How your Keller home helps your back-to-school routine

Each year as summer ends, teachers, parents, and students alike all begin their back-to-school preparations. Fall is a great time to start fresh, establish new and better routines, and to set family schedules that fit both your needs and the needs of your growing kids.

Below are 3 tips to help get your family geared up for a successful school year.

1. Post a central calendar
You may be using mostly digital calendars to keep track of your work and personal appointments, but having a physical, centrally located calendar in your Keller home is helpful to show what to expect on a daily basis. It will not only help keep everyone organized, but it also allows kids to add items.

Find a visible area, like your refrigerator or kitchen wall, to post a large, easy-to-use calendar that uses erasable markers for easy edits. Then, show your kids how to post things like field trips, sports or band practice, appointments and even fun things like birthday parties and holidays. You can also make a spot to post the school-day schedule, too, so it’s clear when everyone needs to wake up, get dressed, do homework and all the important tools for a successful day.

For very young children, use pictures to represent calendar items along with words for a great early literacy tool. Even if you’ve never used this type of calendar before, fall is the perfect time to start.

2. Set a chore schedule
Whether you use a “chore wheel” or just assign chores to each family member, if a chore schedule is clear and in writing, everyone is more likely to follow it. While chores can be assigned to anyone in the home, just remember to find age-appropriate tasks and make sure to demonstrate how to complete them correctly. Most kids are able to do some household chores at any age, even if it’s just tidying up their room, feeding a pet or helping out with laundry.

While manual chores like washing dishes most immediately come to mind, having the right appliances to complete some tasks are essential. Modern washers and dryers make laundry a much easier task, especially if your kids have sports uniforms with grass and dirt stains that need to be cleaned quickly for the next day's game or practice.

3. Plan for each day the night before
Set aside time right after dinner to plan ahead for the next day. This may seem like a tough task to carve out time for, but it helps save time down the line. Have kids check for permission slips or other important school information, make lunches and set out the next day's clean clothes before it's too late to throw in an extra load if needed.

Check for unfinished homework or upcoming projects that need a little more planning or supplies to get done. If you make this "next day check" into a daily routine, your kids will eventually start doing it without the need to prompt them.

You've probably heard that kids need and appreciate structure in their day, but if it's been tough to set up a routine before, don't worry — each school year provides a new beginning, a fresh start to improve the way everyone gets through the day and takes care of what needs to be done.

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