1. Familiarize your child
If your child is a first timer, take them to the school and show them around, walk with them in the hallways, show them the restroom and where they will be eating. If you know who the teacher is going to be, let your child meet the teacher so that they are familiar with who will be teaching them. If you cannot meet the teacher in person, you can probably show your child a picture from the school’s website so that they can put a name to the face and are not completely unaware.2. Meet up with old friends
Having a familiar face in class can be very comforting for children so if they have friends who are going to be in the same class as them, let them connect during the holidays or before school starts. You can set up a play date with the other children’s parents so that your children can spend some time together before the academic year starts.3. Get into a routine
Most kids and even adults thrive on routines. It is definitely not a good idea to suddenly wake them up early on the first day of school and expect them to cooperate. Instead ease them into it and start a few days prior to the actual opening day. Switch on their alarms, let them eat their breakfast, go through their morning rituals and get to the bus stop or into the car at the same time as what they will need to do once school is in session.4. Get your supplies
One surefire way to get them excited about school is to take them shopping for school supplies. I for one, love shopping for stationery so I am pretty excited about taking the kids along and buying their supplies. It is also a great way for them to get to know the kind of projects they may be working on during the school year.5. Schedule your doctor’s visits
One of the most important things I do before school starts is to schedule the kids for their health checkups. This is to make sure their vaccination records are up-to-date. I also schedule appointments with the dentist and make sure we get their eyes checked as well. Do not wait until school has started to get their vision checked because if they do need any sort of corrective aids, it is best to do it before school starts so that the kids are used to them.6. Review class work
While its easy to not look at books or work done over the past year during the holidays, take some time each day a couple of weeks before school starts to slowly go over what was covered before. Some children may need to go over concepts they did the previous year so that they are familiar if the teacher reviews the work in the new year. If you feel your child took more time to understand something, use this time to get them comfortable with it. It’s also a good time to catch up on some reading. But do not be hard on them and do this very close to the first day because it will only make them anxious.7. Plan your breakfast and school lunches
Once school starts, we all know how chaotic our mornings will be. Try and plan your weekly breakfast and school lunches on Sunday so that you can shop and prep ahead of time. This will greatly reduce your morning stress and you can organize meals much more quickly and efficiently.I hope all you mommies and your children have a great academic year ahead !