5 Easy Ways to Get Ready for Back to School

Going in to the summer, I felt overwhelmed with how I would manage to entertain my three children for three straight months. But much to my surprise, the summer is FLYING by. And before I know it, Hudson will be off to kindergarten and Sadie will be starting preschool. Time is a thief! Where did my little babies go? I’m partnering with Kleenex® Facial Tissue to share how we are getting ready for back to school.

Hudson is thrilled to be starting kindergarten, and that makes me so happy. In fact, both of my kids can’t wait for school to start! I hope they always feel that way. We’ve been talking a lot about school and what to expect. Hudson does best in new situations when he feels prepared. Anyone else have a child like that? He likes to talk things through several times before we go somewhere or try something new. Once he’s there, he’s totally into it. But I’ve learned that talking it out ahead of time always sets him up to do better. So, although I’m by no means an expert, I wanted to share FIVE of the simple things we are doing to get ready for back to school.

1. Practice your child’s favorite skills: I want our summers together to be fun, yet still help my kids practice the skills they need for school. This means letting certain skills you think might be necessary go to the wayside. If your child struggles with writing his or her name, leave it. It will come in time in the classroom. If your child does not want to print his or her name but loves art, find fun ways to work on fine motor skills by using play dough or crafting.

Hudson LOVES to write his name but isn’t a fan of writing any other letters. But he DOES like being the boss. So, when I asked him to help his little sister write her name, he was all about it. He especially loves the letters that he and Sadie share in their names.

Sadie doesn’t want to write her name just yet, but loves playing with Hudson and will do whatever he wants…so it’s a win-win. By practicing skills my kids enjoy, they feel more confident when it comes to learning a new skill. Plus, it’s not fun for any of us to work on skills they don’t enjoy…they have plenty of time for that later, ha!

2. Learn through play: This is a huge one in our house! With small children, they learn best when they can be hands-on and the learning can be in the context of play. They don’t even realize they are learning. If your child doesn’t have his numbers down but is eager to kick a ball, keep score as you play! When eating popsicles, we talk about the different colors and how popsicles melt when they get warm and freeze when they get cold.

We built a tower using Kleenex Facial Tissue boxes. I had Hudson and Sadie count the boxes as they stacked them. And then we knocked them down and started again. Anything can be a game!

3. Read. Read. Read: We read a TON of books this summer. All three of my children love reading, but that little one in the middle loves it the most. She’s always bringing us a book and the big two love to “read” it to her. Reading practices so many important skills, like sitting still, listening, comprehension, and recognizing sight words. I hope all of my kids become life-long lovers of books.

4. Practice a school schedule: In the summer, our schedule gets more relaxed. We eat dinner a little later, stay up to watch a movie together, and often go to bed late….and sleep in late, too (sometimes). So instead of shocking their systems the first week of school, we are going to ease in to a back to school schedule this month.

We’ll start going to bed earlier, practice waking up in time for school, eating breakfast, packing up bags, and getting ready. I hate to rush around in the mornings and with three little kids in tow, just one of them being slow can throw us all off. So, practice practice practice! This one may be more for me than them, ha!

5. Start buying those supplies: This is the first time we’ve had to purchase a bunch of school supplies, and Hudson is thankfully totally into it! I remember loving picking out my school supplies as a kid, too. We’ll see how long he feels this way.

One of the supplies Hudson has to bring to his classroom is Kleenex Facial Tissue. We picked up our 10-box bundle at Costco! From 8/9 until 9/2, members can save $4 on the Kleenex Facial Tissue bundle pack, which includes 15 Bonus Box Tops!

I love being able to help Hudson and Sadie’s classes by supplying them with Kleenex Facial Tissue, but also love that they help Hudson’s school with the Box Tops! School budgets are tight and I know a lot of teachers buy supplies out of their own pockets, so I love that Kleenex Facial Tissue at Costco is made to give more, with 10 boxes per bundle and 43% more tissues per box. While picking up the supplies, I also explained to Hudson and Sadie that even buying a few extra boxes of Kleenex will help out their teachers.

What are you doing to prepare your child to a classroom hero this fall?

This post is sponsored by Kleenex Facial Tissue, but all opinions are my own.