New School Year Resolutions

I have THREE of my kids starting school this coming Monday, so I thought I would pull this out from last year, dust it off and see what I need to do to prepare for this new chapter. It will be weird for me since this is the first year since 2009 that I will have only one kid with me for the majority of each day. I’m not sure what the baby and I will do with ourselves for all of that time!

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School is about to start for our crew, and since our whole schedule is about to get rebooted, I decided to create some family goals for the upcoming school year. Here are some new school year resolutions important to our family…anything you would add for yours?

1. Ask the kids each day if they have homework.  If they say yes, make sure they do it.  If they say no, check their back packs.

2. Pack a nutritious lunch each day.  Ok, every other day.  Ok, ok, at least twice a week.

3. Develop a relationship with the childrens’ teachers.  Email relationships count.

4. Avoid PTO flyers. Give them my husband’s cell number and email address if they ask for contact info. (Some people are super awesome PTO parents.  They’re gifted and involved and efficient. I am not one of these people, and it’s really best for all concerned if I stay out of their way.)

5. If the teacher has a treasure box, make donations to it throughout the year.  Those treats are paid for out of the teacher’s pocket.

6. Hide all clothes I don’t want the kids to wear to school. Those are the ones they always choose to dress themselves in.

7. Institute a daily chore list and enforce it.

8. Be consistent with bedtime so the kids get enough sleep.

9. Wake up before the children each day and drink a cup of coffee so I can speak to them intelligibly, and so I can see well enough to catch them before they walk out the door in the clothes that were supposed to be hidden.

10. Encourage the kids to make new friends in addition to their old ones.

11. Have healthy after school snacks on-hand and easy to find.

12. Find the school year calendar and record it on the family calendar so we can avoid those awkward mornings at the bus stop when we’re waiting forever, only to find out it’s actually teacher in-service.

13. Take advantage of online grade books and cafeteria records.

14. Don’t lose any more library books.  Those suckers get expensive.

15. Be in constant communication with the children about how everything is going. Make sure they know that I’m interested in what they do away from home, and that I care about what they are experiencing each day.