide what time to get up.

Once you and your child are comfortable with your new routines, you probably won’t need to spend much time thinking about how to get everything done. Reaching that point of comfort depends on planning. If you want mornings to go well, use your evenings to prepare.

The School Night Routine

Give yourself enough time the evening before school to get everything done without rushing. Your school night routine is very important to the success of your morning routine.

Don’t give yourself a short night. You will probably need to get to bed earlier to get enough sleep. Set bedtime for you and for your child.

Then, decide what can be done the night before school. Set out clothes. Make lunch. Do this together. This is a great time to chat about expectations.

At the end of all of the preparations, allow plenty of time to talk then to read a story to wind down. If your child is anxious, you can introduce simple relaxation techniques like visualizations or attention to the breath. The book I’ve used for years with my children is Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children for Learning, Creativity & Relaxation by Maureen Murdock. If your child understands how to relax and calm down, simple techniques can be used during the school day as well.

When you have prepared well the night before, you can focus your morning positively on the excitement of school.

New Routines for Parents, Too

If you are sending your last or only child to school for the first time, you may also need to think through new routines for yourself. What will you do now? If you don’t have plans, the few hours of a half-day of school will sail by. Prioritize your time and use it wisely.

If you follow us on Facebook, you may already have read the article we posted on preparing children for a new school year. There are 15 excellent suggestions that will help every child transition from the freedom of summer back to school.

Image © Thomas Perkins | Dreamstime.com

Back-to-school Backpack Supplies

August 5, 2012 by Attached Mama

Are you getting ready for school? I just bought school supplies today. Tis’ the season of sharpened pencils, and I have a few suggestions for eco-friendly back-to-school supplies.

Backpack
First, your child will probably need a backpack.

We love the colorful characters in our Dabbawalla collection of children’s backpacks. This season, we also have a new backpack from SoYoung Mother. The coated linen exterior is PVC-free. The interior is nylon lined with a zippered mesh pocket to keep gear separated. The best part about the SoYoung Mother backpack is the fully detachable, matching lunch box. It fits inside the pack, if the child has little to carry, but it can attach to the outside of the pack to give more carrying room. The pack is small (9″ x 11″ x 5″), so it isn’t overwhelming for a young child.

SoYoung Mother Linen Child’s Backpack

Pencils
Next, pencils are one of those iconic basics every student needs.

Our favorite pencils are made not from wood but from recycled newspaper. The unpainted pencils are great because you can see the newspaper the pencil is made from. They sharpen easily, and the 12-pack comes with a sharpener. These are premium pencils from Earthzone, a Canadian company. (Pencils are made responsibly in China.)

Earthzone Recycled Newspaper Pencils

Water Bottle
Also, it helps to have a water bottle.

Most kids won’t need to carry a lot of water if there are drinking fountains at school, but it helps to have a water bottle in the backpack for the walk to and from school. A small, 12-ounce Klean Kanteen water bottle is the perfect size. On a warm day, you can add ice cubes easily with this wide-mouth bottle. On a cold day, a hot drink will stay warm up to 6 hours. Leakproof and easy to clean.

Klean Kanteen 12oz Reusable Water Bottle

Snack Bag
Finally, a snack in the pack might leave your child less tempted to ask for the expensive, unhealthy snacks that a lot of schools have in vending machines.

There are a lot of great snack bags available now. Our newest is the Sling Sisters Snack Bag. These zippered snack bags have cute, cotton prints on the outside with nylon (laminated to be waterproof) on the inside. The 4″ x 6″ size is perfect for a cut up apple or a handful of grapes. These bags are also a good size to fit crayons or a cell phone. Clean in the washer on cold.

Sling Sisters Reusable Snack Bag

I’ll come back next week with reusable lunch boxes and lunch bags.

Back to School Supplies

August 2, 2011 by Attached Mama

Yes, it really is back-to-school time. We’ve been restocking and looking for new products for you. Is there anything special you’ve been looking for? We’ll see if we can help!

Goodbyn Mini Lunch Box

One of our favorite new products is the Goodbyn Mini. It has three compartments rather than five like the larger Goobyn Lunch Boxes. Includes an 8-oz drinking bottle. If you freeze the drink overnight, that can double as an ice pack. And, of course, it comes with stickers so your child can personalize.

Nature Mom is going to use this for her 3-year old, who is starting preschool several days a week next month.

Itzy Ritzy Snack Bags

Itzy Ritzy snack bags aren’t new, but they have several new prints. Cotton prints outside with water-resistant laminated fabric inside. This 7″ x 7″ bag fits a sandwich. Zip it in; zip it out; toss in the wash. No more plastic bags.


Monkey Remix	Little Miss Zig Zag	Peace Love

Klean Kanteen Kid Kanteen

The Kid Kanteen is a non-toxic and BPA-free reusable drink bottle in a smaller size, just 12oz, which works well for juice and other naturally sweet drinks. The sport cap with sippy spout makes it easy to drink from, and the mouth is wide enough to allow ice cubes.

Pick up your back-to-school gear in our new store in Orillia, Ontario. If you can’t make it to the store, remember that we offer free shipping on Canadian orders over $99.

Back to School Supply Lists

August 27, 2010 by Attached Mama

For the past month, every store I’ve been in that sells any kind of school supplies has a prominent display of supply lists for every grade. I would just think this is another marketing opportunity for the stores themselves, but my friends tell me that they have surprisingly long school supply lists from their children’s schools.

The school supply list has become ubiquitous in August.

I love school supplies. I love office supply stores. I loved going to work with my mother as a child and raiding the office supply closet. I loved having access to the supply closet at every job I’ve ever had. I just love the smell of newly sharpened pencils. School supplies are definitely a big thing for me.

I was curious how much school supply lists can vary. Since my children are homeschooled, we’re basic pencil and notebook people with a side of glue stick. We bought a few things recently, but we haven’t put too much thought into whether we have every little item. I wondered, though, what I might be in for if I had to send my children back to school next week.

So, I surveyed store lists, which I conclude are way overloaded. Skip those. And, I surveyed elementary school supply lists across Canada and the U.S. I’ve listed a few below.

The Basics

You could probably guess most of the basic supplies. Some of the lists were very specific by brand and type—ONLY glue sticks or absolutely NO glue sticks, for example.

Backpack
Ballpoint pens
Binders and folders
Colored pencils or markers
Construction paper
Crayons
Dry erase markers
Glue or glue sticks
Lunch Box
Pencils, pencil sharpener, erasers
Ruler
Scissors
Wide-ruled paper

The Surprises

The biggest surprise to me was cleaning supplies—a lot of them. A New York Times article this month on the evolution of school supply lists mentions a school that asked students to bring garbage bags and cleaning spray. The reason is not mysterious. School budgets have been cut, and schools are no longer able to provide some of the basics. What parents aren’t (and sometimes ARE) paying in taxes is covered directly through the school supply lists.

Boxes of antiseptic wipes or baby wipes
Boxes of plastic zippered bags
Boxes of tissues
Braided rug
Camp pillow and bath towel
Checks to the school for magazine subscriptions
Copy paper
Paint shirt
Rolls of paper towels

Green Your School Supply List

It’s tough to know how to send a lower impact version of zipper plastic bags and antiseptic wipes when schools are specific down to brand. The best chance environmentally conscience parents have is probably working with the teacher, school, or district—whoever generates the school supply list—to come up with options.

You can find green school supplies as more retailers stock recycled and reusable products. If you have some flexibility, you can substitute cloth handkerchiefs for paper tissues, recycled pencils for new-wood pencils, and refillable pencils for throwaway pens.

Back Pack

A lot of parents like the Dabbawalla backpack because it is insulated. If your child’s lunch box is not insulated, this is another layer to help keep food cool or warm.

Lunch Box

We covered waste-free lunch boxes last week, since a lot of schools are moving toward waste-free lunches.

Hand Purifier

If you have to provide hand sanitizer, you may as well choose a natural option like Clean George’s Hand Purifier with Tea Tree Oil.

Crayons

Beeswax crayons are non-toxic because you know that crayon is going in the child’s mouth.

Markers

Natural markers have no petroleum binding agents and only food-derived colors.

Glue

Traditional glue contains animal and petroleum products, but natural glue uses bio-polymer adhesives.

Colored Pencils

EarthZone pencils use 100% post-consumer recycled newspapers and white glue rather than new wood to make their hard bodies.

Pencils

EarthZone pencils last up to 3 times as long as wood pencils.

An Unscientific Sampling of Elementary School Supply Lists

I chose only elementary school lists, focusing on Kindergarten when there was a grade-by-grade list.

CANADA
Central Queens Elementary on Prince Edwards Island

Ottawa-Carleton School District in Ottawa, Ontario

St Frances School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

UNITED STATES
Adams School in Janesville, Wisconsin

Bentonville Public Schools in Bentonville, Arkansas

Briar Elementary School in Fremont, California

Westgate Elementary in Falls Church, Virginia

Helping a Young Child When an Older Sibling Goes to School

August 25, 2010 by Attached Mama

Younger child with parent

Whether your child is just going back to school or going to school for the first time, the sudden departure of an older sibling can be disconcerting to a younger child. Just prepare the child as best you can, and expect a period of transition.

Make sure the younger child understands what is going to happen and when, though very young children may not grasp the idea very well if you warn them too far in advance. Talk about how your daily schedule will be different so he knows what to expect. Both children will need to ease into the new routine.

Visit the school if siblings are invited to open house events. Actually seeing the school can help the younger child as she pictures her sibling in the classroom.

Have your younger child help with back-to-school preparations. If the older child agrees, the younger child could even choose a pencil or notebook or sticker that will remind her sibling of her during the day. Sharing her opinion during the exciting time will help her feel included.

As you buy school supplies, you might want to buy pencils, notebooks, and a few other supplies for the younger child. Toddlers are notorious for their ability to know what belongs to whom (“It’s mine!”). Making sure she has her own supplies can help whether you are going to play school at home, really have lessons, or just encourage her to experiment with writing and drawing.

Have projects or lessons in mind for your younger child. Even if it is something simple like learning to watercolor for the first time or taking a tumbling class, the younger child may need a learning activity he can claim for his own.

If the younger child will be the only child at home, you can create a special one-on-one space for the two of you to do what you like to do together. If you don’t know yet what you like to do together, it’s time to explore!

Encourage your younger child to talk about or draw pictures about her feelings. She may be worried, or she may just be excited to have you to herself. Just help her communicate those feelings so any fears don’t grow unnecessarily.

Ask the older child to spend quality time with the younger child. When my daughter was away all day, every day for five weeks for dance, my son had big plans for her every day when she returned. She was tired and wanted time alone, so I had to convince her that it was important for him to spend time with her—that she was doing it more as a gift to him than because she needed or wanted play time. We found a healthy balance, and the time apart went smoothly.

Remember, too, that you are helping your younger child take a step toward school. A smooth transition for your older child will set the tone for your younger child.

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Tag Archives: back-to-school

Routines That Make Starting School Easy

Back-to-school Backpack Supplies

Back to School Supplies

Back to School Supply Lists

Helping a Young Child When an Older Sibling Goes to School