weekend routines For Better School Mornings

All aboard the weekend routine train!! School is back in session. Can I get a HALLELUJAH?!?

Whether you are sending your kids back to traditional school, schooling from home or a mix of both, I have some of the BEST back to school organization tips to help make school mornings more manageable and less stressful. The methods I am about to share have become a habitual part of our weekends and have worked for my family for years.

Instead of focusing on a school morning routine or an after school routine, I’m a big fan of weekend routines. The planning and preparation that happens over the weekend is bound to make your mornings less of a mad rush.

If you are new here, Hi! I’m Kera. I am a Blogger, Interior designer and mom of 4. I have a colorful, southwest-boho style filled with fun and unique twists. If you enjoy my content I would love to connect with you on Instagram where I share my daily projects and home inspiration!

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getting kids to participate in weekend planning routines

Before we get started I think its important to emphasize that these school year organization tips did NOT happen all at once. We started with a few small things, turned them into habits then slowly implemented more as we felt necessary. Routines are the most successful when it is put into action a little at a time.

Side Note: Our family has a traditional M-F work/school schedule, so organization works best for us on the weekends. I am going to be sharing what we do on each particular day of our weekend but know each family is different. Please do what works best for you!

Weekend Routine #1: MEAL PLAN ORGANIZATION

This may not seem like it falls into the category of back to school organization tips, however, it is the foundation of one of our major school prep elements. Every Friday is pizza night in our family. It’s one of my favorite nights of the week, because our activity schedule is low. We play games and enjoy each other’s company. Since I get a break from the stove on this particular day, I trade the prep time for planning time. I’ll take note of any meal requests and grocery needs listed in our command center, then create dinner plans around our activity schedule. You will see how this organization plays into our school mornings in routine #5 & 6.

Weekend Routine # 2 CLEAN OUT BACKPACKS

Now this is an after school routine that takes place at the start of the weekend — on Fridays. When the kids arrive home from school they immediately clean out their backpacks. Monday through Thursday, this consists of emptying out their lunchbox and placing it back in the freezer, then getting out their homework. On Fridays, they do more of a deep clean removing all papers and trash, replacing teacher newsletters/spelling lists in the command center and placing anything that needs to be signed in to the “Parent Mailbox.”

To help the kids remember everything they need to do for their after school routine, I have an AFTER SCHOOL CHEAT SHEET posted for quick reference on our command center. Want to see what else is in my command center? You can find my Ultimate Command Center Guide HERE

SHOP OUR FAVORITE BACKPACKS

Weekend Routine #3 CATCH UP ON LAUNDRY

Saturday is a hard core laundry day in our family. The kids and I do a few loads during the week, but Saturday is when the bulk of the magic happens. I will generally do all of the washing and switching, and my husband helps sort and fold. Now that my two older kids are well, older, they completely do their laundry on their own.

My younger boys help fold socks and are responsible for putting all of their items away in their rooms.

If you have older and younger kids, consider having the older ones help the younger kiddos put their laundry away as one of their chores.

The kids are also in charge of folding and putting away all of the towels. My latest goal is to have the laundry room completely cleaned up on Sunday night so I can take Monday off from laundry duty. I’ll explain what this whole process has to do with better school mornings in Secret #7

weekend routine #4 COMMAND CENTER organization

When it comes to organization, our command center is our family’s central hub. On Saturdays, I will go through all of the school papers brought home and sign anything that needs to go back. Not only do we organize school items and meal planning here, but we also organize chore lists. Every Saturday, I will make sure weekly chores were completed and add up and pay out any money making chores.

We used a clothespin system for a long time, so chores could be switched out weekly.

Recently, we went to a more streamlined chart checklist system.

Grab my {NEWLY UPDATED} FREE ROUTINE PRINTABLES HERE

Weekend Routine #5 GROCERY SHOP

The weekends are never my ideal time to grocery shop, but it is a necessity to make it to secret #6. Over the past few years I have learned that instead of wandering two to three different stores, it’s a better use of time to order and pickup. I will generally order and pick up at the local wholesale store and then run into the regular grocery store for the extras. In the grand scheme, it’s nice that grocery shopping doesn’t end up interfering with my work day. I’ll also take one of the four kiddos with me for some Mommy time, which I love.

Weekend Routine #6 MEAL PREP FOR LUNCHBOXES

One of the greatest life hacks for school mornings? Meal prepping over the weekend, so there’s no scrambling in the morning!

When my oldest was in kindergarten, she was very particular from day to day about what went in her school lunches. To eliminate the fight, I came up with the idea to allow her to choose her own. We organized the bottom drawer of the fridge into a “lunch/snack” drawer and a self packing tradition began.

On Sunday afternoons we usually spend time as a family washing and cutting up fresh fruit and veggies and cooking proteins. Now that the kids are a little older, they also have the task of filling the bottom fridge drawer with their food choices for the week. Yogurt, cheeses, fruit and veggies as well as homemade pizza “lunchables” are common favorites. Reusable plastic storage containers are used to store items that are not pre-packaged. For extra hungry kiddos, we keep a full loaf’s worth of PBJ in the freezer as well as a huge batch of our favorite energy bites.

SHOP OUR FAVORITE LUNCH STORAGE CONTAINERS

{2023 LUNCHBOX UPDATE}:

Now that my kiddos are older, they still pack their lunches but enjoy doing it on the fly as part of their school morning routine. We still have the same drawer filled with lunch/snack favorites, but they generally will make a sandwich/wrap or grab cold leftovers from the night before.

NOTE: If having your kids pack their school lunch in the morning adds stress to your school morning routine, have them do it the night before!

We have also switched to a bento box system, as it works better in our current phase of life.

A few years ago I discovered lunch boxes with built in freezer packs and it has been one of the best life hacks for school mornings. No more separate cold packs to mess with! On school mornings the kids grab their lunch boxes out of the freezer and pack away. .

SHOP OUR FAVORITE LUNCHBOXES

Weekend Routine #7 ClotheS organization FOR THE WEEK

If you do NOTHING else from this post, please do this weekend routine. For students heading back to school, getting dressed can be a process everyone struggles to get back into. So every Sunday my kids pick out their school clothes. FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK! This decision has solely saved my morning-not-enough-coffee-to-deal-with-arguing self. I have placed FIVE SHELF HANGING CUBBIES in each kiddos closet so one outfit can go in each cubby. One for each school day of the week.

I generally let them start off picking on their own then call me up for approval and modification. Doing this has single handedly changed my life. Not Kidding.

Weekend Routine #8 TIDY UP KIDS SPACES

I used to have the kids clean up every space in the house every day. But then I kept popping out kids and it just wasn’t reasonable anymore. I picked my battles. The kids now have to clean up their spaces twice a week. Once for cleaning/vacuuming day and once on Sunday to start off the week. It’s a good compromise for us all and gets our week started on the right foot. Plus, in this house, all of the kid spaces are upstairs. It helps tremendously that I’m not staring at it all day.

There we are, friends! I hope you have taken away a small tidbit of organization tips to make your back to school mornings a bit easier — and an appreciation for school year organization tips that happen over the weekend BEFORE the school week actually starts. I would love to know if you decided to implement one of our weekend routines in your home!

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