How to Prevent Chaos in the House with Back to School Days

We've all been there, madly rushing around to make school lunches, trying to get three kids dressed and out the door in time for the school bus which will be coming down the road in two minutes and suddenly Johnny informs us that he can't find his shoe, as he stands before us with uncombed hair, and jelly on his face from the morning toast. And then we hear the honk of the school bus at the driveway.

For several years when our children were young, this was our morning time together. I hated it and yearned for picturesque TV show mornings where I in pearls and they dressed, bathed, hair sliced in place would sit around a charming breakfast table sharing their plans for the day while I flipped blueberry pancakes straight from the skillet to their plates.

I finally resolved to fix the matter by developing a solid morning routine for all of us. I tried several routines and finally came up with the following ideas for making our departures from the house smoother and our mornings less hectic. They worked so well that my adult children are now employing them with their own families.

First of all breakfast

Prepare the coffeemaker at night. It's so simple, but many of us fail to do this one simple easy thing to make our morning routine faster. Get is ready, set the timer and fresh coffee will be waiting for you when you awake, ready to challenge the day.

Assign a child to set the breakfast table the night before after dinner dishes were clean up. We ate breakfast at a kitchen table, not the dining room one, so this setting consisted to the following for our family. He placed a bowl of oranges and bananas on the center of the table. He or she would stack the required number of cereal bowls and spoons beside the fruit bowl. He or she would get out cereal boxes and place them on the other side of the fruit bowl. All Mom had to do in the morning was make toast, fry an occasional egg or fixing oatmeal if needed. Everyone was required to be dressed before they could come and eat breakfast.

Organize clothing

This is stumbling block for most families. They can't find shoes, sweaters, don't know what to wear and so the morning routine gets mired down in the first task, getting dressed to leave the house on time. I solved this by having them choose their clothes the night before and lay them out perfectly with their clean shoes right beside the outfit. It was their right before they went to bed last minute chore of the day. Take a bath, brush your teeth, lay out your clothes. When my children were younger, I even went so far as to do that with them on Sunday night for the entire week and stacked them in five cubicles that my husband built for that purpose in their closets. For teen girls this is something they just have to do the night before!

Organize school work

Somewhere in your home, you must select an area where everyone can keep their schoolbags stocked and ready to go for the next day. Being organized with this means you must encourage them to do their homework the night before, pass on any notes from teachers or important papers for Mom to look over and sign and then get those school bags ready before dinner the previous evening. That was always our goal, although someone with homework might need a bit longer after dinner, but definitely before they went to bed. Having the schoolbag ready sure helps make the morning routine smoother.

Family calendar

Having an area in the kitchen where a large wall calendar can hang is imperative for a busy family. When a school notice comes home that requires action on Mom's part, write it on the calendar. All family members need to put special events like Susie's birthday party on the calendar. Everything date or appointment should go on the wall calendar so that everyone in the family knows what's happening, not just Mom with her office calendar. My husband still places his events on the family calendar even though are children are now grown. Good habit to make even our morning routine smoother. He knows where we have to be that night and what time.

Have the proper mood

Whatever you have to do, having a smooth morning routine should be easier if you set the mood by being cheerful, calm and loving. In our house, we decided as music lovers that morning music was imperative. Everyone got to take turns choosing the morning music, the only rule was that it had to be something the entire family liked. I encouraged classical music and that was almost always my choice, unless it was a special day like St. Patrick's Day when of course, out came the Irish songs! We even had a little crate of CD's right beside the boombox in the kitchen that held morning music choices. Music can set the mood for a smooth morning routine.

Out the door steps

This is a key area in the process of having a smooth morning routine. You should have hooks near your exit door for keys. There should be a small table or shelf that holds a jar of change for those last minute out the door needs like Monday morning lunch money. The change jar is good for that or field trip money remembered at the last minute, etc. By the key and change jar there should be a dry erase board for last minute notes to each other or reminders that you placed there to remind you!

Important stuff

It's scary at times to send our children out into the world without us. We became a homeschooling family not for reason, but I admit to being relieved to not have to do that anymore. However, when we were still involved in public school, I made sure that each child had a little laminated list with the following personal information. Their name, their school, their home address, my phone numbers, their dad's cell number, any allergy or medical information and their doctor's name and phone number. I just felt like they were armed a bit better in case of an emergency. This laminated list just resided in a pocket of their back pack all year long. I am happy to report it was never needed, but better safe than sorry, right.

Just like the boy scouts say, being prepared ahead can make your morning routine smooth sailing. Now I'm not guaranteeing you'll look like June Cleaver flipping those pancakes, but it sure beats rushing around crawling under beds looking for lost shoes while the school bus is honking and Johnny is crying that he's going to be late!