Making Life Easier in Transitioning from Summer to School

1. Before school starts, take your child shopping for school supplies. At a young age, most materials will probably be supplied by the school, but you will need to purchase supplies that he will need for use on homework, such as markers, crayons, pencils, scissors, paper, erasers, glue sticks and colored pencils. Allow your child to choose some items, such as a new lunchbox, backpack or clothes.

2. Review letter names and sounds with your child. If he/she is able to read, acquire books that are at his reading level from the bookstore, public library or friends. Encourage him to practice his reading skills daily. If you don't already do so, spend at least fifteen minutes each day reading aloud to your youngster. Number recognition and simple addition are some math concepts that you can review with your child, too.

3. Scheduling weekly family activities may be helpful, too. Choose one day each week to visit hte public library or bookstore, swim in the neighborhood pool, play in the park or school playground or explore local museums.

4. As you ease your child into an earlier bedtime, adjust their waking time accordingly. You may want to introduce the use of an alarm clock to promote independent waking.

5. Begin by slowly adjusting the hour your child goes to sleep and the time when he wakes up in the morning. Each night, get your child ready for bed a few minutes earlier so that they will gradually ease into the school year bedtime, which I would reccommend to be sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 pm. If you haven't already done so, create a bedtime routine, including bathing, selecting clothes for the next day and reading.