Mom's Back-to-School To Do List
It's that time of year + a GIVEAWAY!
It’s here. My kids are back to school. So today, parents, we laugh because sometimes that is all we can do. A to-do list of the satire sort. And a whole bunch of links including the newsletter’s first ever giveaway!!! Do not miss out, all the details for the giveaway are included at the bottom.
A schedule note: End of the month round-up lands this Thursday and the newsletter will land again in your inbox on September 9th due to the Labor Day holiday in the US.
Mom’s Back-to-School To Do List
Review the optional school supply list and make shopping list
Add all items that were labeled optional from school supply list because they were not actually optional
Search online for highlighters with Trapezoid points, 21 sharpened pencils (that are not sharp and not dull) and dry erase markers in requested colors: English Vermilion, Asparagus and Bluetiful
Assess lunch boxes to see if they can be used again
Lunch boxes smell like feet. Make excel document to compare lunch box designs with 16 versus 17.5 compartments
Buy erasers in shape of foods, buy folders with pictures of food and notebooks with food (preferably cupcakes or pizza)
Label school supplies with initials and middle digits of kids’ social security numbers
Remove labels from younger kid’s supplies because they share
Buy more hand sanitizer, Vitamin C, tissues and whatever magic supplements the internet serves up
Put rubber corners for papercut protection on paper as requested by school
Compile summer reading list for teacher
Start summer reading
Sort through last year’s school supplies because just received update ordered supplies are all on backorder
Complete school paper forms and then complete online version of the same forms
Register for accounts on Brain Spa, Bobo, Snaapppy, Snaapppy Classroom, Snaapppy Locker Room, Mountain and TABLE. Try to find out what exactly these are for?
Sign up for school volunteering early to avoid being parent ambassador to Centipede club…again
Brainstorm tactful response to parent volunteer email that you do not need to reply all
Buy snacks for school lunches
Go back to store, snacks gone—buy more snacks
More for your back-to-school season
Check out this great selection of books on the topic of school for kids from
in A Backpack Full of 14 BooksAll the apps and notifications related to school can be so overwhelming as highlighted here in Welcome Back to School…& Push Notification Hell by
The kids these days…are pretty wise, Students share back-to-school tips with NPR.
More wise voices curated for your school year
The collection of writers below cover a whole range of kid-related topics but often discuss topics related to learning and supporting kids and families in schools. A link and short description of their publications is included below.
- written by
Join 8,500+ parents and Educators in community as we learn to better support neurodivergent youth
- written by
I critique modern parenting in pursuit of a healthier way for families including how to practice autonomy-supportive parenting. I’m here as a voice of common sense, sound information and balance
- written by
A newsletter for parents of neurodivergent kids who want to feel more calm, connected, calm and present. Paid subscribers can access coaching and a private podcast.
- written by
I bring science and nuance to parenting advice and challenge fear-mongering, shame-inducing content.
- written by
Psychologist and professor shares the latest research on technology and the people who use it, plus practical tips for living and parenting in the digital age.
- written by
Useful tips for parents about children’s feelings & friendships from psychologist and author Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PLUS a 5-min. podcast , Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic, each week & online workshops for parents each month.
It’s time for the GIVEAWAY!
So for the first giveaway of this newsletter, it’s back-to-school supplies…for parents:
A delightful book to read: It’s Elementary* by Elise Bryant
“Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school's brand-new DEI committee.
As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting, when the new principal's plans leave Trisha absolutely furious. Later that night, when Mavis spies Trisha in yellow rubber gloves and booties, lugging cleaning supplies and giant black trash bags to her waiting minivan, it's only natural that her mind jumps to somewhere it surely wouldn't in the light of day.
Except Principal Smith fails to show up for work the next morning, and has been MIA since the meeting. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Mavis, along with the school psychologist with the great forearms (look, it's worth noting), launches an investigation that will challenge her views on parenting, friendship, and elementary school politics.”
Self-compassion: 2 tickets ($50.00 value) to the Motherhood Mental Health Conference happening October 11th. I will be a panelist at the conference along with many wonderful and talented speakers and panelists.
How can we treat ourselves with compassion? That is the question our speakers will help you process during our first virtual event. The 2024 Mental Health & Motherhood Virtual Conference will feature live-streamed speakers with backgrounds that include psychology and health.
You’ll meet attendees and speakers during Q&A sessions and reset with guided yoga and journaling sessions. You’re going to come into the event and feel like your community has been waiting to hold space for you. It doesn’t matter what time zone you’re in because we will have all sessions recorded for later.
What matters is you. Are you ready to prioritize your mental health, mama?
Arts and crafts supplies: An adult coloring book and colored pencils.
The opportunity to be the inaugural question asker in a new feature of the newsletter called A Messy Question. Not a feature for cleaning or home organzing questions but a reader question to be answered in a future newsletter.
To enter the giveaway, you need to be a free or paid subscriber and reside in the United States.
Enter your information into this form by 9:00 PM EST September 6th, 2024.
Giveaway items It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant, adult coloring book and colored pencil.
What are your strategies to smooth the back-to-school transition?
I’ll go first…
We were in a meal rut and there wasn’t bandwidth to piece together new recipes so we joined
’s Yummy Toddler Food paid subscription. It has weekly meal plans, grocery lists and there is a lot of flexibility to customize. It’s been great so far. Hoping that off loading that part of the mental load will help us smoothly transition into the year (at least for dinner).Planning movement through the day for myself
Taking care of future me (more on that in the…future)
Thank you for the shout out!
Also, what are rubber corners for paper?! 😳
Too real. One of my kid’s schools have started having us just give them the money and they buy the supplies, which has made my life a little bit easier!