Starting the School Year Off Right

First make sure your child has all the school supplies he/she needs for the first day of school. What I found out when my children started school, was that you really don't know exactly what they need until they get to school. The teacher usually tells them the first day of school. Some schools have a list at local stores so you can get the basics, but not all the time are they accurate. My suggestion is to let them get a few essentials, but wait for the majority of supplies when the teacher tells them the first day of school. But then of course there is a mad dash to the store to probably find everything is not there. But your going to find that anyway you do it.
Next, make sure there is a place and a time ( I feel this is so important) to do homework. If you have a time everyday they have to do homework, it is so much easier. There will be no question if you start it off right from the beginning. If at first they don't have homework, start them reading a book, copying something from school, just have them do something that first day at a certain time and stick to it. That helped me out a lot, my children came home and had a snack to unwind themselves and then right down to homework. I felt if they started watching t.v. first or playing a video game or even going outside, they didn't want to sit and do homework later.
After homework, maybe an hour or two of recreation, either t.v., computer stuff, going outside or just something fun.
Then dinner, again I say to try to keep a routine (the best you can). Try to have dinner at a certain time every night. After dinner, maybe some kind of family time. A book, a game something as a family (even if it is t.v., something you watch as a family).
Then baths or showers. (I know I sound repetitious ) This too should be the same time or at least around the same time every night. They get into a routine and it is best for them (not always for us).
Last but not least BED TIME. Can i say it again....the same time every night. Very very important. Little brains need lots of sleep for the new school day.
Weekends are a different story. My children had to be in bed by 8:30 - 9:30 every school night (different ages, different times). But on weekends they were able to stay up until 10:00 - 11:00 (depending on what we were doing). And that becomes a treat to them and they look forward to it. If you don't believe it try it for a week or two. Trust me it will fall into place. Even you will value it.