Organizing tips for Back to School
August 23, 2010 by Sandy
When do your kids go back to school?
Are you ready? Jumping up and down..or crying your eyes out?
But for all of us it means a Change in Routine! There are lunches to pack, book bags to attend to, papers to see, sign and dates to put into our calendars. Getting to bed earlier, getting up earlier. Catching a bus or learning the route to walk/ride bikes, or moms doing the driving (like me).
This is part of a post I did last year – to give you an idea on how to make a “Routine Board” for the Morning crazies we all have.
I gave some tips for morning and afternoon routine in my Back To School Post you can see here. Today I want to tell you about the School Routine Board you can make for your kids. I use this same concept for a Chore Board..but this is why it is such an adaptable idea. Here are the steps to Make your own. Instead of the child’s name at the top of the board, you can use “Before School” and “After School”. Then use your magnets and drawer pictures with brief description of the task that needs to be done. Children are visual and instead of rattling off the list of “To Do’s” every morning, they will know to look at the Routine Board.
It’s just another way for your morning and after school routines to go a little smoother.
One thing that helps us is to group tasks into “chains”. Instead of asking my pre-teen if he fed the fish, fed the cats, or gave the dog water, I just ask him if he’s done the food chain. We also have a bedtime chain – (shower, deodorant, PJ’s, and brush teeth) and a morning chain (bathroom, get dressed, teeth, hair). Creating consistent habits are what it’s all about with ADHD kids.
great ideas Adrian!
Great idea. This will be helpful for my kids who can’t read yet. I think I might be able to sneak in a chores for the day column too. My kids are young so their won’t be too much on there to make it overwhelming.