Back to School

Back-to-school, Weee! Do you count down the days or do you DREAD it?

I found that I was a good mix of both. Having four kids at home ?all day? during the summer translates into utter chaos with a fair ?of spontaneous delight. SO?scaling down to just two for most of the day? Sounded pretty great.

But this year I also had some pretty mixed emotions, especially related to my son, whom we hemmed and hawed over sending him to kindergarten this year. He had shown ZERO interest in traditional learning up until about a couple months ago and since his 5th birthday was in May? we thought he may just be a little immature. We toyed with the idea of doing online kindergarten with him?but once I started the process of enrolling him?all I felt was utter DREAD. Not a great feeling. We felt this just wasn?t the right thing for us at this point in time.

So we decided to just put him into kindergarten as a ?trial run,? no strings attached.

And?.

My son went from NO interest in letters, letter sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. to HIGH interest and excitement, thanks to a GREAT kindergarten teacher. HURRAY!!! I ask him every day if he still likes kindergarten and if he wants to go back tomorrow and he excitedly answers ?YES!? every time!

A handful of other back-to-school positives for our family include:

-My daughter not being able to go to sleep tonight because she was SO excited to read the Junie B. Jones book tomorrow with her 2nd grade teacher!

-I am forced to get going earlier in the morning, which makes for a MUCH more productive one, including grocery shopping at 8:00 am!!

-My little ones at home have had learn how to entertain themselves and how to play with each other, now that they don?t have big brother and sister to follow around the house. It?s fun to see them interact more! I?ve learned my baby girl can sure hold her own against her high-energy big brother!

-I can now focus ALL my attention on my toddler when my baby is napping in the morning. He LOVES having that from me!

-My house gets less cluttered with toys, since my daughter and her big imagination have less time to spread the results of that imagination EVERYWHERE. Now my messes consist of dirt and rocks and water and muddy feet from my toddler.

-I can do yoga while baby is napping with only ONE child crawling all over me, instead of 3 or 4! ?Cause who doesn?t love the toddler one centimeter from their face giving kisses while they are in ?relaxation pose??

-Trips out to the mall or store or library or farmer?s market seem FAR less daunting with just two kids in tow!

But, of course, the positives of back-to-school also come with some?and I don?t want to get negative here so let?s just call them??adjustments?!

I?ve broken these adjustments into three categories:

• The Morning Zoo
• The After School Grumpies
• The Bedtime CHILL OUT

Now for share time! A list of just a few things that have helped me make these adjustments more manageable. My experience is with young grade schoolers only but I?d like to think these tips could be helpful with any age.

The Morning Zoo

?Dang it, where is your other shoe?!?

?You didn?t go potty yet?!!? (Am I the only one who has kids that DON?T USE THE BATHROOM first thing in the morning, until I remind them??!)

?If you would have done your homework yesterday, when I asked you to, you wouldn?t have to be rushing through it this morning!?

Yeah, I?ve said all of these things, and more, during my time in the Morning Zoo! SO, to avoid this I try, if at all possible, to:

• Set out the next day?s school clothes the night before, shoes and socks and hair stuff included!
• I do try to teach them to be responsible for their homework and paperwork in their backpack but since they are still young I make sure I go through their backpack every night to check for any newsletters or permissions slips they may have missed. (OH the papers that cycle through our house, compliments of the school!)
• If I?m feeling SUPER organized I?ll even set out the bowls, spoons and cereals for the morning.
• I have become a huge essential oils nerd over the past couple years (doTERRA brand only!) and so I have loved incorporating them into the school routine, too. For the mornings I use a diffuser?to diffuse?some of my favorite WAKE-ME-UP essential oils: peppermint and wild orange! WOO! Don?t need?caffeine?when I have these!
• If my kids are feeling extra nervous or sad in the morning I use either Balance or Serenity?on them. Lots of times THEY are the ones asking for them!

The After School Grumpies

Going to school ALL DAY can really wear kids out, especially young kids. So it comes as no surprise that they can be GRUMPY sometimes when they get home! But as long as I follow this game plan for after school?the grumpies are (usually) kept at bay:

• First, I?ve learned to NOT plan any errands immediately after school, if at all possible. They just need to get home so they can REST.
• Again, my essential oils save the day here, too! I like to do two things here: Get my diffuser in the kitchen going with?Serenity BEFORE I do the kid pickup PLUS put a few drops of Serenity on a cotton ball and stick it in the air conditioning vents of the car. VOILA! Instant foundation of CALM.
• Get some kind of SIMPLE CARB snack in them as soon as possible when they get home. Their little brains are TIRED and so snacks with a quick burning simple carbohydrate will help perk them up fairly quickly. Always add a COMPLEX carb and/or lean protein, as well, because you DON?T want a blood sugar crash soon after! So if you can combine a simple carb AND a complex carb or lean protein into one snack that?s even better. I?m a pretty simple gal when it comes to snacks for my kids so I do stuff like:??granola bars and cheese, apples or bananas & peanut butter, PB&J?s, pickles and/or ham and cheese, yogurt and crackers, milk and cookies, etc. If you would like the mother-of-all after school snack lists, hop on over HERE.
• I have learned that my kids need some CHILL TIME after school before I ask them to do anything, such as chores or homework. Just 30 or so minutes to just VEG and watch a movie or play outside. With my oldest daughter I used to think that it would be best to just push her to get the ?homework done as soon as possible after school so she wouldn?t forget about it?but all that did was cause BUCKETS of tears and frustration from both mom and child?just because she was tired and needed a little ?recharge? time first. We still struggle with getting homework done?another post for another day?but there are certainly less tears!

The Bedtime CHILL OUT

Bedtime, oh bedtime! Having to get back into a strict bedtime schedule can be TOUGH, after a summer of more?flexibility. But getting enough sleep is a no-brainer to helping your kids do better in school.

• Serenity to the rescue again! My daughter ASKS for this every night, if I don?t remember to get a diffuser going in her room. She, of all my children, has always had the hardest time with CHILLING OUT her?miniature?body and brain but she will give her little testimonial that Serenity helps with that. What is the big deal with this essential oil blend? It is simply the best of all the calming essential oils, including?lavender, the most well known calming essential oil. And it smells like Red Vine licorice, to me anyway. Can?t go wrong there, right?!

What are your best tips for smoothing out the back-to-school adjustment? Or what do you love most about it? TELL ME!

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This post was written by...

Candace ? who has written 6 posts on Strawberry Mommycakes.

Candace is a young wife and mother of four (two boys, two girls!) She loves learning about anything baby, birth, parenting, women?s & family health related.

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Source: http://strawberrymommycakes.com/2012/09/06/smooth-sailing-as-summer-ceases/

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