Back to school? Back-to-school organization tips to help you set up routines and systems for success…even if the school year has already started.
As of now, your kids are likely back to school or about to be.
And with back-to-school time comes the chaos of everything else.
Planning activities, packing lunches, shuffling through the papers, and backpacks.
Not to mention the dreaded before and after school routine!
Let's face it, you need some help with your back-to-school organization.
So how do you stay organized when it feels like you’re rushing in and out the door every day?
When lunch boxes are getting thrown around?
When there are papers spilling out of backpacks?
How can you get and stay organized among it all?
I wish I had a secret formula or magic answer for you.
But the truth is, you just have to find what works.
Establish routines and find things a spot and schedule that works for your family.
It may take some trial and error, but you’ll get there!
Keeping School Papers Organized
First, there are the papers.
Chances are, whether your child is in kindergarten or eighth grade, they probably come home with a serious amount of papers each day.
Soon enough they’re spread on the countertops or missing.
There are important papers to be signed and returned.
Grades to be looked over.
And likely, a handful of things will go in the trash.
This also applies to homework.
Regardless of your child’s age, they will have some method of returning papers back to school.
Talk through this with them so you are both on the same page.
Related: Take our FREE Paper Organization Challenge!
Finding a Before and After School Routine
I’m willing to guess your mornings and afternoons feel at least a little… rushed.
Routines hold it all together.
Routines allow you to float from one task to another. Especially repeated during the week.
When you’re doing the same thing day in and day out (in this case, before and after school), setting a routine helps parents and kids.
A routine can hold the expectation. Not only where things are, but where kids have to be and what they have to be doing.
Once a routine is in place, you’ll have less nagging and reminding for your children to get there.
They should be able to do it all on their own, no matter their age.
Thus, creating much smoother before and after-school time frames.
Related: How to Set Up The Best Routines For Your Family
The Backpacks and Lunch Boxes
An important part of back-to-school organization is keeping the things they now carry with them organized.
This is primarily the backpacks and lunch boxes. Designated spaces or “drop zones” help a lot with these items.
Knowing where they go and where they should be put back daily is helpful for both adults and kids.
For younger children, you can use visual schedules or printables.
These can include what or where these items go. You can even give them a list to check off.
Back-to-School Organization: What are they wearing?
To stay organized with clothing as your kids go back to school:
- Decide who will pick out the clothes
- Know where the clothes will be on school mornings
- Any other expectations around clothing and what your child will wear to school
Depending on your child’s age, you may already have a way to get and keep clothes organized.
Whether your child wears uniforms or picks what they wear daily, this is an important step for getting kids ready for school.
Some choose a weekly schedule for clothing, setting out five days of clothes at once.
Some people opt for setting clothing out the night before, and some choose the morning of.
Whatever you choose, have a method that works for you and your child.
Try to start this right away in the school year.
This helps your child know and understand the expectations.
Related: How We Organize School Uniforms
Tips for Back-to-School Organization:
- Implement systems: Have a way you pack lunch, a routine you stick to every single morning. Set up how/where you’ll have clothing for the next day. Kids adapt to predictable routines and systems. They just have to know what they are first before they can implement them!
- Give important things a home: paper piles, lunch boxes, backpacks, shoes. This is where they live now and forever. This is where they should be, where your kids and family members know they go.
- Factor in the variables: As you gain a new routine during back to school, there will likely be some variables along with the change. Snacks, homework spots, where things work best (such as shoes, hair items, or any other grab-and-go items). Even schedules may change. It’s important to establish routines and implement systems early on. But it’s also important to have a layer of flexibility as you toss in the variables.
Implement a system
Right when your child comes home from school, make sure they know where the papers go.
Whether they are five or fifteen, they can take ownership of their things.
They can take their papers out of their backpack or folder. But they must know where to put them! Especially important ones.
Try having some kind of holder or filing system. Important papers go to you, the parents.
Work and graded items get filed away (or proudly displayed on the fridge!)
Things to sign or look over get shown to the parent, then promptly put right back in their backpack, etc.
By implementing a system, the same things happen daily. No matter what’s inside the folder.
This can help you stay organized, not lose any important papers, and hopefully tame the after-school counter chaos!
Need a cleaning system to get you set up for back-to-school time? Check out the FlyLady system.
Give things a home
If you know where things always go, they’ll make their way back there every time. Hopefully.
But at least everyone will know where they are supposed to go when they’re looking for them! All the physical items can feel overwhelming when they’re thrown anywhere.
The backpack needs a hook. Paper piles need a designated spot. Lunch boxes need a place to go when they’re empty. Then when they’re loaded up to go out the door.
By setting yourself up with routines and then homes for all the items, you’re setting yourself up for success rushing out and in the door.
From September until June, this is where those items can always be found by anyone looking for them.
Factor in the variables
Routines and schedules are incredibly important in back-to-school organization.
Going back to a foundation you’ve built and can cling to when schedules get extra crazy can help calm the chaos.
But it’s important to not only find routines that work specifically for you and your family but to know when to be flexible in doing so. Things change. Activities get added in or taken away. Kids get sick. Things that worked for a while may not work long term.
You get it.
With set schedules and maintaining organization comes the need to be even a little flexible.
After all, you want to find what works best for you. And how can you do that if you don’t trial and error some things?
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