Check List for Back to School – Term II
Yes guys, 2018 is here!
Don’t worry you don’t have to go back to school for one more week, but I thought this was a perfect time to do a back to school check list for Term II. Somehow I am always less organized in Term II than Term I, so this is for me as well as you.
1. 
Shoes. Check to make sure you children’s school shoes still fit. Yes I know you only bought it last term but your children grew taller since that term. That includes shoes. Somehow, we can get away with the rest of the uniform but unfortunately the shoes sometimes have to be replaced in term II. Remember to check the school shoes AND the PE shoes. Make sure you let them try it on with socks and please check it with them via the toe test.
2. School Bag and Supplies. 
Check the school bag or make them check it to clear out all of the rubbish from last term. The notices you never got and that parent permission slip the children swore they gave to you. Ideally you should wash the bag as well… yeah I can’t promise that either, but it is the right thing to do. While you are there, check their stationery. When you finish quarreling about the missing colours, pens and pencils, restock as necessary.
3. Uniform. Make sure and find all the elements of the uniform, like house button, ties and special pins that are necessary for the first day of school. Wash, iron and hang up everything this week. If you are really organized, with older children, convince the children to do it themselves.
4. Have fun. Go to at least one cinema show, Funstation visit, Zoo visit, Botanical Gardens or Five Islands visit this last week. Yes I know we are “broken” after Christmas, but the Zoo or Botanical Gardens is relatively inexpensive and you need to make sure you spend some time with your children this holiday that is NOT cleaning or painting the house. That is what they really want, time with US!
5. 
Check the water bottle. It may have to be deep boiled or replaced dependent on what happened last term. (Somehow my children always lose theirs by the end of the second month! I usually refuse to buy one again until Term II.) Anyway, try and find it (check under the bed if it is not in the lunch kit) and make sure they can use it this term.
6. 
Projects. Check to see if there are any projects, homework or activities that were to be done over the holiday and make sure it is done this week. I also usually let my children do a quick essay of “What we did over Christmas”. Somehow they never remember all of the things we did when they reach to school. One year all they remembered for the school essay is that “we ate ham”…. not gifts, not the places we we went to … just HAM. Anyway, writing a one pager usually makes sure that they remember how to write and spell and I let them draw a picture and colour it as well. I also join in sometimes and do my own drawing and we all paint or colour our pictures at the same time. My children loved that I did the activity of writing and painting with them so it didn’t seem like work they were just spending more time with Mummy.
Those are my major things to be checked before school starts. Have I missed something that YOU usually do? Let us know in the comments!
