The Easy Road Back to School

I am a lucky mother this August, it is less than one week back to school and I’m completely organised. What a great Mammy I am huh? Or maybe it was all done for me! My son’s school issues the book lists in early June and collects money for the books then, or half then half in September. I paid one sum which included book rental and book purchase as necessary, copies, workbooks, photocopying, art materials and anything else he will require for Senior Infants.

I must admit when I realised this was the case last year before he went into Junior infants, I was a little disappointed. (I know, crazy!) As a child, I always loved the trips into town to get the school books and supplies and the traditional covering of the school books while watching the Rose of Tralee. I was really looking forward to mucking around with contact covering and lovingly labelling his books and copies. Seriously, I was. This year during a hectic summer, I really appreciate not to have to go through the organizing myself.

There is no uniform shopping either as his school has none. I have mixed feelings about this, it would definitely be handy to have a uniform and no ‘deciding’ what to wear each evening morning. I do buy set things  mostly long sleeve t shirts and tracky bottoms or jeans. The only thing to remember is to make sure he has a track suit on for PE days. Some people think it saves money to have no uniform and it definitely does at this time of year but it can add up having extra sets of clothes for school so it probably balances out throughout the year. I do try to stock up on his next size during sale times etc. Also, many schools now allow uniforms without crests so to save money generic uniforms can be bought in a big supermarket or department stores. This definitely hugely brings down the cost. When I saw my son’s school photo last year and it had all the kids in their own clothes rather than a uniform I really began to appreciate the no uniform idea, the photo is so colourful and fun compared to traditional ones with rows of children in the same colour. There’s pros and cons for both definitely.

So my list for back to school consists of a new lunch-bag and shoes. He is getting a new lunch bag because the zip broke on his old one. And that’s bought, easy, he picked same one as last year as it matches his school-bag and bottle. His Nana bought him new runners for his birthday so the shoes are covered too. Done and dusted.

The hard part is going to be getting back into the routine. Bedtimes are gone crazy all summer and as for trying to get out of the house in the morning for an appointment, it is dreadful. I expect much shouting next Thursday morning. I will be reviewing my lunch ideas from last year and making amazing lunchboxes for the first week, and then narrowing it down to what he will actually eat consistently for me (usually a ham wrap/sambo, but I’m hoping to vary it more).

Best of luck with back to school next week!