11 Family routines that make school days easier!
Getting back into family routines once school starts back up can be ROUGH!
I asked families on Instagram to share their best routines that make everything run more smoothly on school days and some gems came in!
I hope they help make your school days a little more of a well-oiled machine!
Routines for Families
- Do the night-before prep. This was hands-down the most repeated tip. Having clothes and shoes laid out, backpacks and lunchboxes packed, breakfast planned (bonus points if it’s made too) can make such a difference during the busy morning rush. One mom calls it “staging” – she even lays out breakfast plates and cups the night before too.
- Menu plan on a set day, every week. Sunday menu planning with a Monday morning grocery order came up again and again (this is exactly what my grocery routine looks like too.) Pick your day that works best for your schedule and stick with it. When I skip this during the week, it just feels so chaotic.
- Keep the same tasks on the same days, every week. Sunday is always my menu-and-order groceries day and Monday is always my laundry day (these days work for me, but plan out days for tasks that work into your schedule). The time of the day can shift, but the day itself doesn’t.
- Get yourself ready before the kids are up. Multiple moms said the same thing in different words – wake up before the kids, no snoozing, get dressed (one mom puts her workout clothes on immediately “so I don’t talk myself out of it”). The consensus was: if mom is running behind, the whole morning goes sideways.
- A short daily must-do list beats a long to-do list. Instead of a 10 item to-do list, one mom shared that she starts each day with just 3 must-dos. Once those are done, she can add more or start a new list of 3. Some days that’s it, some days she gets through 12 things – but she’s never drowning in an overwhelming list.
- Handle school paperwork the moment it arrives. Fill it out, buy the yearbook or ASB pass (whatever it is) the first time the email/paper comes, not the fifth. Do it immediately so you can delete every follow-up reminder without wondering if you already took care of it.
- Put chores on autopilot with a rotation. One homeschool mom of three assigns each kid roughly 2 lunch dish duties and 1-2 dinner dish duties a week. 9 of her dish “opportunities” are covered without her ever lifting a finger.
- Remove barriers before you’re exhausted. This once comes from Gretchen Rubin – get in pajamas, brush teeth, wash your face hours before bed so when it’s actually time to sleep, there’s no list of to-dos standing between you and your pillow. I firmly believe in this one. My energy is much lower come 10:00 pm.
- Let kids have some ownership over the plan. A few families have kids choose their lunch buying days on Sunday, or lay out their own clothes and pack their own bags. This turns into one more thing that doesn’t fall onto mom.
- Ask for help – actually ask! As one mom put it plainly: “Ask dad for help (not being snarky, husbands want to help).”
- Build routines that fit YOUR personality, not someone else’s. Not everyone is wired for rigid systems. If you are not a “type A” person and strict routines feel suffocating, limiting, and rigid, you don’t have to do it that way. Maybe you pick one habit that you struggle with the most and nail that down, and let the rest stay loose.
