Working Toward Back to School – List and Gather Day

There are so many little details you need to take care of to prepare to go back to school. There are things you need to do. There are things you need to find or buy. There are appointments to be made. Then, whew, that first day of school arrives. Now you will be deluged with paperwork. You will receive a new list of tasks to do as soon as possible. You take care of all of those things. Maybe the rushed feeling subsides or maybe we just get use to it, but from now until the end of the school year, there will always be something.

Today is list and gather day. I will do a few things today to begin building a new School Planner.  The planner will be a big help not only over the next few weeks, but throughout the year and give me a starting point for next year.

With the many trains of thought necessary to keep track of all of the school stuff, I need several separate lists to make sense of all the activities. Even though my little guy is just starting school, I have done this before (the teenager graduated high school this year!), so I have several starter lists already on my computer. I printed them out and found some loose leaf paper and a small 3 ring notebook.

If you are starting your own planner for the first time, just use pen and paper. Once your lists have been through a trial run or two to make sure they are set up to work for you, then you can transfer them to the computer if you want to. The first time I made a school planner, I rearranged lists, tossed out lists, and scribbled in the margins like crazy.  It was only after I did an event follow-up later that I was able to see the details that suited my needs. Do make sure to do a follow up each year if you continue to use your planner. As the kids grow, a lot of the details change.  Our planner evolved considerably as she progressed to new grades and developmental stages. You can dress it up later, don’t bother yet.

Once I have the planner started, there are some things I can fairly quickly check and gather in the house so I will be ready to move on to the next actions without doubt.

For my room project, I already have a couple of mental lists and some things to gather to be ready to start on it, too. For those of you wanting to follow my progress, I will give you the details for it at the very bottom of the page.

The List of Lists.

There are several lists I would like you to consider making. Some are to be completed to act on now. Some you will just put a title on a page and add to it throughout the year. Some you will not need at all. If you have one you do not see here, let us know. I’m always looking for more tips.

When you start making out these lists, you may get the urge to start acting on them as you go. Please, don’t. Not yet. Sit down and stay seated until you have all of your lists made or at least started. It is like those times where you head toward the laundry room, get distracted by something else to take care of, then something else, on and on. You can get carried away by tangents that will keep you from getting back to the original task.

Some of these seem very daunting. Remember that the first time around is always the hardest. Next time, you will be making small adjustments and updating them. Also remember that you do not have to have them all completed at once. Just start them. Make a simple page with a title that helps you remember your intention for the list. They will be going through ongoing transitions through the other activities in this series anyway.

For some of these, you may want to make separate lists or define columns for each child. Label them well. If your memory is anything like mine, you may not be able to remember later whose is what or what is whose.

One more thing. Tennessee has two tax free days each year. One in early August the other in the Spring. You can purchase several items, mostly school related without having to pay a sales tax. There are always special sales on those days with many super discounts. Many states have similar days. Before you start making these lists, you may want to find out approximately when those days are if your state participates.  On top of the lists of stuff, you may want to make a note on the top so you will remember to be ready to make purchases on those days.

These are not in any particular order.

• School Supplies – For the earliest grades, the individual teachers are very specific. Many of the things that use to be common, they have already acquired. Maybe they are still leftover from when we were kids. There was nothing on my son’s list that I was expecting. You may need to wait until you hear from the teacher before adding list detail. A few years in, you can start to anticipate the majority of things they will need and make the list well in advance with little change from year to year. Decide if you want or have the room to pick up extras for replacements later.
• School Supplies Keepers – the basic supply list is pretty straight forward. But where in their notebooks, backpacks and at home will you keep those supplies? Go back through your supply list, and at the bottom add anything that you may need to keep those supplies from ruin or from going missing.
• Home Supplies and Keepers – Yesterday I had you pick out a place for the kids to do homework. Keeping that spot in mind, you may need to add to the supply list again. Will you need to pick up extras not just for replacements later in the year, but to keep on hand at the ready at home? Where will you keep those supplies at home? What kind of containers will you need? If you don’t think you have to add to the list, don’t. You can always change your mind later.
• Clothing Needed – Kids grow quickly in spurts that come in their time, not ours. I’ve been burned before. Now I am really picky in my household when making out the clothing list. The season will be changing very soon, but not really for a couple of months. If their summer clothing still fits, that is what they will wear for a while longer. There is a big difference in needs and wants. What do they really need to have right now that can not wait? Those are the only things I put on this list. I keep a Fall Maintenance Planner that reminds me to prepare warmer clothing and a Spring Planner that reminds me to prepare for warmer days. Most of our clothes shopping waits until then.
• Extra Outfit – Regardless of what grade your child is in, make a note on the clothing list to prepare and send a complete change of clothing. Accidents happen. Whether it is a little kids accident, something tearing, something staining, something getting wet, or just being deemed inappropriate according to the dress code, accidents happen. Having a change of clothing available will keep it from being a problem.
• Extracurricular Activities – There are several reasons to write this one out. What you have planned and they have planned may be very different. You may not realize how too much (or little) your child is involved until you see it written out.  There may be additional items to add to the school supply list. Besides, we will want to make sure to include them for some other activities we will be working on in this series.
• A Contact List – Another add as you go list. Keep a contact list specific for each child. You will want a lot of contact information on hand as time goes on. Keeping a separate list for each child will be a big help when trying to pinpoint someone specific whose name may escape you or when the kids activities overlap so a couple people may have similar sounding descriptions. There are several practical reasons for multiple lists. There are also some pretty stressful situations that none of think will happen to us, when a child specific list will come in extremely handy. Some schools will send home a directory. They are a great start, but have fallen short for us several times in the past. The things you may want on the contact list:
  • The school numbers, website address, and e-mails. In addition to the main numbers, each member of the administration may have their own information. Are there more numbers, web pages, and accounts you might need? Websites for school menus and to prepay for meals quickly comes to mind.
  • The teachers numbers, individual web pages, web pages for assignments or grades,  and email addresses. Try to get and include the specific time your child is in each teachers class.
  • Leaders and additional coordinators for extracurricular activities. All of their phone numbers, email addresses, and home addresses in some cases.
  • The first AND last name of you child’s friends, team mates, and group pals. You want to try to get their telephone numbers, addresses, and e-mail.  Make additional notations of the groups they share such as soccer or a club name.
  • Once you have the kid’s information, get their parents information. They may have different last names. The number for the kid, may be their personal cell phone. You want the numbers for the phone the parents use, too.
  • Additional notes for some of the people already listed above.  I do not keep extended notes on everyone. Sometime there is something to add. In the past I have noted businesses where they have worked when it interested me or to support them. A couple of times I needed to remind myself of relationship and custody issues for coordinating or social reasons.  Maybe some details about siblings of the friends. etc.
  • Social Media – With places like Facebook, all of the chat functions, and other forms of social media now available out there, you may want to include screen names of your child’s friends or which of the contacts above it would be appropriate and beneficial for you to connect with through additional channels.
• Appointments – Do not wait to actually have an appointment to write down which ones you need. Do you need to make a doctors appointment for a full physical or immunizations? (Some will squeeze you in quickly for immunizations when they can’t for a full physical. If you are running short on time, some schools and activities will allow participation with immunizations, and a scheduled physical, where they will not without immunizations.)  Do you need to participate in an orientation before school starts? How many parent teacher conferences are pre-scheduled throughout the year? What about the superficial things like haircuts?
• Upcoming Events – Add these to your appointment list. Every year there are a few events that come up that I always needed a bit of time to prepare. Look at the school calendar and make a list of anything that may fall into this category. Look over the syllabus for each class and make sure to talk to the teachers about the bigger projects/plans on their calendar. Also make a note beside each one that will remind you why you need time to prepare. Do you need to budget savings for an end of the year trip? Is there a field trip, class party, fruit sale or other fundraiser where they will expect you to volunteer? How many big research papers or science projects will you need to encourage your child to manage time?
• Your Child’s Personality – Sound strange? As your child encounters stress, social dilemmas, different influences, and new environments, they may have personality changes that will clue you in. If the changes are sudden, you probably will not miss it. But what if they are more gradual? Writing out as complete a list as you can right now detailing specific personality traits and habits will give you a reference for comparison every now and again. Just taking the time to really think about it and write it down will make you more aware. Watch for changes in sleeping habits, eating habits, esteem, the topics and rate of their conversation, their concentration levels, and change in interests. Don’t be paranoid about it. They are going to be different people tomorrow from whom they are today. Just be proactive.
• Food List – Find out which foods you kids will eat and do not want to eat. Their tastes will change and sometimes you will not know. Food is prepared differently at home than it is in school. Your child may like one, but not the other. You do not want them skipping meals.
• Your Information – During the first couple of days at school, parents all over our great country are deluged with paper, forms, and writers cramp. Having a prepared list of allergies, insurance information, specifics for your family physician, and emergency contacts/next of kin and other expected information may save you a few minutes later.

Before You Act, Gather What You’ve Got

Now that all of your lists are made, it is time to start getting things together. Take a look around the house for the items you have on your lists. See how much of the information you will need you already have available.

In the rest of the series, we will be doing activities that will add things to your lists and a few that may help you to cross a few things off. Keep that in mind before you head out shopping.

My Little School Room

Right now, I am focusing on getting the room straightened up. There are a few tools that will help me get started. So I made a list of things I would need for clean up and only for clean up. I do have ideas running through my head of things I will need when I put the room back together, but that is later. I can purge those from my mind onto paper somewhere else. I will make better progress if I concentrate on one step at a time.

Many of you have seen the list of tools before. I will not need a calendar for this project. The clutter is craft stash with very little paper. I probably will not use a stop watch either since I am sort of in a time crunch. I will work for as long as I am comfortable and stop when I get frustrated or feel like a break. I will be using laundry baskets to sort through everything, but I will not need to try to find anything decorative for storage.  I thought it would be fun to use school themed music while I work, if not I have plenty of other upbeat tunes that will do.

I am looking for very short term storage right now, so NO shopping for solutions yet. That will wait for when I am ready to set up the room for its intended purpose. I will have a notebook handy to write down the ideas for the room, for long term storage ideas for my craft supplies, to call someone when some item makes me think of them, new craft ideas, or anything else that comes to mind. When I write it down, I can get it off my mind and stay focused on the task at hand.

Once I have thought through my tools list and thought through the specifics, I am ready to gather everything I will need to complete the first stage of this project. I round up everything I have already in the house and put it all right outside the door to the room. If I was missing anything,  I would run out to get it or add it to my shopping list.

Since I do happen to have everything, I am ready to get started any time I find a couple of minutes.