10 Steps To Create Your Back To School Command Center!

Back to school time has arrived and if you have not yet created a command center in your home, you are probably feeling a little disorganized. There is an overwhelming amount of papers being sent home from your child's school and you probably spend a good amount of time searching for keys and lunch boxes in the morning before heading out.

Well lets fix all of that right now by creating a beautiful and functional back to school command center in your home.

I am going to give you a list of steps specific to "back to school" there are thousands of command center ideas floating around the internet and it can be hard to know which kind you should try in your home. These command center elements are for anyone with at least one child who is school aged and of course feel free to add in any extra things that you feel you need and disregard anything that just doesn't make sense for you.

1. Find the perfect location. For this command center, find a location near the door that the kids exit to go to school. In my home, we exit out of the garage so our command center is in the kitchen on the wall closest to the door.

2. Hang up a dry erase board or chalk board. This serves as a place to write reminders such as "Today is class picture day" or " Turn in Big Project Today"

3. After that, mount a pretty bulletin board right next to your whiteboard or chalk board. (In my home, we don't like to use pins because the kids may play with them and get hurt so we got a magnet board). This serves as a place to pin up papers that need to be signed and returned back to the school or anything that is asking that you make a payment or donation for the school. Having theses papers hanging prominently at eye level, will make it easy for you to remember to sign and return them.

4. Next to the pin board, hang a giant calendar to list family members schedules. We all know generally what one another are doing on any given day. This helps keep everyone organized and looking forward to fun trips and holidays.

4. Under all of that, mount a tray or hanging inbox labeled 'homework'. Having a designated place for homework allows you to review it whenever you like and make sure it doesn't get lost or damaged. Next to that, you may wish to mount a second tray labeled "book of the week" This contains the kids school library books so they don't loose them.

5. Under that we have command hooks for hanging backpacks up. Every day, after school, the kids empty the contents of their backpacks-putting homework in the homework box, books in the book box, and posting up anything we need to sign for them.

6. Next to the backpack hook we have smaller command hooks which hold the car keys and one for the dog leash.

7. If you have the space, it would be really great to put a small table under the backpack hooks. This table will serve as a charging station for all of your tech devices and if your kids use tablets for school, they should store them here to avoid damaging or losing them.

8. Make use of the space under the table for a little shoe rack to hold the most frequently worn school shoes. This is also great if you don't allow shoes in your home they can just pop them off right there every day.

9. If you have the space for it, add a clock. You may be thinking "but I have a clock on my microwave, I don't need one there" Well we have chosen to hang an analogue clock because our son is still learning how to tell time so in the mornings we ask him "what time is it?" or "How many minutes until we have to walk out the door" It gets your kids thinking about time management at a young age which is a really important skill.

10. Now make it look pretty :) Okay now that you have the functional part out of the way, it's time to make it match the decor of your home. Remember that dry erase board from step 2? Try putting it in a pretty frame that matches the rest of your home decor. The charging station table is a perfect place to display something that reflects your style. (We have a cute lamp and a decorative globe on ours). Above the backpack hooks you can hang cute printed labels with your child's name or photo on them. Print out and frame an inspiring message that you will read every day before leaving home. Add in a cute little mirror for a last minute lipstick check before you walk out the door. And last but not least, leave some space to proudly hang art or creations that your child brings home from school.

I know that if you follow these steps, your life will become infinitely more organized overnight and will free up some extra time to spend with your little ones. Please feel free to share some of your command center ideas! If you would like an in depth consultation and design plan please email me at cheyenne@peacefuldwellingsoc.com.