Life hacks for heading back to school

The humidity is insufferable and all the summer movies have made their debut. That’s a sure sign that back to school time is around the corner. Whether you have a kindergartener, preteens or a soon-to-be college freshman, the beginning of a new school year brings excitement and a bit of anxiety for all families.

If memories of last year’s morning madness and late nights have you and your family cringing, try a life hack. It’s a term to describe a technique that makes you more efficient and helps you manage common tasks. Think back to Heloise Hints or Martha Stewart but with everyday people offering creative solutions to everyday activities.

To make back to school manageable for all family members, here are a few life hacks to consider.

“I love our kindergarten life hack that the teachers use,” says Dr. Jamie Rodriguez, assistant principal at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School and a mother of two boys. “They use a pencil case to share communication between school and home instead of a folder. Notes for the teacher are less likely to get lost when zipped up securely.”

If you are anticipating a kindergartener to be a dawdler, consider creating a playlist of her favorite songs to match the time needed to leave on time. Let her know that when the last song begins it’s time to walk out the door. Lifehack.com and apartmenttherapy.com offered similar ideas for adults. With this version, your kindergartner gains some control and learns a sense of time too.

Consider a slightly different take on this from Kerri Stratford, mother of three. She suggests, “Turn on some upbeat music in the morning. It motivates everyone and puts you in a good mood.”

Make mornings easier in several ways. Your student can pack his or her own backpack the night before or at least help pack lunch. The strong self-adhesive hooks keep backpacks and lunch boxes off the ground and handy. For teens and older, a smaller hook to hang their earbuds by their bedroom light switch also saves time.

The key word for little ones is routine. Every family’s routine may look different, but what’s important is that you have one. Plan it on paper if that helps and then stick to it. Include wake up time, breakfast, bathroom time (especially with teenagers), and jobs. Someone can look up the weather. Another can help pack the car. Your children will know what to expect and you’ll eliminate wasted time.

Sleep is essential to growth and performance. Instead of staying up late to finish homework, encourage your student to go to bed by 10 p.m. and wake up early to complete his or her work. The brain is rested and can work faster than when a student is exhausted at night. (Remind him or her how many times they read the same paragraph or redid the math problem last night.)

To help with organization, try color-coding class subjects. Make it as simple as coloring the edge of each composition notebook to coordinate with a subject. Or, take it further by having binders and book socks all the same color for the same class. Either way, picking up materials from a locker or a bottomless backpack becomes much easier.

After your child completes his or her essay suggest they cut and paste the document into Google Translator and use the read aloud feature. Listening to what you’ve written is an easy way to catch errors.

For the new high schooler, simply appearing to be lost on campus is unbearably embarrassing. One life hack on teen.com suggests that students take a picture of their schedule for easy access. My son took that another step by making it his screen shot (to avoid flipping through his phone as if looking for his schedule).

Want to get rid of the musty dorm smell as you move in your new college student? Buzzfeed.com suggests taping a dryer sheet over the a/c unit vents before turning on the unit. When the air starts blowing you will also have the fresh scent of clean laundry.

Another practical hack for dorm dwellers from mashable.com is a DIY paper towel holder. Cut exactly the middle of the bottom rung of a plastic hanger, then insert the roll. The weight is evenly distributed and the hanger can hang anywhere. Compare with the gadget paper towel holders that take up valuable counter space and you save enough for a pizza.

To reduce college packing materials, use recent purchases as containers. For instance, “the laundry bag is stuffed with all the linens and pillows,” explains Irma Mazzotti, schoolteacher and mother of two.

Need more ideas? The internet is filled with sites that offer life hacks for practically every occasion that can easily be adapted for back to school. But even more fun and enlightening is to reach out to family and friends for their ideas.

One final hack: savor the moments. “Enjoy these hectic days … sooner than you think the house will be way too quiet,” says Ana Forman, proud mother to two college grads.