Please tell me summer isn’t over yet!!

Don’t panic, there are still a few more weeks until school is back in session.  I may be the only mom who is dreading back to school.  Call me crazy but I’m still enjoying summer with my kids.  As a full-time working mom, summer has been very relaxed with no schedules and no place to be (thankfully I work from home).  We’ve been waking up naturally, staying up late, and playing a lot!  I’ve even managed to work odd hours so I can get out of the house on occasion with the kids during the day.  Our summer bucket list is almost complete but we still have a few more adventures planned and I’m really not ready for summer to end!

….but, it’s coming!  In 2 more weeks we’ll have to be ready to go and our entire family needs to get back on a routine.  Did I mention that there has been no bedtimes in our house this summer?  My youngest is a night owl and has been rocking the midnight bedtime with me all summer!  This is going to be hard on us all, but we are going to “practice” for the next 2 weeks so we’re ready for the first day!

Over the next 2 weeks here is our plan for getting back on a routine for Back-to-school:

1.   Set an alarm every day and stick to it!  That’s right, we have to start adjusting our bodies to get back on our early morning schedule of getting up by 7am (or earlier).  Even if we don’t do anything during the day, we’re setting the alarm and getting ourselves ready to walk out the door by 8am! *Your times may vary depending on school start times.*

2.  Eat a healthy breakfast!  Yep, we’ve been eating random breakfasts this summer.  Most days I left my kids fix their own breakfasts since I’m working.  Since they need to be peppy for school, we should probably start eating a healthy, well-rounded breakfast again!  We really love these easy no cook chia chocolate porridge jars!

3.  Get dressed!  Yeah, some days we’ve stayed in our jammies ALL day this summer and it’s been amazing!  We’ll start getting dressed each day so my kids know how much time to allow themselves each morning.  Thankfully our school does uniforms so there isn’t much planning to do.  Speaking of uniforms, I should probably go buy those!!

4. Plan out some fun, healthy lunches!  Again, we’ve been really lax this summer and mostly eating leftovers or whatever we find around the house.  We can use these next 2 weeks to play around with some fun lunchbox ideas.  I’m sure my daughter would love some new bento supplies for Kindergarten!

5. Nighttime routine and regular bedtimes!  This one I’ll gladly take back…and now!  I haven’t been as productive at night since they’re still awake after 9pm (usually until midnight) this summer.  The 9-midnight hours use to be MY TIME and I’m ready to have it back.  Our night time routines include showers, story time, and a consistent bedtime.  My youngest will still be in bed by 8pm, but now that my oldest is entering middle school, I guess we can let him stay up a tad later.  He’ll usually fall asleep by 9pm on his own anyways.  I need to recruit dad to help out with bedtime so I can have time to pack lunches for the next day.

6. Limit electronics and screen-time.  Another one of our downfalls this summer has been the electronics.  I haven’t been really strict with how much they are allowed to play and watch.  How much time do you allow for your kids?

7. Let’s read!  I need to make a trip to the library and get a few fun new books and encourage my kids to get back in the habit of reading.  While we’ve done some summer reading programs, I’ll admit we haven’t been as diligent as I’d like.

8. Relax!  Just because summer is almost over, doesn’t mean you have to stop having fun!  I’m sure you can squeeze a few more special outings for your family over the next few weeks.  We’re still planning a trip to Homasassa Springs to see the manatee and to Tradewind Islands to spend a day acting like tourists!

Savor these last few weeks before your family has to get back on a strict schedule.  With a little practice these next few weeks you’ll all be ready to head back to school!.  How have you enjoyed your summer?  Any tips that you’d like to share?  Feel free to leave them in the comments below.