How I Survived Back to School Week

Last week both of my kids started school. Both of my babies in the same building for one year. It was a very emotional and sad day but I pushed forward and made it through. I still have a learning curve now that I am fully working from home now and not teaching anymore but so far everything is going well. 

How I Survived Back to School Week

The thought of now getting 2 kids up at the crack of dawn and out the door before 7:30 seemed like such a task. In previous years, it was just my daughter going so I only had to manage her then I would have another hour to get the youngest ready for preschool. I had to make some adjustments and do some planning. We also had to do a few days and see how things went and then adjust again. Here are some tips that are working so far for us:

• Get up Early: I know this isn’t anything eye opening but it’s amazing how fast the morning goes especially with 2 kids! We get up early. Yes, it stinks but we have to. I actually have my daughter (oldest, 5th grade) set her own alarm and get up herself. She loves this independence and it helps that she’s a morning person. She also wakes up the youngest so he’s not grumpy!

 

• Plan Easy Breakfasts: I would love to say I plan out these fabulous gourmet meals for my kids and send them off to school to learn but that’s just not possible. Fast mornings mean faster breakfasts. We stick to easy things like eggs, frozen waffles, cereal, or muffins I’ve baked over the weekend.

 

• Get Clothes/Backpack/Lunch Ready: We get as much ready the night before as we can. Sock/shoes are set out, backpacks are packed up, and we start lunches. I do make the main part of lunches the morning of but there are some extras that can go in a lunch the night before. It takes about 10 minutes do this and saves us panic!

Check out these school lunch tips I recommend.

These 3 simple tips have so far been really helpful for our morning routine and made things run better but we are only on week 2 so things can change!

I really enjoyed the first week of school because I got to drive around in a fun car around town. It was awesome to drive around in this pretty Toyota RAV-4 Adventure and my kids thought it was so fun! We loved all the room in the back and I loved all the cargo space for groceries. Even though they were in school all day we still had fun cruising around afterwards and in between.

My very last tip that I recommend to all parents going back to school with their kids (especially during drop off and pick up times!!!) is to have some patience. I know that everyone hates the dreaded after school pick-up line (I see videos daily in my Facebook feed!) but really everyone needs to just relax and be safe.

Thank you to Toyota for allowing me to drive the all new Toyota RAV-4 Adventure and write about my experience. I had such an awesome week and it made my back to school week a blast!