Kindergrten Life Hacks

Dear Kinder Parents,
Yes. I know. Kindergarten is hard. Who knew there would be SO many things to remember and sign up for?!? Don't worry. I have done this before. And I've got a list of whatcha need so you're not caught off guard with last minute things...like scrambling to find a superhero shirt for to.mor.row. Been there. Done that.

Here's a list of general Kindergarten Life Hacks to make you feel more prepared for all that big kid school stuff. (My friend had to tell me what "life hacks" even meant. I am that cool.)

Pajamas:
Yeah, you need 'em...for hot weather AND cold weather because sometimes PJ Day happens when it is still 100 degrees outside and those flannel Star Wars pjs are just not going to work for that. You'll probably want to make sure your kiddo has some slippers too. ;)

College Shirt:
Most elementary schools have college week where they talk about the importance of college and show their college spirit by encouraging the kiddos to wear college shirts. If you don't have any college gear for your kinder lovebug, don't worry...Walmart usually carries all the big name colleges. Especially now that football season has just started. (We are late to the game on this one this year and I am not spending $50 to order SFA or UMHB shirts for Monday so UT shirts from Walmart it is!) But let the record show that I was prepared last year!! ;)

Accessories:
Get your hats, silly socks, and super hero shirts ready! Your kinder baby is guaranteed to have all of these at some point during the year...probably more than once. Luckily, this one is pretty easy. ;)

Dress Up Items:
Remember the days when we could wear our Halloween costumes to school? Sigh. I miss the good ol' days. Well, since schools don't usually allow that these days, they have replaced it with other fun dress up days like these listed below: (Start thinking of some fun ideas now!)
*Crazy Hair Day
*Favorite Book Character
*The 100th Day of school where they dress like 100 year old people (I love this one!)

*Decades Days (80s, 70s, 60s, 50s-I'm still waiting for the 90s to come back...anyone else?!?)

*Career Day

Star Student:
Just go ahead and make the Star Student poster (it's called MVP at our school). Eventually your kiddo will be the Star Student and you'll be rushing around on your family's busiest weekend of the year trying to decide which pictures you want to put on the poster. Also, I totally made my 1st born use her same poster for 2 years in a row. We just swapped out the photos and some of her interests. (You can type up a quick interest survey on your computer, print it out, and let your child fill in the blanks.) Way easier than making a whole brand new poster each year!!

Here's Chan with her Kindergarten Star Student Poster. Sadly, I didn't document her 1st grade poster but it's probably because it looked exactly like this except with different pics and favorites. ;)

PS-Backing things with scrapbook paper is an easy way to make it look like you spent a lot of time on it when you really didn't!

Jobs:
Yep. I make my kids do jobs before and after school. Even my kindergartener. It teaches them responsibility and helps you out too. And life hacks are all about making things easier, right?!? Plus, they are totally capable of doing tasks like these:

Before School:
get dressed
put breakfast dishes in the sink
brush teeth
pack lunchbox and water bottle in backpack
make sure snack is in backpack

After School:
unpack lunchbox (put Tupperware in sink and place freezer pack in freezer)
set out daily folder for me to look at and sign
pick out snack for the next day and pack in backpack

See. Look how excited we are about coming home from school to do our jobs. ;)

I would LOVE to hear your best Kindergarten Life Hacks. Or any life hacks for that matter. I need all the help I can get!!

XOXO,
M