Urlifestyle Magazine October 2016 August 2016 | Page 20

Nix Top Six Back to School Tips
By Nicole Morrison-Mathern
Co-owner, URL Radio

1Get into a routine:

Switching from a summer schedule to school can be stressful
especially if the kids have been staying up late, and sleeping
in every day. Start easing into your school schedule about
two weeks
before school
starts. This
includes bed
time, wake up
o’clock, meals
etc. Routines
not only help
avoid first day of
school craziness,
but can also help
the children
feel more
comfortable
when an
established
routine is set.
These are recommended bedtimes according to age, and
wake up time created by an educator in Wisconsin.

4Visit the school:

Usually elementary schools have
an open house so the kids can see
what classroom they will be in, who
their teacher is, and
who will be in their
class. This is a big
deal to elementary
aged kids to help get
accustomed to their
new environment. For
kids going into middle
school this can be
important too, but
7th grade on up will
probably be “too cool”
to want to go & check
things out.

5Pack the
night before:

Whether it’s their book
bag or sack lunch –
try to do as much as
possible the evening
before to prevent early
morning chaos. Here’s
a handy little graphic
from Pinterest to help
with the decision
making of school
lunch prep.

2 Shift into learning mode:

Have them start reading books, and go visit some museums or other
cultural attractions to help shift their brain from fun and games to
learning.

3Create a family calendar:

Track everyone’s activities and commitments. I have a dry erase board
that I update each month. It helps both the kids and the parents stay on
top of things.

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6Put mobile
devices to
bed: About an hour

or two before bed it’s
time to shut down the
video games, and mobile devises.
Otherwise the amount of time for
them to fall asleep will take longer,
and the quality of sleep will not be as
good.
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