Being a teacher is hard work. So is being a teacher mom (or a teacher parent, if you’re not a mom). It’s been a steep learning curve to get back into the swing of teaching full time while also getting my own 3 kids out the door each day. Add trying to feed my family and keep my house (semi) clean, and it’s a lot. It’s definitely not perfect, but here are 5 things to do to prep for the school week on Sundays that will make the rest of the week run much smoother.
1. Pick out everyone’s clothes for the week
I don’t know about your kids, but the last thing any of my children want to do on Monday morning is pick out clothes to wear. And, if I try to pick out clothes to wear, they’re always wrong. Instead, on Sundays we put away all the laundry we did over the weekend. At the same time, my kids each pick out 5 outfits and put them in stacks at the bottom of their wardrobe. Monday’s outfit on the left to Friday all the way on the right. This means there’s no thinking in the morning. They just grab the next outfit and put it on. My kids have also gotten smart and they use the clothes they have to put away mostly, so their teachers probably think they only have 5 outfits. I don’t blame them. Whatever works!
I also prep for the school week by picking out my clothes as well. I often end up swapping one or two outfits a week, but it means that I have something to throw on if the morning gets busy. Just make sure you check the weather so everyone’s outfit will keep them comfortable.
2. Plan your dinners for the week
There is nothing worse than walking in the door after a long day at school and realizing it’s already 5:30 and everyone’s hangry. You peer into the fridge looking for inspiration and then resign to having cereal or PBJ because you’ve got to put something in your family’s belly.
I highly recommend spending some time on Sunday planning out meals for the week. Even just knowing that Monday is spaghetti and Tuesday is tacos will take some of that dinner time pressure off. If you’re really organized, you can even prep some food ahead. (Honestly, this rarely happens for me.)
Another tip is to think about your schedule and plan easier meals for the days you’ll be later. At my current school, I have late meetings on Tuesday and Thursday. So, I typically make a double helping of dinner on Monday and we’ll eat the same on Tuesday. I make another double helping on Wednesday, and we eat the left overs on Thursday. Friday we get pizza and celebrate that we made it through another week.
Here’s some of my favorite go to quick and healthy (or healthy-ish) meals.
- tacos (or taco bowls)
- chili
- soup in the crockpot (throw whatever veggies you have, an onion, some celery, broth, salt and pepper and then add some noodles when you get home)
- homemade pizza (I buy store bought dough)
- rice and whatever random veggies we have
- pasta, salad, and bread
- curry chicken, rice, and zucchini
- a big charcuterie board (always a hit and so easy)
- sheet pan veggies and bread
- couscous and veggies
3. Pack everyone’s bag
Maybe your house is calm in the morning and everything goes smoothly, but that is not the case in my household. We have 2 working parents, 2 school aged kids who come to school with me, and a preschooler who goes to a separate school. If you’re counting, that means we have to get 5 humans to 3 separate locations with clothes on and food in their bellies. So, one thing I don’t want to do on Monday morning is looking for a missing piano book or a snack.
To combat some of the morning madness, I pack my kids’ and my bags the night before. That includes homework, folders, library books, permission slips, snacks, water bottles, and so on. Knowing they can just grab their bags takes some of the pressure off.
4. Have some easy breakfasts ready for the mornings
It’s important to feed everyone before they head off to school and work, but I don’t have time to make a fancy breakfast every morning. Instead, I like to make some banana muffins, oatmeal, or date balls ahead of time for each meals. I typically make a big batch of one or two of those things on Sunday. Then, I freeze them and heat them in the microwave in the morning. We mixed these options with other simple options like cereal, bagels, and yogurt. Having a variety of options that I don’t have to actually make each morning really simplifies the morning. And, in a pinch, the kids can grab a muffin and eat it on the way to school.
5. Get everyone’s homework done
Obviously this might not be an option depending on when homework is due, but if you can do it over the weekend, I highly recommend it. Getting homework done during the week is really tough, at least in our house, so we opt to take an hour on Sunday’s to get it all done at once. (If you’d like to read about my thoughts on homework, you can find them here.)
Being a teacher mom or dad is tough, but doing these 5 things to prep for the school week things just might make your Monday morning slightly less frantic.
