nessness I remembered another protein. One of my kids likes pastrami and swiss rolled up together, like a cigar. I'm not a big fan of deli meat so this isn't something I buy often, but it has worked well for her when she takes it.
nessness I remembered another protein. One of my kids likes pastrami and swiss rolled up together, like a cigar. I'm not a big fan of deli meat so this isn't something I buy often, but it has worked well for her when she takes it.
We've done something similar to this with sliced salami. My kids will wrap the salami around a cheese stick and eat that instead of a sandwich.
My back-to-school tip is to plan as little as possible for the weekend after school starts. We are ALL wiped out after the first week of school--me included. I'm thinking Friday play outside and have pizza; maybe a Saturday movie night at home.
When my in-going 5th grader started K, I tried to plan "fun" things for the first couple weekends so it could still feel like summer. Big mistake. She was so exhausted and really needed time at home to re-charge.
ETA: We have Mabel's Labels. I still have some from when DD1 went to day care TEN YEARS ago and they are still fine.
ETA 2: We do hot lunch almost all the time. It's so worth it to me. Saves a ton of time.
My kids love bell peppers, cucumbers, fruit, a cracker or pirates booty and a fruit/veggie/yogurt pouch for their lunch. They eat a big breakfast and have dinner after school so I’m not concerned the lunch is lighter.
The bump of this post reminded me that I wanted to shout out Name Bubbles and thank everyone who recommended them! I finally broke down and ordered some, after 6 years of just trying to label things with Sharpies, etc... My kids haven't been in daycare, so there weren't as many labeling requirements. I have put it off because the labels seemed expensive for what they were, but after reading how long they are lasting other people, I wanted to give it a shot. I ordered some last week, a pack for my daughter and one for my son. I used the code somebody recommended, but the price was still bothering me. That night I was looking through my e-mail and I realized that I had paid even more than I had thought. I looked at the order and saw that I had somehow mistakenly ordered 2 packs for my daughter instead of 1. I e-mailed customer service, but was prepared for them to tell me I was out of luck. The next morning, I got an e-mail that my labels had shipped even before I got any response from customer service. A little while later, I saw a credit to my CC, and got an e-mail from a customer service rep that he was able to stop the printing of the extra set, and credited me. I was very surprised and extremely happy with their customer service! I wouldn't have held it against them, as it was my mistake, but them fixing it for me was so great!
We used both Name Bubbles and Mabels Labels and liked both. We have rebought Mabels Labels (she wanted a new design after 5 years) and they are great on dishes/water bottles/clothes, and more.
I have DD pack her lunch (bentgo box) every night before school. She knows the process and that protein is in the large section, then at least one fruit/veggie, crackers if she doesn't want a second fruit/veggie, babybel cheese in one, and then some sort of treat or little snack in the middle (often raisins, Hershey kiss, a few tic tacs, etc). It's great for her to make her lunch and take responsibility and doing it at night makes mornings easier.
We also line up her clothes for the week on Sunday night, based on the weather. Makes it easy for her to get up, get dressed and ready before coming down for breakfast.
I also have her pack her bag at night (homework, library books if she's returning them to school, etc) so it's less to worry about in the morning.
I also do categories for lunches- main entree (usually pb crackers for DS1), a fruit, a yogurt, something crunchy and something sweet. My kids are terribly picky eaters though so often it’s the same few things rotated throughout the week.
Dumb question - Do you send a drink in for lunch? A thermos of milk or water?
DS is starting K next week. The Open House is at the beginning of the week, so I still don't have much info regarding buying lunch or drinks. I don't know if they're allowed a water bottle throughout the day.
I always bought milk at school, but I hear in some of these school posts that it takes forever to go through the lunch line. If I'm sending his lunch anyways, should I send a drink? That said - now that I bought the kid bento box thing recommended here, I don't really have room for a drink in his lunch box.
Dumb question - Do you send a drink in for lunch? A thermos of milk or water?
DS is starting K next week. The Open House is at the beginning of the week, so I still don't have much info regarding buying lunch or drinks. I don't know if they're allowed a water bottle throughout the day.
I always bought milk at school, but I hear in some of these school posts that it takes forever to go through the lunch line. If I'm sending his lunch anyways, should I send a drink? That said - now that I bought the kid bento box thing recommended here, I don't really have room for a drink in his lunch box.
We usually sent a drink with C last year, on the days that he brought a lunch from home. It was usually either milk in a thermos like this, or occasionally I would buy the box of boxed chocolate milks from Costco (these ones). A few times we were totally out of milk and just told him to go through the lunch line and just buy milk.
The lunch box that I bought him at Target last year had a little mesh pocket on the side with room for the thermos. It won't fit in the lunch box itself.
We also send a water bottle everyday as well, but that went in his backpack not the lunch box.
Dumb question - Do you send a drink in for lunch? A thermos of milk or water?
DS is starting K next week. The Open House is at the beginning of the week, so I still don't have much info regarding buying lunch or drinks. I don't know if they're allowed a water bottle throughout the day.
I always bought milk at school, but I hear in some of these school posts that it takes forever to go through the lunch line. If I'm sending his lunch anyways, should I send a drink? That said - now that I bought the kid bento box thing recommended here, I don't really have room for a drink in his lunch box.
We send Thermos funtainer of water. DS has no interest in waiting in the lunch line to get a milk, when he was in K we encouraged it & he opted to go without a drink instead. It wasn't until we visited during lunch a few months into the school year that we realized that the line is long/time consuming & the time they have to eat is short. Our lunch box has a mesh pocket on the outside for a drink.
Dumb question - Do you send a drink in for lunch? A thermos of milk or water?
DS is starting K next week. The Open House is at the beginning of the week, so I still don't have much info regarding buying lunch or drinks. I don't know if they're allowed a water bottle throughout the day.
I always bought milk at school, but I hear in some of these school posts that it takes forever to go through the lunch line. If I'm sending his lunch anyways, should I send a drink? That said - now that I bought the kid bento box thing recommended here, I don't really have room for a drink in his lunch box.
My kids always have a water bottle to drink through the day, and a juice box for lunch. They sometimes don't drink any water, but at least they drink the juice!
And way easier than the milk line, or dealing with a separate container of milk that may spill or leak.
Dumb question - Do you send a drink in for lunch? A thermos of milk or water?
DS is starting K next week. The Open House is at the beginning of the week, so I still don't have much info regarding buying lunch or drinks. I don't know if they're allowed a water bottle throughout the day.
I always bought milk at school, but I hear in some of these school posts that it takes forever to go through the lunch line. If I'm sending his lunch anyways, should I send a drink? That said - now that I bought the kid bento box thing recommended here, I don't really have room for a drink in his lunch box.
I think all schools will let kids have a non-glass water bottle at their desk with the option to refill.
We just send that and she uses it for lunch. Our milk is expensive (.75 each day) so we opted for her to go without milk at school. I've thought about buying the shelf stable milk from Costco but it doesn't seem to bother her drinking water at lunch so I haven't bothered.
Post by timorousbeastie on Aug 22, 2019 8:41:12 GMT -5
When does your school district usually release their schedule for the year? Our district starts the day after Labor Day, but at this point has only released a preliminary calendar that just has the obvious closings. So we know that there's no school on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but that's about it. The district has a half day almost every other week, but they still haven't released when those days will be. Is this typical in your area to get the schedule so late? (Side note, is it typical to have a half day every other week? I SAH, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it seems like it's such a huge inconvenience for working parents!)
Post by sandandsea on Aug 22, 2019 11:13:21 GMT -5
We used Oliver’s labels. They have some keychain labels that are great for backpacks and lunch boxes. I also have one of the brother tape label maker printers that I use for everything now. It’s so much cheaper/easier though not at all cute.
When does your school district usually release their schedule for the year? Our district starts the day after Labor Day, but at this point has only released a preliminary calendar that just has the obvious closings. So we know that there's no school on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but that's about it. The district has a half day almost every other week, but they still haven't released when those days will be. Is this typical in your area to get the schedule so late? (Side note, is it typical to have a half day every other week? I SAH, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it seems like it's such a huge inconvenience for working parents!)
We've had our 19-20 calendar posted since way earlier this year, like Feb/March. My school also has a Google calendar link that you can download and sync to your own Google calendar.
When does your school district usually release their schedule for the year? Our district starts the day after Labor Day, but at this point has only released a preliminary calendar that just has the obvious closings. So we know that there's no school on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but that's about it. The district has a half day almost every other week, but they still haven't released when those days will be. Is this typical in your area to get the schedule so late? (Side note, is it typical to have a half day every other week? I SAH, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it seems like it's such a huge inconvenience for working parents!)
We get ours the year before for DS1 in public school. So I already have the schedule for 2020-21. Things subject to change but there’s very little variation year to year. We have the same weeks off (2nd week of October, Presidents week February, 2nd week April, Wednesday before thanksgiving, half day Fridays for holiday weekends etc).
DS2 goes to a private catholic school and we get the calendar in early spring for the following year. But again, the calendar doesn’t change much year to year so you pretty much know what days will be off.
Edit: DS2 is early release by one hour every Wednesday for staff meeting. DS1 ends the day at the same time unless it’s a half day (only a few throughout the year). But when he goes to middle school he will have early release every Thursday by 1.5 hours for staff meetings.
When does your school district usually release their schedule for the year? Our district starts the day after Labor Day, but at this point has only released a preliminary calendar that just has the obvious closings. So we know that there's no school on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but that's about it. The district has a half day almost every other week, but they still haven't released when those days will be. Is this typical in your area to get the schedule so late? (Side note, is it typical to have a half day every other week? I SAH, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it seems like it's such a huge inconvenience for working parents!)
The new calendar comes out in the early spring for the next year. It’s pretty much the same each year, except the start date for Christmas break seems to dance around.
We have a shortened day for kids (out an hour sooner) on the same day each week. We are supposed to be doing PD. They made the switch a few years ago to eliminate the workshop days and the weekly after school staff meeting and combine them into 2 hours of PD a week. I don’t think it’s great for parents, but at least it’s consistent, and you can plan for it.
When does your school district usually release their schedule for the year? Our district starts the day after Labor Day, but at this point has only released a preliminary calendar that just has the obvious closings. So we know that there's no school on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but that's about it. The district has a half day almost every other week, but they still haven't released when those days will be. Is this typical in your area to get the schedule so late? (Side note, is it typical to have a half day every other week? I SAH, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it seems like it's such a huge inconvenience for working parents!)
Everything but the last day has been set since June. We adjust the last day based on snow days, but the tentative one is out.
When does your school district usually release their schedule for the year? Our district starts the day after Labor Day, but at this point has only released a preliminary calendar that just has the obvious closings. So we know that there's no school on Thanksgiving or Christmas, but that's about it. The district has a half day almost every other week, but they still haven't released when those days will be. Is this typical in your area to get the schedule so late? (Side note, is it typical to have a half day every other week? I SAH, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it seems like it's such a huge inconvenience for working parents!)
We get ours in the spring. We had a BIG calendar change this year so lots of drama surrounding the calendar, lol. Generally the only thing that will change is state testing days and that's pretty rare. If we get a bad hurricane, they sometimes flip the weather days into school days.
Our elementary kids used to have one early release a month. It was hugely unpopular so they switched to 4 full days off a year for elementary. Middle school and high school both have a weekly late arrival day. The time off is used for professional development.