It’s so hard to believe that we are already in the second full week of school for my oldest daughter and in two weeks my youngest will start preschool. Where did summer go? Not only will I miss having my girls here all day every day, but I will also miss sleeping in, and not having to pack lunches every day, and not having an activity to do every night on top of homework. But even though I’m in denial, like it or not the start of school is here. So instead of focusing on being sad about the end of summer I decided to find some cute Pinterest ideas to help make the start of school fun and to help me get organized so that we have the best school year possible.
When school starts, so do after school activities. With practice schedules and other after school activities, it can be hard to fix dinner some nights. I am not a drive thru person and don’t like to eat fast food or give it to my girls, so during the school year I meal plan and use the crockpot on nights that are super busy. Meal planning doesn’t have to be a daunting task. I have used Pinterest to help me get organized for meal planning as well as for recipes to use in my meal plans. I have several pins that can help you get started as well. I love the pin that suggests a theme for certain nights of the week. In our house we have taco Tuesdays! It’s a big hit. I don’t always fix beef tacos, just something Mexican on Tuesdays but it makes that night of the week easy to plan.
On top of meal planning for dinner, I also use Pinterest to help with school lunches. I love making my daughter lunch from home. I don’t love packing it but do love the fact that I know she’s getting a healthy lunch that she likes. I am not one of those moms that makes extravagant bento box lunches where each section of the bento box looks like an animal or a flower. I often have lunch with my daughter at school and believe me when I say this – your kids don’t care if their sandwich is shaped like a panda! They have so little time to eat and are also trying to talk to their friends. I’m not sure they even realize what they are eating at all! So with that in mind, I have pinned some of my favorite school lunch pins that help you keep your sanity and also not send PB&J for their lunch every day (but if your kid wants that and is happy with it good for you…I’m jealous!). I also pinned some of my favorite lunch box note freebies. I love putting a note, a joke, or a positive reinforcement in my daughter’s lunch box and I know she loves getting them.
With the start of school also comes the homework. I have pinned several ideas that should help make homework time less stressful and more organized. I found a great pin with a free back to school chart to help make sure all the important must do items get done every evening. There are 2 different versions to choose from or there is a tutorial on how to make your own. I also pinned some idea for making an organized homework station, weekly homework calendars, homework tips, and school binder ideas to keep the entire family organized. Now that I have them pinned, I just have to put them to use!
Even though school is starting earlier than we would like, and summer went by way too quickly and wasn’t nearly warm and dry enough, I hope these pins help make back to school time a little easier. Here’s to a great school year for us all filled with lots of fun, learning, and health for our kids!
You can find these pins on my:Â Well, That was Pinteresting Board
