Back to School

This summer I was lucky enough to have Blake stay on his schedule of going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But soon that will change. Starting on August 22nd, he will be going to school every day for 3 hours.

I was able to keep the boys on the routine of going to bed around 7pm and getting up between 6:30am and 7am. Why oh why would I do this you ask? I did this so there isn't a huge adjustment for them on August 22nd. So many parents switch their children's schedule over the summer. They let them stay up later and sleep in longer in the morning. This is fine as long as you start slowly switching it back a few weeks before school starts. If you haven't you might think about starting now.

There are two key things that parents can do for their child to help with school success: help them get a good night sleep and make sure they eat breakfast. School age children need 10-12 hours of sleep a night. Yes you read the right! They are still growing as well as there is still a great deal of brain development. They need sleep to function, to grow and to learn. When children come to school tired they are not able to perform up to par. When children come to school hungry they are focused on the hunger and not the learning.

For the most part teachers teach reading/language arts first thing in the morning because that is when children are at their best. If your child has not had a good night sleep and/or ate a good breakfast it might take them longer to get moving and therefor not be at their prime for reading lessons. The next big block of time is after lunch which is usually math time.

So if you haven't already, start working on getting a new routine that includes getting to bed earlier, waking up in time to get ready and have breakfast before school. Your child may hate you for it now, but you will love yourself for it the first few weeks of school.