02 03 Notes from the School Psychologist: GAK. It's August. 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

GAK. It's August.

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The second the calendar turns to August, I feel like my summer is over.* But school psychs (and teachers) know what I am talking about...June is basically a detox month, July is the relaxing one, and August is the gearing up month. Even though I have a few weeks before we report back, August 1st starts a month of mental preparation to go back to school. There are a few rituals I have in order to psych (pun intended) myself up for going back.

Of course, back to school shopping helps ease the transition, because who doesn't love a good trip to Office Depot for pencils and nerd supplies? I went today, and I was lucky that Toddler B was over it in 10 minutes or I could have spent a bajillion dollars. Once your toddler starts running down the aisles screaming, "Chase! Chase!" it sort of ruins the zen moment of selecting the perfect ballpoint pens for writing poignant notes to parents and teachers.

Next, I make a new school year's resolution, like "I won't take more than 3 reports home per semester" or "I will start a girls' counseling group disguised as a knitting club."** Making a new school year's resolution helps me set a positive intention for the school year and helps me pick a manageable improvement goal.

So how can I help ease your transition back to school? I'm not Oprah, so I can't put a Nordstom's gift card under your chair and declare "Evvvvvvverybody gets a new back to school wardroooooooobe!" But I can offer a little book I like to call, The School Psychologist's Survival Guide.*** Evvvvveryone gets a copyyyyyyyyyy! Oh wait, I have Oprah generosity on a school psych budget. Okay, I can offer ONE lucky reader a copy of my book for back to school preparation! You can vow that this is the year you get organized and shape up your forms and report templates and all that jazz, and my book can hopefully help you with that. Or you can enjoy your last precious weeks and just put the book on your shelf for October when your back to school enthusiasm has fizzled out and you have a hojillion IEPs overdue.

So, how do you win the book? Just comment here or on the Facebook page for the blog about how you gear up for back to school, or a new school year's resolution and I will input your names into a random generator and announce the winner. Yippee!


*I know, boo-frickin-hoo, at least I get summers off. I'm pretty sure my non-school employee friends with their sad little 2 weeks off a year stopped reading this post after the first sentence.

**I actually did this a few years ago. It was super fun, but my principal had concerns. I believe her quote was, "You want to introduce sharp objects with those mean girls?" I am proud to say it was a gouge-free zone all year.

***Because that is what it is called. 


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