What are your hacks for being an organized parent during the school year?

[Anonymous]

Here are some of mine.

Medical -
1) Contact info for all of our medical doctors for entire family, pharmacy and urgent care is programmed on all cell phones in the family, our land line, on the cloud, in our wallets and also printed and kept in each car glove box - PCP, Eye, Derm, Ped, Dentist, therapist, Allergist, Gynecologist etc.
2) Get flu shots for my entire family in August. I also schedule dental, derm, eye exams before school starts.
3) Make medical appointments for the school year, as soon as the school board approves the school calendar for next year.
4) Maintain a file for each family member and I get a copy of all tests for them from each dr. Keep a record of all vaccines and health checkups like regular pediatric, booster shots, school mandated shots, flu shots and travel shots - share with the school what is appropriate.
5) Print school medical excuse forms and keep it in your car. I get one signed each time I need my kid to be excused from school and submit them promptly when my kids return to school.

School Lunch -
1) Have a list of kids approved school lunches handy so you are not stumped for what they will like to eat.
2) Buy lunch boxes that have seperate zippered areas to keep individual wetwipes, house keys, and some cash.
3) While my kid does not buy school lunch, I keep around $10 in his school lunch account, in case he needs to buy lunch at school.

Teachers -
1) Have a list for the time for each period, teacher, subject and room number. Create contacts on your cell phones and emails. Send individual emails to them if your kid is unwell, along with the attendance office. I have found that the teachers are very accommodating and will allow my kids to make up tests and assignments, if I have kept them informed beforehand.
2) If you like to give class donation, Christmas, TA, end of year gifts - keep a list of the what, when and who.

General School info -
1) Create your own calendars for all school closings, test dates, EC actives etc.
2) Work along with your children to create these lists and calendars and then share these chores, lists, calendars with them. You want to do this for a few years only. Once your kids are little older, you want them to do this.
3) Share all your lists and to dos with your family on cloud.
4) Check school picture day date and schedule haircuts a week before that. Figure out solid color clothes options for picture day.
5) Use your smartphone to text your kids to take their meds, do chores or do homework. Use nest or ring to know when kids are back home.
6) Carpool with others and have their info handy and work with a timetable.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who's not a SAHM of only one kid have anything to share? HUGE eye roll

[Anonymous]

How is the view from the helicopter?

[Anonymous]

I'd say this is a troll but I don't think trolls get this detailed...

[Anonymous]

Those are good!

PP - I'm a working mom of three, and these are some things that have helped me.

Scheduling medical/dental/ortho appointments on days off (with multiple kids together) makes life so much easier.

I immediately scan or photograph important things, like completed forms, invitations, permission slips, or anything else likely to get misplaced. I keep them on my Google drive so that I can access them anywhere. I also have pictures of the front and back of our insurance cards on my phone - these always seem to be needed for permission slips and sports waivers.

When my kids were little, I kept a huge box of plastic spoons and another of forks in the house. As soon as a Signup Genius notification came through, I signed up for spoons or forks. They are easy for the kids to carry to school or take on the bus (i.e. don't get stuck in the carpool line because you signed up for a case of water). You can always go back and add something else later if you have time.

Each kid now has one of those three or four shelf storage towers for their uniforms. One shelf for jerseys, shorts, socks, etc. Uniforms, INCLUDING SOCKS, go immediately from bag or bathroom into the wash machine and once washed and dried, go immediately into the storage tower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who's not a SAHM of only one kid have anything to share? HUGE eye roll

Reading comprehension issues?

[Anonymous]

I have the best hack ever, you guys! I HAVE A CALENDAR!!!

[Anonymous]

Seriously, OP, if you weren't so over the top, you might have received some helpful suggestions, but you are out of control...

[Anonymous]

I've mentioned this before, but with the onslaught of birthday parties for DD's 16 classmates, at the beginning of the year I take DD to Five Below and we pick out about 20 gifts that range from gender specific to gender neutral. We then go to Dollar Tree and buy 20 birthday cards at 2/$1, a few packs of tissue paper, and gift bags. We keep everything in a bin/tote in the closet. When a birthday party comes up, I send DD to the "gift bin" to pick out a gift for her friend, grab a card to sign, and we're good to go.
The whole year costs me about $125 for all of the kids and I save TONS of time shopping.

[Anonymous]

My best hacks (3 kids, and I work full-time):

1. Kids only have white socks. So, no matching socks, finding the lost mate, etc.
2. Make lunches the night before.
3. All school stuff - backpacks, library books, etc - go into a specific shelf as soon as they return home. Then, all school stuff put together and ready to go the niight before school.
4. Any appointment made is put on my Outlook calendar with an invitation sent to my husband's calendar as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those are good!

PP - I'm a working mom of three, and these are some things that have helped me.

Scheduling medical/dental/ortho appointments on days off (with multiple kids together) makes life so much easier.

I immediately scan or photograph important things, like completed forms, invitations, permission slips, or anything else likely to get misplaced. I keep them on my Google drive so that I can access them anywhere. I also have pictures of the front and back of our insurance cards on my phone - these always seem to be needed for permission slips and sports waivers.

When my kids were little, I kept a huge box of plastic spoons and another of forks in the house. As soon as a Signup Genius notification came through, I signed up for spoons or forks. They are easy for the kids to carry to school or take on the bus (i.e. don't get stuck in the carpool line because you signed up for a case of water). You can always go back and add something else later if you have time.

Each kid now has one of those three or four shelf storage towers for their uniforms. One shelf for jerseys, shorts, socks, etc. Uniforms, INCLUDING SOCKS, go immediately from bag or bathroom into the wash machine and once washed and dried, go immediately into the storage tower.

Great idea!

I use google drive too for my important papers and kids can access it.

I also keep the measurements, plus height-weight for all of my kids on my cellphone. It allows me to order clothes online with confidence.

[Anonymous]

Some of these are more cumbersome than life hacks - files on XYZ, chore charts, calendars? Goid grief!
Life hacks are supposed to make things easier not clutter things even more.

And some of the suggestions are just common sense and the norm (1 family calendar, kid involved in making lunch, etc) not really life hacks.

A life hack would be something like putting a frozen water bottle into your kid's lunch box to keep the go-gurt/cheese stick/anything slightly perishable cold during the course of the day.
That's a life hack.
Getting a flu shot at the end if August, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of these are more cumbersome than life hacks - files on XYZ, chore charts, calendars? Goid grief!
Life hacks are supposed to make things easier not clutter things even more.

And some of the suggestions are just common sense and the norm (1 family calendar, kid involved in making lunch, etc) not really life hacks.

A life hack would be something like putting a frozen water bottle into your kid's lunch box to keep the go-gurt/cheese stick/anything slightly perishable cold during the course of the day.
That's a life hack.
Getting a flu shot at the end if August, not so much.

Or just freezing the go-gurt ::mind blown::

[Anonymous]

My kid's dentist is my dentist too. I get my teeth cleaned twice a year, the same time my kid does. I schedule it at the end of the school day or when it is a no-school day so that it is convenient for both my kid and for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these are more cumbersome than life hacks - files on XYZ, chore charts, calendars? Goid grief!
Life hacks are supposed to make things easier not clutter things even more.

And some of the suggestions are just common sense and the norm (1 family calendar, kid involved in making lunch, etc) not really life hacks.

A life hack would be something like putting a frozen water bottle into your kid's lunch box to keep the go-gurt/cheese stick/anything slightly perishable cold during the course of the day.
That's a life hack.
Getting a flu shot at the end if August, not so much.

Or just freezing the go-gurt ::mind blown::

Ha ha!!