It’s time! How to Get Ready for A New School Year
Well, hello there!
Around Elora, the signal that tells us summer is nearing its finale (at least the social summer season; thankfully, real summer doesn’t end until September 22 or so) is Riverfest Elora. If you’ve not been, Riverfest is a weekend music festival, which this year has “More than 45 local, national and international acts, from household names to rising stars” (riverfestelora.com). I’m especially excited this year because I’ll be volunteering and will get to support the artists backstage 🙂
So, while summer is NOT over yet, it IS time for all of us to begin getting ready for the new school year. This, too, is exciting! While there are no famous folks coming to serenade us, we do get to see our friends, get back into a routine, and learn new things! Who’s not excited about that?
On one hand, there’s plenty of time before school begins anew. On the other hand, there’s not necessarily plenty of time to get our brains back into the groove and out of the hazy days of summer. Now is the perfect time to begin getting ready; here are 3 tips to help make the transition a smooth one:
ESTABLISH A ROUTINE
Start a week from today at the latest. Gradually wake up earlier each day from Monday to Friday. Friday should be within 30 minutes of the regular school year wake-up time. The next two weeks should be as close as possible to school year wake-up time…which means that bedtimes also need to gradually become earlier to reflect this change. A daily adjustment of 10-15 minutes at the most is a reasonable expectation for all brains. Neurodivergent brains may benefit from making the time changes in 5-minute increments; this will depend on the individual and their anxiety management skills.
MAKE A PLAN
The earlier the better with this one!
Look through school supplies and clothing/uniforms and consider the following:
→ Sort supplies and clothing into three groups: DONE, USEABLE, STILL NEW. Whatever is DONE is either worn out, dried out, or too small. If it’s donatable, donate it to your local charity. If it’s recyclable, recycle it. If it’s garbage, throw it out. Whatever is USEABLE still has life, despite being well-loved. Keep it! Whatever is STILL NEW is just that – it may even still have the tags. The only part of this that warrants not keeping is if it’s clothing that’s too small, or a binder that is not going to hold all the pages required.
→ Buy new items as necessary. Spreading the purchase time across a few weeks may help make the task less onerous for everyone, since it’ll be smaller trips interspersed with breaks to process the purchases and what they mean is coming ahead.
→ Assemble school items, a little each week, until everything is ready. This should be done and everything waiting to be used a week before school starts. Not only will this reduce anxiety, it’ll increase anticipation!
Get binders full of paper and dividers,
get pencil cases organised,
get laptop cleared and charged with new folders set up in Google Drive, and
get clothing/uniforms sorted and cleaned.
One more thing: during this time, get the homework area organised and ready to use. More details about strategies for this to come!
PRACTICE
We’re not looking for a practice-makes-perfect scenario here. However, the morning routine and the bed-time routine should be the first items to rehearse. Have the coming weeks resemble the school year as much as possible. It’ll seem strange to start early, but there will be few regrets when September rolls around and brains are ready to go.
Use the prepared homework space to do some review or preview of content. Fifteen minutes every other day should be enough; for neurodivergent minds, building up to that 15 minutes per day can look like:
5 minutes of review Monday - Wednesday
10 minutes of review Thursday - Friday
10 minutes of review Monday - Wednesday
15 minutes of review Thursday - Friday
15 minutes of review Monday - Friday
Consider these strategies to be brain training. We’re capitalising on the neuroplasticity of the brain, where routine and regularity help forge new nerve connections. If these pathways are already well established, whether now or by September, transition to school can be less daunting because the predictability is there. Our aim is to reduce stress and anxiety and increase confidence and resilience. Preparation is key – whether for sports, musical performances, or school and learning.
Until next time, may August bring you music, sunshine, and happy days 🌞
Yours in learning,
~ L
