Tip #1: Look up your child's school schedule for this academic year. Input key dates onto your family calendar and day-planner if you use one. If you use calendaring software, be sure to input the dates and sync it with your smartphone if you use one. For the very best coordination, encourage your children and spouse/partners to do the same.

Tip #2: Create a specific area for schoolwork to be performed. Have school supplies readily available nearby. Portable storage bins, i.e. from the Container Store, are invaluable in being organized. Either sort supplies by child or by type of items.

Tip #3: Organize a routine with your children to follow after school. Though every child is different and schedules will vary by the day, a good rule of thumb is to allow for a healthful snack right after school and then a little downtime prior to starting homework or attending their extracurricular activity.

Tip #4: Avoid over-scheduling. It's very stressful for children to have to frequently switch gears every day and children do need a certain amount of downtime to be able to process all the new information that they are taking in. We only have one childhood and there's time enough in the future to be busy and stressed.

Tip #5: As far as snacks go, prepare them over the weekend so that they are easily accessible and available during the week. Cut vegetables with dip or humus, fruit salad, sliced cheese and crackers, and the like are all healthy options and can easily be prepared in advance.

Tip #6: If possible, try getting all your grocery shopping done on Friday so that you have plenty of food over the weekend and can avoid the weekend shopping crowds.

Tip #7: On Sunday, prepare a few meals that can be frozen or heated during the week and then served with a salad. Great options are veggie chili, soup, and casseroles. It saves a great deal of time and you can consolidate the cooking and cleaning to a single period.

Tip #8: For breakfast, have quick and healthy options ready to go. Encourage children to prepare their own breakfast. By age 6, they should be able to prepare a bowl of cereal. By age 8, they can toast bread or bagels. By age 12, they can use the microwave to heat up frozen breakfast options. From age 13 forward, children should be able to perform simple cooking tasks like preparing scrambled eggs or making French toast.

Tip #9: Opt for school lunch to save time, cleaning, preparation, etc. Many schools offer on-line ordering and payment. Take advantage of it to help reduce the number of meals that need to be prepared, shopped for and cleaned up. On the other hand, if the school cafeteria food is of poor quality or your child has special dietary needs, invest in a good lunchbox. The new bento box styles are highly functional. Prepare lunches the night before school.

Tip #10: When your child gets home from school, make sure part of their routine includes emptying their backpack to assure that you receive all correspondence and can track homework requirements. Make sure that the backpacks are then repacked and ready to go for the next day with homework and correspondence completed, library books to return, school supplies, uniforms, sweaters, etc.

Tip #11: Keep backpacks near the door so that there isn't any rushing around at the last minute in the morning trying to find it.

Tip #12: Buy in bulk. Stock up on healthy snacks and lunchbox items to minimize shopping and cost. Get back to school shopping done early and on-line for ease and good selection. Look for free delivery deals.

Tip #13: Mornings can be chaotic. If that is your history, minimize morning tasks. Have children shower before bed. Lay out school clothes and extracurricular clothing (i.e. sport clothing for after school lessons). Also, set out vitamins and medications and breakfast items the night before.

Tip #14: One especially beneficial tool for organization is a clothing cubby that can be hung in your child's closet. It usually has seven five openings for each day of school during the week. Organize clothing once for the week on Sundays. Even better, after clothes are cleaned and folded, teach your child how to match clothes and put them into the daily cubbies---this saves time by avoiding morning indecision and encourages children to learn to match clothing to dress themselves.

Tip #15: If you hit the ground running every morning, consider waking up earlier than everyone else to exercise, meditate, read the paper, shower, etc. When you are calm and controlled, you set the tone that everyone else can follow.

Tip #16: Keep a chores chart. Use graphics for the little ones. As a general rule of thumb, allocate one chore per year of age. Allowance is a great way to teach financial responsibility. Don't punish for not completing chores; rather dock their allowance. Yet, allow them to make up the difference by taking on extra chores.

Tip #17: Establish goals with your child at the beginning of the school year. Write these goals down and have them readily available for viewing. One idea is to type up the goals as the screensaver for the computer they use.

Tip #18: Designate a day and time for going to the library. With younger children, you'll be going once a week but with older children, visits reduce down to every 2-3 weeks. Another option is to get an electronic reading device, i.e. Kindle, or download reading software onto your computer or smartphone and then download books for daily reading.

Tip #19: Take photos of your routine. We usually focus on taking photos of vacations and rites of passage, but memories of our everyday routines helped define our childhood and will be precious to remember in the future.

Tip #20: Forget perfection! Things get lost, spills happen, tires flatten, kids get cranky....it's all perfectly childhood.