Back to School Ideas from Avery

Just found a good post on the Avery website about organizing for school. "Getting Ready for School is as Easy as ABC" is a good reminder to do the things we as moms know we need to:
A: Assignments - have a place for kids at home to put these.
I have several ways I do this at home.

• Most important is my clipboard. On it I attach current items that need attention (permission slips, trip details, project due dates, party invitations, etc.) These are things I need to do or have the kids do, and I put the most current on top.
• Next is our kids area at home. On the odd-sloping wall by the stairs are coat hooks (one for each kid) and backpack hooks (one for each kid) and a shoe storage bin. On this wall I tape several things we need for the year: the monthly school menu, the band practice schedule, a weekly schedule (the same for the whole year) showing which "special" each kid has each day.
• The wall is important because the kids can read things for themselves to see what's for lunch and what they have that day.

• Finally, we have a shelf at home where I put folders. Each kid has an accordian folder where I keep their "keep" papers, class rules or handbooks or other ongoing items and bulky schedules that don't hang on the wall. (For these, each month I write the date of their special class on the menu, so they see it.) Other folders on the shelf are for IEPs and after-school activities, like Scouts, sports, band, etc. Usually I just label these with the activity and we reuse the same folder every year, since some things aren't on the same timeline as school and some paperwork is ongoing.

B: Belongings - label everything so it doesn't get lost at school.

This is a great idea. I usually label things with our last name, since some items get handed down.

C: Clothing - label things like jackets.

• I learned to do this when a few years ago I gave my son a spare jacket to wear to school because it was too warm for a winter coat and not cold enough for a fall coat. The teacher called me at the end of the day asking what color his coat was. Apparently there was one coat left in the closet and my son swore up and down it wasn't his. It was! LOL

• I admit what I do for the spare coats is write our last name on masking tape and tape it over the tag at the back of the item. It works until they get washed. For the "good" coats and sweatshirts they wear a lot, I used to write in the coat (usually they have a label to write on) with a permanent marker.
  
• I think I might try the Avery iron-on labels this year. It sounds like a good idea and more permanent than my masking tape idea.
  

Braving the Stores

Today, armed with a list of needed school supplies complied from letters all three kids received from their new teacher, we trekked to WalMart. (Not my favorite store to begin with, but the kids had PARP coupons for the Subway there, so I thought I'd grab them lunch when we were done.)

A trip I thought would take 45 minutes took 90 minutes!

I learned you should never underestimate how long it takes kids to pick supplies - and we're talking 5 minutes just deciding which color scissors they each wanted. Then there were notebooks and folders, which come in a gazillion designs, and more choices means more time.

Thankfully, our school supplies almost everything the kids need. All they really HAD to get was a folder, binder, glue sticks, crayons, pencil boxes and son needed an accordian folder this year.

But, since the sales were good, I also got each of them a new box of markers, colored pencils (is it only my generation that called them "pencil crayons?"), composition books and a notebook for myself.

Once all the supplies were gathered (plus some groceries, since we have a Super WalMart), we braved the checkout line. Even self-checkout was backed up.

Then, when I went to pay, two gift cards I wanted to use didn't swipe. So I tried again...and again. After about 10 swipes the first one worked. I asked the sales woman for help, but she was busy. She came over after I got the first one to work. She also couldn't get the second one to work, and she deleted the first one! So I had to reswipe it (about 10 more times)!

Finally I said I'd give up on the second gift card and use it later. Well, when I went to swipe my debit card, that didn't work! Admit I got a little annoyed when she asked if I could use a credit card. I said, "Ah, no, I really want to use the debit card."

I kept trying while she got the manager, and by the time they came over I had gotten it to work. I vocally supported the cashier when she told the manager the card reader at that checkout wasn't working. No kidding, it wasn't!

Next time, I'll go to Target.

The Countdown

Today the kids informed me there are only 31 days of school. I need to begin planning our summer!

The kids and I agreed to do the same plan as last year-during the week it will be relaxing at home with trips to the community pool in the afternoon. Then we'll have our "Fun Fridays," where each Friday we plan a day trip to somewhere. Last year we went to a pretzel factory and community park, several playgrounds with a treat at an ice cream parlor, and on the weeks we were away on vacation I made sure that Friday we did something unusual like visit a theme park or horseback riding.

The vacation days usually went over budget, but the standard budget for our Friday was $40. The kids didn't think that was much and wanted a souvenir on one trip. Then I explained to them that there were 12 Fridays in the summer. When I had them do the math and they realized we were spending more than $400 on our Fun Fridays they understood why they couldn't each buy something on that trip.

And as a scrapbooker, I loved doing a summer scrapbook that featured just our Fun Fridays. I could plan the book's page count and layouts ahead of time and finish it by the end of summer, because each Friday was featured on two pages. It was a great memory book for the kids to look back on and see what they did for the entire summer. My daughter even took it to school at the beginning of the year for Show and Share time on what they did on their summer vacation.

Bribe Your Kids

I didn't realize all the rewards kids can get at Chuck E. Cheese, including 10 free tokens for reading every day for two weeks! On the Chuck E. Cheese reward page, there are certificates you can print and have your kids fill in for things like Clean Room, Homework, Let's Get Dressed, Great Listener and Good Behavior. I think I'll print a Reading Rewards Calendar for each of the kids, and when school lets out in June we'll start the chart. I'll be glad to keep them reading, and they'll be happy for a lunch date at Chuck E. with some extra tokens to play.