10 Back to School Tips

10 Back to School Tips: for K-12 Students, Parents and College Students

It doesn’t matter if you are a first grader, teenager or adult, heading out of summer break and into the “back-to-school” season is a big adjustment at any age. For some, summer is a time of freedom, travel and play, a time for retreat and rest and for others it may be a time to be on less of a schedule where family can spend more time together. Some people get busier in the summer and some reach a point of boredom that can make them dream of routine days in the school year. Whatever your situation is, below are 10 tips to help you adjust out of the summer break and into the new school year. 

1. Mark the end of the season –  Summer days can mean more sleep, more fun and more free time so it only makes sense that it would be challenging to get back into a routine with school. One thing that can help you acknowledge the end of summer or summer break is to do something fun and memorable to mark the end of the season. This could be anything from a party, to hanging out with family and friends, to playing in the water, to reading one last book that’s just for you. It can be anything that you enjoy that helps you mark the end of this season. 

2. Practice your morning routine – A morning routine involves some discipline and consistency. Think about what activities you can do the night ahead to make your morning routine better for you. Whether you have young children to get ready for school or you are just taking care of yourself, creating a good morning routine can set you up to have a better day. To do this, think about what you will need to do in the mornings to get ready, to nourish yourself and what you will need to plan to bring out of the house with you. Are you someone who needs alone-time in the morning or are you someone who needs or wants a specific breakfast? It’s good to understand how to plan for your day so that you have one less thing to worry about. 

3. Setting goals – If you aren’t the goal-setting type, that’s okay! Think of some words or themes that you would like to carry with you this school year and put them on a sticky note, on your desk or somewhere you will look often. These can be things like “Health,” or “Work/Life Balance” or “Consistency.” These words can remind you throughout the school year of what you wanted to be intentional about this year. If you are a goal setter, make a list of your top 5 goals for the upcoming school year and revisit them regularly or as often as you need to check in with yourself. 

4. Practice self-regulation – Let’s face it, no matter how much we plan, things are going to go wrong at some point. But the good news is that if we practice self regulation daily we can prepare our minds and bodies to be able to handle the stress. On your own or with others you can practice deep-breathing exercises to help you regulate your nervous system. You can also practice micro-movements in your body to help yourself be more still and present. To practice deep breathing, try inhaling with the 4-7-8 breathing technique, which means breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds. To practice using micromovements, have your eyes closed or only slightly opened and focus on your index finger first with small side-to-side movements that may not be visible to the eye. Then move your focus to different fingers or parts of the body making micromovements until you feel like you can stop and be still.  It’s important to know what is helpful to you when you are feeling stress or anxiety so that you have the tools you need at all times to regulate yourself. 

5. Prepare to be flexible –  Heading back to school can often mean last minute schedule changes, unexpected events and stores being out of supplies that you need. Preparing to be flexible and talking about these unexpected things can help a student or family to handle unexpected changes that may come this school year. To practice, try thinking of a time in the past where something didn’t go as planned and you had to be flexible. Flexibility and self-regulation go hand-in-hand. 

6. Know where to get help – Knowing beforehand who to go to or contact if you need help can get you help faster when the time comes that you need it. Resources that may be helpful to know about could be the school counselor, the teacher, the principal, department chair, academic coach, tutor, etc. Know who and where your resources are. 

7. Nutrition, hydration and sleep – To be your best, you need optimal nutrition, hydration and sleep. This means something different to everyone so it’s up to each of us to ensure that we allow time in our day to meet these needs. Improper amounts of these needs can not only affect your physical health but they greatly affect your mental health too. As you think about your morning routine, you will need to consider these three areas to find a balance between all.

8. Create strategies and get organized – Planners and lists work for some but aren’t for everyone. When it comes to organizing our brains, it’s helpful to understand what “executive functioning” means. Executive functioning refers to a set of abilities or skills that consist of working memory, flexible thinking and self-control and how we manage our daily lives using them. Some people best function with a daily list, or binders to keep certain topics arranged, or having a calendar, or establishing due dates and action items or some people find ways to even function with small piles of organized documents that makes sense to you. Know what works best for you. It’s essential to have the tools needed to be successful with organization. 

9. Take breaks from schoolwork –  Taking breaks is good because the brain needs a rest too. Find something that stimulates your brain but also relaxes you like listening to music, talking to a friend or reading. Be mindful of how much time you spend in certain settings like social media where you could scroll for hours and retain very little. Also consider curating the things you look at on your phone to be things that make you feel good without shame or comparison. Use your breaks to refuel and recharge yourself.

10. Have an outlet for your stress, anxiety and anger – No matter what your age, we all need an outlet sometimes. Whether it is a child, parent or adult student, there can be many bad days and disappointments where you may need a healthy physical outlet to let some of the big feelings and emotions out. Some get this outlet from exercise or another form of physical activity where they can have a release. There are many different outlets to “blow off some steam” and it’s helpful to know ahead of time what those options can be for you or your child.

It’s important that we honor the many seasons of life. It’s never really just the end of summer because it may also mark the end of someone’s last year of elementary school or the last year of student-teaching before graduate school. Acknowledging the time that has passed helps us to move forward into our next season. If this list feels overwhelming, start wherever you can and discover what works best for you. 

~Jessie