Seasonal · 12 recordsBack to school

Everything here is cheap and easy in August and expensive and stressful on the first Sunday of September. This dates the shopping, the admin and — most importantly — moving the sleep back, which takes a fortnight and cannot be done overnight.

Install this templateSee the others

Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

A first week that runs itself Week 3

Sleep moved back, kit bought, admin done before the letters arrive.

Kit and admin Week 2

Cheap and easy in August, expensive and stressful in September.

  • Check what still fits and list what is neededDo firstDay 3
  • Buy the uniform and label everythingDay 10
  • Do the forms, clubs and permissionsDo firstWeek 2

Move the routine back Week 3

A fortnight, because it cannot be done overnight.

  • Start moving bedtime earlier by fifteen minutesDo firstDay 7
  • Do a practice run of the morning and the journeyWeek 3

Routines

  • The school-term bedtimedaily
  • Bags packed the night beforedaily
✦ It puts something in the calendar

Dates you will not have to remember

First day back

1 September08:30
✦ It comes with a note

Sleep is the one that takes a fortnight

Everything else here could be done in a day. Moving bedtimes back cannot, and it is the change that most affects how the first week goes.\n\nThe admin has real deadlines and is invisible until a letter arrives, which is why it is dated rather than left to turn up.

Questions

Back to school, answered.

About a fortnight out, which is what this plan is dated to. The shopping could be done in a day; the sleep schedule cannot, and moving bedtimes back is the single change that most affects how the first week goes.
The admin — forms, clubs, permissions, the ones with deadlines in the first week. It is a project here rather than a task because it is invisible until a letter arrives, by which point it is urgent.
That one is for a child's first ever start, which is mostly about them being ready. This is the annual return, which is mostly logistics — and if it is a first September, install both.
✦ More templates

Other systems you can install

Install it and start this evening

It takes one press. Everything it creates is tagged, so if it turns out not to suit you, it is easy to find and remove together.

Install this template