NYC public school students go back to school tomorrow, September 9th…
(Place your mouse over the picture to see my “Back to School” Happy Dance!)
In reality, back to school season is a bittersweet time for me. Michael will be going to middle school and Sean will be going to third grade. Time is flying! I’m not sure about you, but I find it challenging to keep up with all of the days that the kids are off from school during the school year. That is where my “time tip” for this week comes into play: Write down ALL of your kids special school days (when schools are closed, partial days, etc.) on your family calendar now before the school year begins. In addition, as soon as your kids bring home flyers in their folders, include the important dates on your family calendar. In the month of September alone, NYC public schools are closed 4 days for religious holidays plus there is a family night at one of my kid’s school. (Click here for the NYC Public School 2015-16 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR.) If you’re not a NYC resident, you can do a google search for “(your city) public school 2015-2016 calendar” to find your local school calendar.
It doesn’t really matter if you use a paper or an electronic calendar to sync the school year calendars with your family calendar. I have started to use both. I write everything down in my beloved paper calendar. Then, I take a snapshot of each month that I save on my phone just in case my paper calendar gets destroyed. For physical calendars, momAgenda has a great variety of options. Google Calendar and calendar apps for your smartphones (Awesome Note is my personal favorite) are also great electronic options. The important part is to have the school information on the calendar that you regularly use to plan your days/weeks/months/year.
That’s my short tip for this week. Next Tuesday, I’ll start answering time-related questions from readers. I see some common themes already popping up – distractions, overall overwhelm, etc. – and I definitely have some tips. If you want more help with your family schedule, definitely let me know. I will be answering questions online each Tuesday. To have your question answered, please fill out this super short questionnaire.