Getting Ready

Ugh....School starts in three weeks. UGH! You would think a former educator would not 'hate' school so much, but I do. I hate schedules, making lunches, being rushed, morning alarms, and all the other annoying crap.

August is here in a few days and school starts in three weeks. E1 will be starting second grade and E2 will be entering her last year of preschool!

This summer, the girls have been going to bed late, waking up late, relaxing, enjoying summer. At this very moment E1 is still asleep and it is 9 am, in three weeks by 9:00 she will have already been at school for more than hour. Sigh.

I need to get them ready for the school schedule.

In the next three weeks I will work backwards to reset their internal alarms in an effort to prepare them for the jolt you feel when school starts.

Starting Monday, no one gets to sleep later than 8:00 am. The following week, 7:30, and the week before school starts, 7:00 am. (E1's alarm goes off at 6:45 am on school days)

Starting Monday, the girls need to get dressed when they wake up. This is our biggest hurdle. E1 takes forever!

Starting Monday, the girls will have breakfast after they are dressed. We will run our morning school routine without the pressure of school.

Starting Monday, unless they are on a play date or we are at a party etc, Bed time is no later than 8:30. Then 8, followed by 7:30. The girls are in bed by 7:30 pm each school night. This is a non negotiable. E1 gets to read independently in bed IF she is not exhausted.

Starting Monday, both girls will do school work every day that requires writing. Fine motor skills weaken over the summer and for E1 especially, writing is a big part of school. Writing takes strength and stamina. It is time to rebuild the stamina.

Starting Monday, both girls will do some sort of academic work every day. (max 30 minutes)

Starting Monday, our after school schedule activities switch to school hours. E1 will play tennis on a different afternoon and E2 will be placed in a new a gymnastics class.

Starting Monday, we will still enjoy summer. We have many places on our summer list to visit, many hours of swimming are still upon us, many play dates, both girls' birthdays, both girls' parties, and we still have hours of fun to complete.

BUT we will enjoy our last bit of summer while getting ready.