Monthly Musings: End of Summer and Back to School

 




Hello! Welcome to August Monthly Musings. Holly and I are so glad you can join us for our monthly link up today. We get together at the the end of every month and throw out some themed questions. In August, we are talking the end of summer and back to school...whatever that looks like. Let's jump in.

1. Do You Have Kids Going Back to School and What Does That Look Like? What Is Your Plan?

Hockey Guy is starting a new school for the first time in 9 years. All of this brings fun new challenges as we navigate high school for the first time and in a pandemic. He will be in the building 2-3 days per week and then will be online the other days of the week. This ensures 50% capacity.

There are masks, temperature checks, physical distancing and all kinds of other cleaning protocols. I feel as Good about what they are doing as I can. To quote my friend "if anyone can do this, they can."


2. Do You Have Any Current Back To School Traditions?

Typically I let Hockey Guy pick what he wants for dinner on the first night of school. We usually try to make it something easy, often involving the crockpot, so we have plenty of time to sit and talk about the day. For orientation yesterday it was baked chicken tacos, not sure what he will choose yet for the actual first day on Monday.

We always take the back to school photos. At our old school the tradition was that you took a photo the first day in front of the sign. That is really not going to be a possibility for high school. 

Our photos always include a few with our dog too. Stormy needs to be part of the process! We took freshman orientation photos today but hopefully we can get Stormy into the photo on Monday for the first true day of classes.  If he ever gives me a hard time about the first day of school photos I always tell him that if he doesn't take a photo then he will have have to be the one to tell his grandmothers why there are no first day of school photos. That statement usually gets the photos taken.


3) Did You Have Any Back to School Traditions Growing Up

When I was little, I always got a new lunch box and book bag. We didn't really use a backpack in those days. For me, from kindergarten on...it was all about the first day outfit. 


4) New lunchbox? New Backpack? Both?

Now that he is in high school it is new backpack only...which we still need to order! The backpack will be even more important this year because they will not be allowed to use their lockers for a while due to the pandemic. 

There is no lunchbox because the food at his high school is actually really Good from what he tells me. Hey, this works for me!


5) Any Special Back To School Meals?

Just that Hockey Guy gets to choose dinner that night. We don't do a special back to school breakfast. My hats off to the moms that do it, it's just not happening in our house.


6) What Are the Back to School Outfits?

We have school uniforms so that makes things so easy. He basically wore the same uniform, in a different size, for all 9 years at his old school. They added shirts and ties for Fridays in middle school for Friday Mass.

He has a whole new uniform and they look really nice. He looks so grown up. The one challenge we had this year is that although his new uniform comes from the same company as his old uniform...the material and the fit on the pants and shorts is totally different. It has taken three tries, and a current loaner of shorts from a friend, to get the fit correct.  I ordered early but the sizing was off. As usual, my girls came through for me with fit advice and a temporary loaning of shorts until the right size arrives at our house. Thanks Jen, Casey, Kelli and Kristin for helping with all of this!


Timeline Photos - Rose Hill Designs by Heather Stillufsen | via ...


7)  Especially This Year, How Will You Stay Organized and Get in a Routine?

Since Hockey Guy will be in school some days and working virtually some days, we are really going to have to use our family calendar. We all have Cozi loaded on our phones and my feeling is that if it is not on the Cozi, it doesn't exists. You can create an account for free and it is so easy to use. 

We are all going to have to communicate really well too. We hopefully have some really fun things to look forward to this fall, but it has to be on the schedule.

I have also starting planning my day from the moment I get up until i go to bed. It sounds a little crazy but it has really helped my stress level going into each day with a plan. It might all go to heck by 9:30 but at least I have a plan to pick back up on.

Leave in the comments what you are doing to stay organized this year.

8) Do You Have Any End of Summer Plans?

We really don't. We had a really Good trip a few weeks ago and that really helped refresh me. I am going to take each week at a time and try to enjoy what we are able to do. I am going to find the Joy,  whether that means just sitting on our new patio on a nice night or all of us being able to watch Hockey guy play.

9) What are You and Your Kids Looking Forward to This School Year?

Everything being new. We are so finding Joy in all the new school traditions and opportunities. 

10) Do You Give Teacher Gifts?

I never did teacher gifts on the first day of school. I always gave Christmas gifts and gave gifts at the end of the year for the most part. I have no idea what you do in high school. See above for all the newness!

Thanks for joining us today. If you would like to link up with Holly and me we would love to have you. The link is below. If you could also take some time to read the other bloggers who joined us and comment too, that would be the Best


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4 comments

  1. I am so excited to hear all about Hockey Guy's new school AND all of the hockey- may it continue- here is to a successful and healthy school year Mama! XO

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  2. I am already dreading the day when my kids no longer want to cooperate for back to school pictures :( I hope his transition goes well -- I really feel for kids who are starting at a new school in these times.

    I've always thought uniforms would make life easier but it sounds like that might not be the case. I'm thankful your people were able to help you out.

    Thank you for hosting this fun link up!

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  3. We just learned our new school actually has a policy on teacher gifts and we aren't allowed to give any until after grades are submitted at the end of the year!

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  4. The first day outfit was always the most important part of back to school, especially as I got older! We have a hybrid model at the college I work at as well, and many safety protocols, one of which is on-site weekly testing. I think I still gave end of the school year teacher gifts in high school, but only to the ones I really liked! Good luck navigating this new school year!

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