Starting the Year With Good School Spirits

One more free week, and then it's back to school for my kids. And it's not even really a free week for my daughter, who started going to marching band camp last week and so has a head start on all those school anxieties that have been lying in wait over the summer.

Back-to-school comes with some anxiety for me, too, as I contemplate a return to special education planning and parent politics and evening meetings and homework struggles. As always, at this time of year, I feel a mix of excitement about the new opportunities ahead for my kids, and dread of the new dilemmas that always accompany them.

It's a good time of year, then, to review my list of ways to keep up good school spirits. Put together a Positive Student Profile. Talk to your child about ways to get involved in school this year. Take a look at homework done over the summer and praise your child for the conscientious work. Pick up some cute stationery to use for teacher notes. See if you can take a walk through the school a day early with your child to remember the layout and touch base with teachers.

I'm trying to put on a happy face about the start of school, anyway. As I assure my kids, once I'm back in the routine, it'll be fun. Right? Fun!