A new school year usually brings about a lot of buzz. In the new school year, it is expected that you would make new friends, have new teachers, buy new clothes and have new classrooms. You must feel anxious and eager to start the new year as it would be filled with a lot of experiences and even people you have never met.
Parents should already be used to their kids at home and as such would have to readjust after the holidays to get back into the rhythm of a regular schedule. In doing this effectively, you should ensure that you plan ahead. Start preparing everyone’s mind towards this change a few weeks early.
These are the 40 best back-to-school tips for parents and students to ensure that you get everything you need set up for the new school year.
What are school tips for parents and students?
As a parent, there are tips you really need to help you in organizing your children before they head back to school. Research shows that students tend to earn higher grades, have better attendance, are more motivated, and are less likely to drop out when their families are involved in their education. These back-to-school tips are ways for you to ensure that you are actively involved in the education of your children.
As a student, you have probably been away from school for a while. You have to devise new means to endear your teachers to you, make new friends and acquaint yourself to a whole new environment. These tips are put in place to help you get through these quite easily.
Why do parents and students need back to school tips?
Back to school tips is a medium for you to recall things you should do but have not done. It goes beyond the obvious showing support by paying fees to other things you can physically do to ensure that your child has an easy time going back to school.
Your child would most probably be dealing with new school rules, routines, classrooms, classmates, teachers, and, in some cases, even new schools. These tips are simply a way to ensure that they meet up to standards.
Read: 20 BEST TIPS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN 2024
40 best back to school tips for parents and students?
1.Prepare mentally
School is about to resume and you can feel it. Preparing mentally is the first and best step to take. You should remember to set your kids’ sleep schedules back to “school time” two weeks before the first day of school to get them ready mentally too.
You should also try to encourage your kids to read at least one book before the school year begins. Talk openly with your kids about their feelings about returning to school and be ready to answer any questions.
In getting ready mentally for school resumption, when it is time, it would not seem so tough anymore.
2. Re-establish a routine
You should re-establish a school routine. You should work on this because a consistent routine is important for kids.
Write out a routine to use for your children from morning till the next day. This would also help you to keep a cool head and stay organized.
3. Encourage independence
You can encourage independence in children by allowing them to help with household chores, planning menus, and shopping. When they are planning to go back to school, you can let them select their own clothes.
This has a way of encouraging independence which they would need in going back to school.
4. Visit the School and Its Website
As a parent who cares about the welfare of his kids, knowing the physical layout of the school building and grounds can help you connect with your child when you talk about his or her school day.
It’s good to know the location of the main office, school nurse, cafeteria, gym, athletic fields, auditorium, and special classes.
By checking the school website, you can find useful information which would not just help your child, but also help you in organizing your year to suit that of your child.
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5. Choose the right backpack
Your child is really too young to carry really heavy backpacks. They can cause muscle strain, headaches, and neck pain. Try to choose a backpack made of sturdy, lightweight fabric with wide, padded straps that will support your child’s shoulders.
Watch that they don’t sling it over just one shoulder. If the backpack your child looks all wrong, try to get a new one before the start of a new school year.
6. Shop for school supplies and gear
Your child may be among those children who really enjoy having all their supplies at their fingertips. Find out what subjects your child would be offering and try to get gears that fit the purpose.
The most common supplies are pencils, pens, books, and erasers. Ensure you provide these basic school gears for your child.
7. Talk about safety
It’s the beginning of a school year. Your child can be reckless but we do not want that. Talk to them about safety.
This may range from little things like not leaving water on the floors to things like looking both ways before crossing the street, taking the same route every day if they are walking, familiarizing themselves with crosswalk rules, and being cautious in talking to strangers.
This would ensure that even when you are not present, your children are safe.
8. Get the lists of school supplies, books and technology your kids will need.
A new school session mostly comes with new technology and new textbooks. Ensure that before the start of the new year and your child has to go back to school, that you have bought most of the technology and school supply needed.
This would go a long way in ensuring that your child goes back to school more confident.
9. Create a list and budget for back-to-school shopping.
If these school supplies are too expensive, you should create a list and budget to enable you to figure out how best to pay for the supplies your child needs at the start of a new year.
This back-to-school tip is very essential because your child would learn better when supplies are readily available.
10. Celebrate the start of a new school year
If you celebrate the first day of school, your kids will see back-to-school as a transition they can really enjoy. Try a back-to-school party the day before school starts, complete with cake, balloons and educational gifts.
And don’t forget to take a picture on the front step in their first day-of-school outfits. This would get the kids really excited about going back to school.
11. Establish healthy habits
You can start this culture by packing healthy lunches and snacks. Help them find physical activities they enjoy.
However, do not always force them on veggies against their wish. They would start craving sweets and find a way to get them.
You would not like this. Give them a little bit of everything.
12. Create an “inbox” for kids to leave things that need your attention, like permission slips.
You cannot always expect to be around your kids 24/7. Ensure you provide ways for them to communicate with you when need be. Doing this facilitates communication in the family and ensures that you know a lot of things going on in your kid’s life.
13. Use sticky notes to flag important items that kids should pay attention to.
Ensure you steadily reinforce the rule around the house and in school for your kids. It is a school day and they would most not be at home.
In case they come back and do not meet you at home, you can use sticky notes to communicate while they are away, reminding them of things prohibited.
14. Use a see-and-store toy rack to make it easier for kids to stay organized.
Your children are going back to school. You must be able to have them organize their books and study supplies into an organized pile when they come home from school.
Organization skills are part of the firsthand knowledge you should teach your child. It would also benefit you because you would not always have to clean up after them.
15. Encourage your kids to lay out their school clothes before going to bed.
This is all part of the independence you should teach your kids for the new school year. You should ensure that your kids lay out their school clothes before going to bed. It would give them a sense of responsibility and ensure they prepare for school faster in the morning.
16. Have kids pack their school bags.
You can start by doing this a couple of times, then having them follow the examples you have set. In no time, they would know each book to pack for each day. It would save you time and give your children a feeling of responsibility.
17. Develop a reading culture
In developing reading culture, a student must have to do it over time for it to become a part of his day-to-day life. Going to school every day without every reading would probably make you unsuccessful. If you are going back to school soon, start now to build ac your reading culture.
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18. Set an alarm or notification 30 minutes before bedtime.
This is all part of getting your children to work on a routine. When they constantly go to bed and wake up at the same time, after a while. Setting an alarm or notification 30minutes before bedtime is a back to school tip every parent should imbibe.
19. Establish regular bedtime routines, using these printable checklists for preschoolers and elementary school kids.
It is not just about studying routines. Sleeping routines are also a great option. Being able to wake up at a particular time every day would give you a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
20. Have a family meeting on how the new school year
In having this family meeting, you and your family can then decide what the plans are and how best to effectively go about the new school year.
21. Remove tech devices, such as phones and tablets, from kids’ bedrooms to focus them on reading
When it is time for your kids to read, remember to remove anything that could cause distractions, such as tech devices, phones, and tablets, and ensure the television is turned off. This is to ensure maximum concentration when they are reading.
22 Talk about first-week jitters
Reassure your child that being nervous is natural – even for teachers. You can help your child cope with these feelings when you let them express their fears. Perhaps you can offer stories of your own first-day jitters when you were a child and also teach them to breathe deeply and slowly to calm their nerves.
23. Map out a bathroom schedule to avoid family fights for bathroom time.
If your house does not have enough bathrooms for everyone to use at the same time, when it is time for a new school session, everyone could want to shower at the same time because of the schedule. It would be wise for you to map out the bathroom schedule.
24. Set- and enforce- regular weekday and weekend wake-up calls.
Weekends are very different from weekdays. Ensure that you enforce time to wake up on the weekends and time to wake up on the weekdays. This could create a routine that could help you for the rest of your life.
25. Devise a plan for homework
If you have a lot of homework to do, it could benefit you most if you devise a plan on how to do the homework. You could make a to-do list or even start from the most important one.
26. Teach kids to prioritize their assignments by making to-do lists with deadlines.
As a parent whose children are going back to school soon, you could start with cutting down the TV time and reinforcing in them the need to do their assignments efficiently to meet up deadlines.
27. Cut down video games
If your children are video game freaks, you should really start now to cut down on video game time. if you start now to cut down the time your kids spend on video games, they would find it easy to readjust to school life.
28. Attend Back-to-School Night and Parent-Teacher Conferences
Preteens and teens do better in school when parents are involved in their academic lives. Attending back-to-school night at the start of the school year is a great way to get to know your child’s teachers and their expectations.
School administrators may discuss school-wide programs and policies, too. Attending parent-teacher conferences is another way to stay informed.
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29. Help your kids develop a filing system for organizing their documents for each class.
When your kids are going back to school, at first, it may be quite difficult to get them to know which books or documents are peculiar to a particular subject in school. You can come in here and assist them in any way you can to get it done.
30. Schedule study blocks on the weekends before big tests, midterms and finals.
From studying your kid’s school academic calendar and visiting the school website, you can find the days that are peculiar for big tests, midterms, and finals. Help them organize and get ready for these big tests.
31. Stay connected with teachers
As a student, staying connected with your teachers would give you privileges. Get to know them and that way, you can easily meet them whenever you get confused about anything. As a parent, you should also know your child’s teachers to get information about his or her performance.
32. Take Attendance Seriously
In going back to school, you should always try to take attendance very seriously. You can take a sick day if they have a fever, are nauseated, vomiting, or have diarrhea.
Otherwise, it’s important that you arrive at school on time every day, because having to catch up with classwork, projects, tests, and homework can be stressful and interfere with learning.
33. Go through the kids’ wardrobes every two to three months to get rid of things that no longer fit.
Your child is constantly growing. As a parent, you should go through their wardrobes every once in a while to get rid of unwanted things. However, if your child is in high school, ensure that you take their permission first before throwing it out.
34. Teach Study Skills
Planning is a big part of helping your child study for tests now that he or she is juggling work from multiple teachers. Be sure you both know when tests are scheduled and plan enough study time before each.
When there’s a lot to study, help determine roughly how much time it will take to study for each test, then make a study calendar so your child doesn’t have to study for multiple tests all in one night. Remind your child to take notes in class, organize them by subject, and review them at home each day.
35. Know the Disciplinary and Bullying Policies
Every school usually has its disciplinary policies in student handbooks. The rules usually cover expectations, as well as consequences for not meeting the expectations, for things like student behavior, dress codes, use of electronic devices, and acceptable language. In knowing these policies, you would know how to protect your child when the need arises.
36. Set goals for the school year
This back-to-school tip is mostly for you as a student. You should ensure you set goals for the school year before you go back to school. This would ensure you keep focus and keep sight of what is important.
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37. Have your kids set realistic goals for the new school year, such as reading 30 books or filling a journal.
As a parent, this is one of the best ways to get your kids to grab as enough knowledge as possible. It also helps in preparing them mentally for the new school year. In preparing to go back to school, you could ask them to read books or perform any other tasks that have to do with brain work.
38. Work out a to-do list of age-appropriate chores for each child and help them set weekly goals for completing them (without being asked).
This would help in their organizational and time-conscious skills. Fixing chores for each child would ensure that everything is done when it is supposed to in an orderly and organized manner.
39. Make Time to Talk About School
Staying connected with preteens and teens as they grow more independent can be a challenge for parents, but it’s more important than ever.
While activities at school, new interests, and expanding social circles can become more central to the lives of many middle school students, parents and guardians are still their anchors for providing love, guidance, and support.
40. Schedule time for fun
All work and no play can make your child really dull. Ensure you make out time to have fun with your children away from the school stress.
Conclusion
As the day breaks and the sun sets, you should know that school resumption draws closer. These tips are a guide to ensure that you do everything you are meant to do as your child or students are coming back to school. With these tips, you could never go wrong.
References
- https://www.thepersonal.com
- www.care.com/
- https://childmind.org/
- www.princetonreview.com/
- parentinfo.org/
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