Back to School Tips : How We are Preparing for a Successful School Year

Office Depot sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own

Where did the summer go? I was shocked to peek at my calendar and realize that the first day of school was right around the corner!   The summer went by so fast!  But this year, I’m on top of preparing for back to school! Uniforms have been ordered, Pookah has been registered, room organized, and his lunch meals are planned. I’m determined to be organized this year because it is his LAST year before middle school. 

Back to School Tips for a Successful School Year

So What back to school tips help us prepare for the school year?

Get back on Routine

This is the hard part! This summer has been basically endless days with friends, on screens and just going with the flow.  I know that the best thing I can do for Pookah is to get him back on his routine.  Kids thrive on routines including regular bedtimes, screentime, homework times and more. I know that his success is always tied to his routine. So we’ll be going back to going to bed on time, have dedicated screen times on the weekends and breakfast every day before school.

Go back to school shopping for Supplies

Back to school shopping was always my FAVORITE part of going back to school! The smell of new lunch boxes and book bags and clothes. Pookah is going to the 5th grade this year! It is amazing to me that back to school shopping is not as simple as it used to be! I can’t just go to the store and choose, I have to take him with me. LOL. He is at the age where he wants to choose his own stuff and has definite ideas about what he likes. When I registered him for school, we got his school supply list and headed to Office Depot. There we discovered the TUL® School Edition that is Exclusive to Office Depot. Whether you’re a teacher or student, the TUL supplies and note-taking products provide great ways to keep schoolwork and schedules organized throughout the year.

He loved the new porous point fine liner pens, permanent markers, and chisel-tip highlighters with bold color and liquid-feed technology, starting at $4.99.  We also got glue sticks and headphones and notebooks and all of those other things needed on his back to school list.

Discuss expectations

Every year, we sit down and talk about what we want to happen for the new school year. This includes prep talks, grades, behavior and what HE wants to achieve in the new year. Since this is his last year of elementary school, my main goal is to get him in the habit of being organized. This is a goal for both of us!  I want to get us both in the habit of being organized this year in preparation for NEXT year when he goes to middle school.

Create a Great Space at home dedicated to homework.

This is something I am really going to make a priority this year. In the past, Pookah has done homework in various places: my office, the dining room table, the kitchen table..wherever I am at the time. BUT, since he is getting older, I think it’s time to have a dedicated spot for him to do his homework. I think having a dedicated spot with his school supplies at home will also help.

Get involved

Even though I want to promote as much independence as possible, I still want to be involved. I loved the disc bound planners from the TUL collection starting at $12.99 because it helps me to keep him organized. And helps him to start to learn to write things down and keep track of assignments and projects himself.

 Hopefully, the things we do are helpful back to school tips for you too!  When do your kids go back to school? Have you shopped for school supplies?

 Office Depot sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.