Before the school broke up for summer I wrote a post about what the end of the school year had to teach. The school term in Germany started yesterday and it will begin in the U.K. next month, so this is a post about getting ready for September whether you are connected with the school year now or not.
The thing is that most people are connected with the school year internally, as we grew up with it.
The lazy summer days turned to the transition that a new school year brings.
This must happen even for home-schoolers as the more relaxed days of summer transition to more time spent indoors because it gets colder.
So what is to be learnt from the beginning of the school year?
1) Get supplies – shops bulge with new school supplies at this time of year. What supplies do you need for your life’s work? You don’t need to pick the boring looking ones. You can write in coloured pen if you want to. I like Stabilo point 88, fine 0.4 which comes in all different colours. German made, so supporting my local economy. German stationary shops are an art form. Why have a note pad in black and brown, when you can have it in 30 different colours?
2) Pack your bag. Sometimes it’s nice to work away from home and you can have a bag packed ready to make these occasions easier.
3) Have a gym bag – really, having exercise kit that is easy to access is more likely to support you in working out.
4) Wet weather gear- in German schools this is really important. They don’t see the point of children staying indoors just because of a bit of rain. The reason – getting outside feels good. Don’t let wet autumn weather get in your way when it comes to getting out of doors.
5) Meet the teacher – who are you going to be working with this autumn, who do you want to learn with? Set up a meeting and get to know them.
6) Make new friends – classes are swapped, which encourages new friendships. Just because you have friends does not mean you need to be done with making new ones. A week on Saturday I am holding an ‘Alive in Hamburg’ meet-up. There’s always room for a new friend in life.
7) Packed lunch – you work from home but how nice is it to stop in your workday and have lunch already made for you (and yours stays chilled in the fridge)?
8) New textbooks – who do you want to learn from over the autumn? What is your prescribed reading list going to be? You get to make it up. Check out the site good reads for ideas based on what you already like.
9) New timetable – I use googlecal, the colours you can use make it look like a school timetable. Decide what you want to do with your time and when you want to do it.
10) Half term will come – plan in times throughout the year where you dial it down and get to do lots of fun things with the people you love.
Autumn is also a great time to work with a coach.
You can then get to New Year and not feel you are starting from scratch with your resolutions.
If you would like a free 30-minute consult to see how I can help you towards your dreams please email me at deborahchalkcoach@gmail.com