School Morning Routine – One Way I CHEAT!

I’m about to tell you a big way that I cheat on our school morning routine. Think you can handle this truth I’m about to share?

I’m new at this “send your kids to school” thing. We homeschooled our kids for 17+ years. But now here I am, getting kids up and out the door for school every morning.

Early. After being up with a baby at night for feedings.

If you’d like, I can keep giving you more reasons to justify this lovely way I cheat in order to get my kids out the door to meet the bus on time. But none of us really needs reasons and excuses, right? Because getting kids ready for school on time IS A THING, am I right?

Or is it just me?

Are my kids the only ones who stare with dull eyes at the sink when I say, “Please hurry and get those teeth brushed!”

Blank. Stare. 

“Please hurry and go get your shoes on!”

Walks. Slowly. Tooooo. Theeeee. Shooooooooes.

What in the actual world?

Why do I even use the word hurry? WHY?

I try not to say the word “hurry” anymore when giving instructions to my kids because it seems so pointless. But shucks if I don’t find myself saying it every time anyway. I am holding onto a nugget of hope that maybe one day it will work? They’ll be like, “OH!!! I was going to freeze myself by this closet door and not get out the backpack I obviously get out every single morning. But Mom told me to hurry! So I’d better go fast!!”

Hurry is not a word that helps the children find speed. Mom sheds a tear.

Perhaps your kids get up early, dress themselves, eat a full breakfast, fix their hair, brush their teeth, gather their school belongings, and have so much time to spare that they read a book until it’s time to go. If so, please know how happy I am for you. The rest of us are over here just trying to help our kids remember that their shoes are right where they left them last night and that said shoes are to be put onto their actual feet.

School Morning Routine – One Way I CHEAT!

Yes, we put shoes and backpacks by the door each night. Yes, we eat a simple breakfast. Yes, coats and jackets and teacher notes and homework is all taken care of before we go to bed the night before. So what else is there?

This:

My children sleep in their school clothes.

Allow me to explain.

My school children are currently 5 and 7 years old. They are slow to get dressed, which makes me appreciate dealing with this need at night before bed instead of in the morning when the bus is almost here and the word HURRY isn’t helpful.

They don’t wear fancy clothes. My children and their clothes are always clean and fresh. Nothing is wrinkled in the morning when the kids roll out of bed because my 5 and 7-year-olds wear non-wrinkly clothes like joggers or leggings and pullover shirts.

At night while we brush teeth, potty, make sure shoes and backpacks are ready by the door – we also choose and put on our “tomorrow clothes.” This includes clean underwear, and the entire process also often includes a bath. So they are nice and clean, they put on clean underwear and clothes, then we finish our bedtime routine and head to bed. Wearing tomorrow’s clothes.

The Next Morning

I wake up the kids and would you look at that?? They are already dressed for the day!

This is a beautiful thing because instead of telling my kids to hurry and get dressed, I can say hurry and do all the other things because we aren’t spending a solid ten minutes staring at the tags in our shirts instead of putting them over our heads – for the love of my sanity.

Keith is wearing jammies as we get ready for bed.
This is because he doesn’t have to leave tomorrow morning.
Brayden though. See how he’s wearing tomorrow’s shirt?
Though I just noticed that it’s on backward. Here’s hoping we fixed that.

Have you ever done this?

Do you think I’m a weirdo? I mean, well, yeah. But I mean about this new weird thing I just told you about.

I used to do this with my older boys on Sunday mornings when they were little. They’d bathe on Saturday nights, put on their church clothes, go to bed, then roll out on Sunday mornings with a polo and khakis already on their cute little bodies.

I’m telling you, it’s an amazing time and stress saver if you have little ones to get out the door for school or for anything you need to get out the door for in the mornings.

What are your secrets for getting kids ready on time in the mornings?