BTS

Today I was reading this magazine and it had an article in it about getting ready for “BTS.” Huh? I thought. BTS? What’s that? But further reading gave me my answer. Apparently, “BTS” means “back to school.”

Ah, yes. Back to school. Already on it. Actually, I’ve been on it for months! We have been spending a lot of time getting ready for when the kids go back to school. Given that Jesse begins elementary school and Jennifer begins middle school, it’s a big deal! (I have also marveled over how each child is having his/her own milestone in his/her education. How interesting they both have these milestones!)

We have already gone back to being on a “school schedule." Kids are being put to bed earlier at night and they have to wake up earlier in the mornings. Jennifer and I spent some time synchronizing our schedules per the new school hours she will have and also discussing alternatives in the event her dad or I are late picking her up for school. (Gotta always have a Plan B!)

As for Jesse, I have already gotten things pretty much squared away with everything that needs to be in order for when he goes back to school. He gets a free breakfast at the school, so he told me he will not be eating breakfast in the mornings. I have worked with him on having “time limits” for getting washed up in the mornings, getting dressed and ready to go. Because the big problem we had during preschool was getting ready to go to school on time, we have been practicing that. I have also been fine-tuning his social skills, explaining that he needs to remember to share, to keep hands to himself and asking to do something instead of grabbing something from someone’s hands to do it. (But we’ll see how that goes!) Sometime ago, Jesse got a booklet for kids entering kindergarten and what sort of things they should know by then. He can write his own name, read basic words, knows his alphabet and can count to 100. But there were other things in that book, like knowing his middle name and address, and we worked on him memorizing those things, too.

As for both children, I already went through their dressers/closets to get rid of old clothes and decide what clothes they’ll need for the school year. (Both of them need jeans, sweatshirts and shoes.) I have also made sure they are up-to-date on vaccinations, though I’ll be double-checking on that soon when I take Jesse to get his physical next week and now that I just received a form in today’s mail on new vaccination requirements for kids entering kindergarten and 6th grade. We have already also discussed any other questions or concerns they had about their new schools.

I also worked on the budget for September to include back-to-school fees we’ll need to take care of for the big day.

So as far as BTS is concerned, we are pretty much on top of things. The kids will be getting their backpacks and shoes soon, Jen will get the rest of her school supplies soon, and Jesse will get the rest of his paperwork filled out soon. After all that, when the big day comes, I hope there won’t be any surprises or last-minute items to check off our list.