The Palm Beach County School Year is starting earlier than ever this year. Umm…hurray?! It’s Boca back to school!
Are you prepared? I’m still in summer camp mode, so I reached out to Grandview Preparatory School for some ways to get our children ready and more importantly…EXCITED for the big school year ahead.
1. Supply Shopping
- Supply shopping usually involves a list, but letting your child be part of the process makes it more fun and motivating. Let them choose what they like. They can help parents locate the best deals, either at the store, in newspaper flyers, or online, and perhaps you can even consider buying them a little something extra with all the money they saved you. 🙂
- Personalizing school supply items can increase a child’s desire to use them. More artistic students may have fun doing this themselves, while others may love something simple like a backpack with their name embroidered on them.
- When shopping for new school supplies, let your child also pick out some supplies for their school’s school supply drive for students in need. Shifting the focus to helping others may go a long way in easing any Boca back to school blues.
2. Makeover Day
- Set aside a special day to get ready for school. Your child may or may not love getting a haircut or shopping for school shoes and clothes. Intersperse shopping activities with lunch at a favorite place and something fun at the end of the day.
3. Boca Back to School Party
- Invite old friends and kids new to your child’s class if possible for a little pre-school get together. Create a game in which they do a show & tell about highlights from their summer. Not only can this activity prime them for the inevitable back to school essay or journal entry ….”What did you do this summer?”, it can also help remind them that they actually DID have a fun and eventful summer!
4. Plan for Extracurricular Activities
- Play up excitement about the upcoming school year by reminding your child of the fun opportunities for extracurricular activities. Show them brochures for sports, music, arts, science and nature offerings in your area and let them help plan out their weekly calendar.
- Remember not to over-schedule your child, as is often the trend these days. Over-scheduling can squelch creativity. The brain needs down time to process new information. A little boredom can be a very good thing, giving kids the time to come up with new and creative ideas.
- When scheduling extracurricular activities, remember that “strengthening their strengths” is the best gift you can give your child. Help them discover their passions and talents by trying a variety of activities, and then give them the opportunity to grow the ones they love. Try not to insert your preferences or dreams for your child into the equation…even though that’s probably easier said than done sometimes.
5. Get Back Into a Sleep Routine
- Dim the lights and light a few candles an hour before bedtime. Put on calming music and try to lower the energy level in the house.
- Set the tone for settling down in the evening.
- Start getting your kids back into a normal sleep routine at least two weeks before school starts. To do this…
- Create a routine just before bed that does not involve the use of a screen. The light emitted from the screen is thought to have a detrimental effect on circadian rhythms, thus disrupting sleep.
- Reading to your children or telling them stories at bedtime will create a calming routine for sleep. This is also one of the best methods for increasing a child’s literacy skills.
A few Boca back to school bonus tips…
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- Show your own excitement about the fun activities the school year will bring! Look through the calendar and talk about all of the fun events your school will host such as Fall Festivals, Winter Concerts and Spring dances.
- Set a few goals for the year based on your child’s strengths, rather then their weaknesses. For example, for the student who struggles in math, but loves writing, set a goal of entering a poetry contest or writing an essay that makes the teacher laugh. Strengthening strengths will increase motivation, and increase confidence needed to improve in areas that don’t come so naturally.
Back to school is right around the corner MBMoms! Time to get started…because ready or not, here the school year comes…YOU CAN DO IT! 🙂
Sponsored: This Boca back to school post was sponsored by Grandview Preparatory School. All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own and not influenced in any way by the sponsor. Any statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with provider. Please refer to this site’s Disclosure for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
