It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, any day is a good day to start getting organized. Let’s not kid ourselves, the beginning of the new school year can be one of the most stressful. It is the busiest time of year for me. I like to have everything ready to go so we can fall into a nice routine and get all of our school work done in time for the holidays.
So here are some tips for getting your children organized for back to school that you don’t want to miss.
This post contains an awesome giveaway. For more information read my full disclosure.
Before School
If you’re at my house in the morning there’s a more relaxed feeling in the morning. We’re not morning people and don’t start class until 9. But I remember the rushed feeling when I was in school and I know that you want everything ready to go so you’re not late or forgetful. Here are some things you can do to prepare for the day so it runs smoothly.
Make a Command Center
Running out the door never felt this good.
Make a school binder to go in it with this cute free printable.
Store your supplies in clever ways like using a shoe organizer!
Don’t forget to take some pictures, especially on the first day.
Afterschool
This is a time to unwind, or do exciting activities. While everyone would like to play after school, most of the time there is work to be done too.
Keep them Learning
Designated writing and learning areas help the learning continue after school.
Give easy access to art and craft supplies so they have the freedom to create.
Set up a Study Time Routine so your kids never get behind and learn how to study on their own.
Post a Problem of the Day somewhere irresistible.
For even more ideas, check out these organizing posts!
15 Tips on Getting Ready for Back to School
This post is part of the Back to School Linkup
We’re excited to announce a Back to School Giveaway for you to enter to WIN! The prizes are sponsored by Safari Ltd, Melissa and Doug, Trunki, Elmer’s Glue, Discount School Supplies, Squeazy Gear. Plus Gift Certificates were donated for Printable Packets and/or eBooks from The Educators’ Spin On It , 3 Dinosaurs, Preschool Powol Packets, Look! We’re Learning, This Reading Mama, & Life Over C’s.
Make sure you check out these awesome Back to school resources and activities!
Back to school is bittersweet with my girls. On one hand I’m so excited to see them learning new things and getting back into a routine, but on the other hand I’m so sad to see them go. I really value my time with them, and it feels like we miss so much together when half of my crew is gone all day.
My daughter is 3 and we are homeschooling her for the first time. She is absolutely thrilled.
At back to school time I always feel like summer was too short!
Posts like these get me so excited for fall…and school!
I love teaching, and I love being with my children, so overall am looking forward to beginning another homeschool year. However, I am feeling quite overwhelmed with organization as we are in the middle of helping my mother and disabled sister move closer so we can help them more, and redoing all the shelving in our own house. I’m having trouble finding things!
Thanks for all your great ideas! Makes me anxious to start school! 🙂
I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of school time (we homeschool) with my kiddos…..I love routine and I think that my kids thrive with it as well.
Amy C recently posted…August 2014 Release Day at Taylored Expressions
I love the start of each new season, and fall is my favorite!
So many ideas for back to school!. Love the mason jar ideas 🙂
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Summer just flies by, excited about the new year.
This is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s better for me in terms of organization and goal-setting than New Year’s!
Back to school for us is crazy. We homeschool, so along with back to school shopping and lesson planning, we have to clean the house top to bottom every little cranny.
We’re looking forward to our first ‘back to school’ this year with our oldest starting preschool. I’m excited to have more structured time with him during the day and to start our homeschooling adventure 🙂
We homeschool and the kiddos always enjoy looking through all their new curriculum.
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Back to School time is busy and exciting for us—we look forward to all our learning plans.
Susan recently posted…The BIG Picture Behind Our Homeschool for 2014-2015
We homeschool and are trying something new this year. I’m excited but also nervous!
We are homeschooling, and I think this is going to be an excellent year. I’m excited. The kids are excited. My daughter keeps asking, “Can we start school today?”
Those are some great ideas. Been busy planning and getting everything ready to go.
We school all year, so back to school is when I buy cheap supplies for the year, but not a lot changes. Except the neighbor kids aren’t trying to come over all day. 🙂
zekesmom10 recently posted…Mathletics ~ A 3P Learning Review
Back to school is an exciting time in our house. All four even get excited when we receive our new materials, books, etc.
I have a pre-k and 4th grader that I will be homeschooling this year.
i love back to school time. i get so excited for back to school supplies and that means its getting closer to fall time! there are so many fun activities for the Fall!
trying to help my sister in law get stuff for my nephew for school and my nieces little boy will be going to school for first time this year so she needs stuff to.
I am so excited to get back to homeschool with the boys. My youngest will be joining us this year and we are both looking forward to learning together.
We homeschool. My boys are always learning something new.
2nd year of homeschooling & so happy with how much easier it is to plan
This will be our first year homeschooling and we are so excited to get started.
Back to school time for me is sad,I always realize another year is gone and the house is empty again but I love their excitement to see their friends,the weather changing,and school clothes and supplies.
Back to school time here is fairly easy. We homeschool, so if anything goes wrong we can work on that problem as well as get some assignments worked on since we are here. This year a new element, the older daughter, age 14 is going to Public highschool so that will add a new element to our days.
So excited this will be our first year homeschooling
Looking forward to another school year of learning along side my children and enjoying watching how the Lord is preparing them for the good works and vocations/professions he’s given them desires and skills to pursue. Just being with them is the richest of blessings.
that time is just flying by 🙁 this will be my g-daughters first year in a school and my g-son is now in 7th! just too fast….why they were only born yesterday 🙂
would have liked more fb pages, but they have me in fb jail for 30 days for liking too many pages 🙁
We home school all year round so it’s really nice when school is back in session and the neighborhood gets quieter.
Where did summer go? I’m not ready for back-to-school!
I love back to school shopping, even though I usually don’t need many things I love looking at all the new stuff.
I love that other women love to give advice on organization. I always love to find new ways to spruce up the organization in my life. Thanks!
As a first time homeschool mom I’m more anxious than my kids are about back to school.
When I was a kid I hated back to school time, but now I’m a mom and kiddo is still young enough that we both LOVE it!!
Back to school is bittersweet. It means my guys are getting older and that summer passed too quickly.
Would so love to win this for my little ones.
My daughter is 3. We are learning every day. Back-to-school is a non-issue for now.
Thanks for the tips, and the great giveaway!
It’s always a fun time as the kids are always exited and have lots of energy
it is definatley starting early this year but we are really trying to get ready the bed times are getting put back into order starting Monday night no more all nighters etc time to get back into a schedule and get ready for learning
My oldest is 3, and at the moment thanks to our 2nd edition to the family, haven’t started anything formal, just bits and pieces of disorganized learning throughout the day, we haven’t had an official “start date” yet, so maybe next year I can discuss how I feel about back to school time…
Hopefully, ‘back to school’ time won’t be too much of an adjustment. We homeschool and have been doing 3 days of school almost every week all summer. We are just now taking a couple weeks off. My little guy will be a first grader and I am excited for the new materials we’ll be covering as part of a Classical Conversations community!
Love these organizing ideas!
Laurie recently posted…Abba El’s Moedim (appointed times)
I love all of these cute organization ideas! My sister just became a teacher and I forward things like this to her all the time.
back to school means i get a new caseload and new school supplies which are both exciting!
We are going into year 4 of homeschooling. My second born is starting K this year and is so excited. He’s been watching brother for awhile now, we have lots of fun things planed. This package giveaway i awesome, every and any child would love it! Maybe us parents more!
Wow, that’s quite the giveaway!
Amberlynn recently posted…Meals Around the World: Russia (Part II), Beans and Peppers – possibly Russian Style
This is our first year homeschooling and this post is exactly what I needed to get us ready!! Thank you so much!
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Very good ideas!
Cool site
I’m all pumped up and ready for the new school year!
Organization is the toughest part of homeschooling for me.
Great
Love these ideas. I think I am going to use the shoe rack idea.
Entering for my daughter, with 5 kids she needs all the help she can get!
This our 8th year homeschooling, and this year we add our 3rd learner. We will have 7th, 2nd, and PreK to cover. Exciting and sad, as they are growing TOO fast but the adventure continues. Great ideas.
I am going on my second year of homeschooling and these are great ideas for my class room… will be doing a few of the ideas for sure… thank you for sharing them
I start homeschooling my grandson this week and I am beyond thrilled to get back to homeschool!
Starting our second year of homeschooling in about a week. Learned a lot from our first year, so with luck this year I will be more organized and won’t want to rip my hair out. ^_^
I really like the “problem of the day” idea. I think my kids would love that. I hope to use some of these ideas for organizing all the supplies for our homeschool.
Since we homeschool, back to school time means getting our new curriculum (we just got it yesterday – yay!), sorting out books we don’t need anymore, buying new school supplies, & talking about what we will learn this coming year. We always look forward to it!
We homeschool and we enjoy going “back to school” shopping and looking at all of our new curriculum for the upcoming year!
My first year homeschooling so looking forward to school supply shopping and getting in a routine.
This will be my first year homeschooling. My oldest son attended kindergarten and 1st in public school and will start 2nd with me. I also have a 2 and 3 year old who will receive informal learning. I am so excited!!!
Awesome, love this. Thank you!
I love back to school time. I love getting everything organized in our “home’s cool” room and the excitement. This year our baby will also start her first year of school in addition to our older one. Looking forward to a great year with the kids and learning new things:)
Back to school time in our household is an exciting event and one we actually look forward to each year. This year there seems to be even more excitement in the air.
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My girls and I are excited to try some new things this year & continue on our journey of learning. We especially love learning new hands on life skills & handi-crafts. It is a joy for us to share with each other!
We just started our 6th year of homeschooling on Monday! I love teaching my children and {re}learning right alongside them!
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I love breaking open those new resources; books, pencils, markers and paper. All the blank space gives me hope for a good year. 😉
Thank you for having an awesome giveaway,
Michelle
Our plan of homeschooling our preschooler is quite exciting, but a bit overwhelming with the wealth of curriculum & activity options. I never thought of myself as a “homeschool mom” since I taught in a public elementary classroom before we welcomed our first precious child. However, things change. Here we go on a new type of family adventure!
Excited for you!
Back to school is a great time for me. I love all of the back to school supplies that are on sale!!! My boys are all excited to be starting new curriculum that they get to help pick out.
Back to school is an odd time. Because we homeschool we can start at our leisure. An official “start time” is grey here, but we try to start by 8am. 4hrs later, we are done. Sometimes that is 12pm and sometimes that is 1:30pm. It definitely takes time to get used to the new routine. I do get excited about learning new things with my kids each year.
Thanks for all the ideas.
Thanks for the great tips and continued information!
Love this time of year!! Kids are excited to get started!