Welcome! If you have small kids at home like I do, you will probably either be sighing in relief that the kids are back in school, or cursing at how much the new routine has changed the lazy late summer days.
For us, it has brought different - rather than good or bad necessarily. What this means for me:
- I need to make sure I'm getting up at 5am every single week day to get some work done, and to have a bit of quiet time for myself to prepare for the day.
- I need to get my kids up at least by 7am to make sure they have time to wake up and get ready. (Especially when the novelty of going back to school wears off).
- I need to ensure an earlier bed time than my kids have been used to over the summer months.
- I will get back into my early morning filming routines and change my tasks accordingly.
This year is different for me in that I have two kids going to school all day now. In a way it should be easier, because I only have to leave the house twice a day. (Unless I have other appointments or commitments of course). Last year, my daughter was in kindergarten, so it was harder because I had to leave mid day as well to pick her up.
I think with my youngest son, it will be a hit or a miss. Generally, when it's just him and me together, he's pretty well behaved and plays well on his own or with me. When his siblings are around, he either fights with them or gets riled up quite easily. On the other hand, I think he might get bored as well, and it might take a few weeks for him to get used to the new schedule.
Another new thing is that my oldest is going to be taking the bus to a new school now since he starts junior high (also known as middle school in some other areas of the country). This is new to me - when I was going to school, I used to take the bus but that's because I used to live an hour away from the nearest public place because we were out on a farm.
So, my only travel will be to my daughters school which I suppose is the same as last year. I will drop her off, wait for her to get into the school and then go home and get back to work!
We'll see how the homework routine works out. Ideally, I would like my kids to come home and start immediately before supper, but I know what it's like to just chill after being away from home all day. Sometimes you just need that relaxation time and a snack and then you can get into it.
For my daughter, I think Grade One homework will be really easy. She loves school, and I can see her doing really well. For my son, it will be interesting because he is going into Grade Seven, so it's going to be a completely new dynamic for him and I'm really excited for him. I think the new freedom that you don't get in elementary is going to let him expand in a positive way. I may do an update on this further into the colder months.
As for my work and planning, I enjoy the early mornings and I also enjoy the quiet time at home. I think driving less is going to allow me to get more work done throughout the day so maybe I'll be able to be done earlier and can give my family more attention during dinner and the time before bed.
I enjoy adding all the school appointments and tasks to my planner that revolve around the school year. I'm trying to instill the same love for planning in my son that I have, but I think he's leaning more toward the digital version - he would be more prone to add his assignments to his phone. He struggles with time management so he says he doesn't get time to write down anything in a planner. (Meanwhile, I'm here chuckling in the back row because that's all I do is make time for it!)
That's it for updates for now - at least until October or November. I wish you the best of luck also if you have kids going back to school. Here's to one thing - I took the stress away and got all the school supply shopping done before August even hit!
Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!
Sandra
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