Back to School

As the school year quickly approaches, with my 5-year-old starting kindergarten, my 2-year-old going to a new family daycare, and myself taking on three classes (instead of the usual two) this semester, I'm scouring the Web for back-to-school tips to help make our transition easier. I figure this is a good place to collect them all.

Lunch Ideas

• Veggie cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches
• BBQ Chicken Wrap: sliced chicken nuggets, cucumber spears, BBQ sauce, spinach, all in a flour tortilla
  
• Chicken salad sandwich from leftover chicken (awesome recipe from Todd English)
• Pesto Pasta salad (Todd English again) Can add pieces of chicken/ham
• Make a bunch of PB&J sandwiches at once and freeze them
• Crackerwiches: skip the bread, and make a sandwich with crackers instead. Look for oversize or fun-shaped multigrain varieties, and serve with cheese, turkey, chicken, peanut butter, hummus, or cream cheese.
• 6 Turkey Sandwich Ideas
  
• Stuffed baked potatoes: yummy even at room temperature. Microwave a small potato, cut it in half, and fill each half with chopped broccoli and cheese or black beans and salsa. Wrap tightly.
• Sandwich on a stick
  
• Wraps: possible ingredients are tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, blt, cream cheese, crunchy vegetables
• Trail mix (or monkey mix)
  
• Baloney Boat: turkey Bologna and cheese on a hotdog bun
• Any sandwich in a pita pocket
• Silly face sandwich
• Other lunch and snack ideas from Family Fun
  

Routines/Systems

• Set table for breakfast when clearing dinner dishes.
• Set out clothes, make lunch, and pack backpack the night before
• Create a night time and morning visual checklist to help kids prepare
• Make pancake batter Sunday evenings (enough for several days)
• Instead of nagging to get dressed, have a race to see who can get dressed first
• Tips for morning routing from Family Fun

Other stuff

• Back to school crafts from Family Fun
• Main Family Fun page for back-to-school
• Freezer cooking guide from organizedhome.com