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Article - Back To
School
Where did the summer go, it
seems like only yesterday, it was the beginning of June.
The start of September and Labor Day weekend, turns our
thoughts to the beginning of the school year and football
(go Badgers and Packers).
You don’t need to be stressed
when preparing for school. The key is to be prepared. And
an easy way to be prepared is to use checklists.
Registration / teachers
conference – many of the schools have a packet of
information to aid in getting your child registered into a
new school district. Contact the school that your child
will be attending and ask the office to mail you a packet or
schedule a time to stop by the school to pick up a packet of
information. Also, many of the teachers like to meet with
the parents at the beginning of the school year to touch
base and see if there are any questions you have or concerns
that you as a parent would like addressed. Most of the
teachers have a sign up sheet at the school; ask when you
call the school office.
School supplies
– each school district puts together a school supply
checklist for each grade. You can pick up this checklist at
the school or you can find a copy at many of the local
stores (Office Max, STAPLES, or Office Depot), you may also
find these checklists online. Before you buy everything on
the checklist, look to see if there are any supplies from
last year that can be used again. How many boxes of crayons
do you really need? Can the supply box be used again?
Clothing – this
might be harder to purchase than supplies since there is not
a checklist that you can pick up at the store. Take about
15-30 minutes to look through your child’s closet and
dresser to see what they already have that can be worn to
school; this will assist in making purchasing decisions.
Another approach is to purchase a couple of new shirts,
jeans, a new pair of shoes, new socks, new under clothes,
etc. Which ever approach you take, make note of it and
create a checklist for yourself, next year clothes shopping
for back to school will be easier.
Desk / study area
– it is important to have a desk or other area that is
specifically set aside for studying. Keep the area clutter
free and to make it easy to work on homework. Setup the
desk or study area with needed supplies: pens, pencils,
ruler, white out, stapler, scissors, computer, paper,
notebooks, colored pencils, calculator, etc. Each person in
the household should have their own study area.
No matter what age the
student is, it is helpful to post a class schedule for
everyone in the family to see. You may want to include
daily chores on this schedule also. If you have multiple
people in the household, put all of the schedules on one
calendar for a quick at a glance. Also, consider color
coding each person’s schedule.
Remember once you’ve made a
checklist, you can refer back to it again and again and
reduce the stress of preparing for back to school. Here's
wishing you and your family a successful school year!
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