A mom of four young kids reveals the 3-step system that made her kids never late to school. Not even once!
As I prepare to send all four of my kids off to school for the first time ever, I can’t help but feel nervous. Will our slow, quiet homeschool mornings reading books on the couch be replaced with a loud and frantic rush out the door? Perish the thought.
But how can we avoid a hectic and stressful rush every morning?
It really helped to talk to my friend Isabel, also a mom of four and a veteran "school mom," who told me her kids have never been late to school. Not even once!
“What’s your secret?” I had to know.
She shared with me the three things she does every day to pull off this nearly impossible feat. I thought you’d like to know too!
1Prepare the night before
Isabel shared with me that her children put on their outfits for the next day at bedtime, and sleep in their clothing for school the next day. It eliminates a lot of time in the morning, making decisions about clothing and taking forever to get dressed.
My kids will be wearing school uniforms, so I’m not sure I’ll copy this idea exactly. But at the very least, we will lay out our outfits the night before.
She also said her kids always packed their lunches the night before to save time in the morning. I’ll try to do this too!
2The dry-erase checklist
Isabel printed out a “morning checklist” for each of her kids and stuck it in a page protector to make it dry-erasable. Then she hung the checklists on the fridge and put a dry erase marker in the closest drawer.
Voila! Her kids could look at the list to know exactly what they needed to do every morning, and they loved checking off their lists.
“I don’t allow my kids to do anything else until the checklist is completed,” she told me. “No reading or playing or anything.”
But it turns out this rule motivated her kids to finish the checklist super fast, leaving them with some nice down time in the mornings. “They usually have 20 or 30 minutes to play or read once they finish their checklists,” she said. Sounds good to me!
Curious about this checklist? She used a free Canva template, so it’s easy to make your own version. She sent it to me, and you can see it here:
I also found this visual morning routine chart for younger children who can’t read yet. I printed it for my preschooler so she can check off her list too.
3The daily reminder
The final piece of her foolproof “never late” gameplan? She programmed a daily reminder on the family’s Echo Dot to announce, “Time to leave for school” at the same time every day. Her kids know to immediately head to the car when the reminder goes off.
I’m glad I talked to her, and I'm hoping that these strategies will help us enjoy peaceful mornings even as we adjust to a new school routine. We could all benefit from growing in the virtues of order and punctuality, and I think these ideas will help.
And whether you’re getting out the door in the morning for homeschool co-op, hybrid school, public school, or private school, I hope they help you and your family too!
