6 Tips For Getting Your Child Ready For Back To School
July 24, 2017At Bradley Homes, we enjoy getting to know the families who come to live in our communities. We also enjoy providing our residents with helpful tools that will make life in your Bradley home more fulfilling, fun, and enjoyable for all!
With the school year quickly approaching, we began thinking about how to help encourage both our homeowner’s children, and our own children, to get excited and ready for the academic year ahead.
CHECK OUT OUR SIX ‘BACK TO SCHOOL’ TIPS FOR PARENTS:
GET IN THE KNOW
Before sending your children back to school, check in with fellow parents, and online, to get an understanding of any major changes within the school or school system.
What is the bus schedule this year?
Are you able to know who your child’s teacher will be in advance?
Will your child have to complete any standardized testing in the upcoming year? (EQAO, etc.)
Is there a new principal?
Visit your local Barrie, Innisfil, and Orillia school board websites for school listings, updates, and news:
Simcoe County District School Board
Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board
*For private school news, please contact your specific school.
If your child is going to a brand new school, you may also want to take an opportunity to tour the school together – meeting some faculty and getting to know where the bathrooms are, what the halls look like, etc. If you are unable to tour the inside, driving by and taking a look at the area can also help your child to get their bearings. Providing your child with a heads up for what to expect can make their first day in a new place less stressful.
ALLOW FOR CHOICE
Children can begin getting anxious as the school year approaches. Help to get them excited by picking out some new school supplies together, planning what types of lunches and snacks they’d like to have for the first week (or what meal options may be available within the school), and help them to pick out an outfit they’d like to wear for their first day. By allowing your child to have a choice in colour and style, whether it is for new shoes or a notebook, they’ll become excited to show off their new stuff at school.
SET THE STAGE FOR A GREAT YEAR
As a parent, you have the power to set your child up for a great year. Aside from buying your child new pencil cases and binders, provide them with encouragement that the upcoming year will be exciting, that they’ll learn so many cool new things, and that they may even make some new friends. Your positive attitude help set the stage for your child to make the best of entering a new grade.
EASE BACK INTO ROUTINE
Jumping right back into a school-time routine can be a tough adjustment for both children and their parents. After staying up late, getting to sleep in, and playing outside for hours on end, children can start to push back as school nears. In the month approaching the first day of school, make an effort to begin introducing a tighter routine – earlier bedtimes, planned lunch and dinner times, or whatever works best for your family. When school gets even closer, gradually tighten up those bedtime rules even more, allowing your child to get more rest – so they do not feel such a dramatic shift in their day-to-day schedule.
CONNECT WITH FRIENDS
During the summer; many children spend more time with kids from camp, on the street, or from their sports team, than they do with the group of kids who will be in their school classroom. To reintroduce your child to the friends they’ll be seeing on a daily basis at school, encourage them to re-connect – to have a sleepover or a play date with the kids they haven’t seen in a few weeks. This will help to re-solidify school friendships and set your child up for their return to school.
PLAY SOME LEARNING GAMES
In addition to easing back into a routine and connecting with peers, it’s also a good idea to get your child’s mind back to school and learning. Introduce some learning-based activities such as memory card games, crafting, painting by numbers, writing in a journal, or reading. You can also use trips for learning – head to the zoo to learn about the animals, or the local museum to see a new exhibit. There’s no need to start giving out homework, but educational activities can help your child’s mind to ease back into a learning environment.
As always, we at Bradley Homes are here to offer support to our residents. Stay tuned to our blog as we continue to roll out more and more articles that will help you and your family to have the best community experience in Ontario!
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