Real talk from a single mom juggling junior high, kindergarten, and everything in between.

It’s that time of year again, back to school! This is an exciting and busy part of the year. As a solo parent juggling three kids at three different schools, there’s a lot to do.

This year brings some two major transitions: two of my kids are starting at new schools. And of course, there’s all the regular back-to-school “to-dos” and everything that goes with that.

Big transitions for the kids also mean significant transitions for me as a mom. Coordinating it all, managing their feelings (and mine), staying on top of the logistics, and trying to make it all feel “normal” can be a heavy lift.

In this post, I’m breaking down what back-to-school looks like for us this year, including:

1. Why This Year Costs More
2. The Hidden Costs You Don’t Expect
3. The Emotional Load
4. Family Back-to-School Traditions We’re Holding Onto

Why This Year Costs More

My youngest is entering the school system and starting kindergarten! This makes three kids in the public school system. Which means I’m now juggling:

• 3 different supply lists
• 3 different school administrations
• 3 different lunch menus

Adding a New School + Underestimating Junior High Costs

We have been lucky in our school district, as local churches and businesses contribute to the schools, providing most of the school supplies for the elementary schools. I am grateful to the local community for contributing to the schools.

For my two younger kids, I still have to purchase teacher-specific supply lists. This includes items such as Kleenex, disinfectant wipes, binders, crayons, etc. The list is not as extensive as it would’ve been without the contributions.

This year, my oldest is entering Junior High School! Along with the big transition to a new school and a new bell schedule, the costs start adding up:

• School supplies are not covered
• There are instrument rental fees for the band
• More school equipment is required

Since my oldest is the first to go to Junior High, I didn’t anticipate these unexpected school expenses and didn’t add them to my budget! Oops, that was a significant oversight on my end. I didn’t think about budgeting for all the extras Junior High brings. I was preparing for all the transitions, so I didn’t even think about the school budget.

Budget Adjustments

I have a “school expenses” budget item in my budget. I use YNAB (You Need a Budget) to manage our school budget and build a sinking fund, where I add a little bit of money each paycheck to cover costs throughout the year.

This year, I fell short.

You live and you learn! I had to WAM (whack-a-mole, which is a YNAB term meaning shifting money between categories) from other budget categories to cover the school expenses this year. From now on, I’m going to adjust my sinking fund and almost double my contributions to it.

Yes… Back-to-school costs for 2025 were almost double what I spent last year on school supplies! Yikes.

Ways to Save Money

To try and curb expenses this year, I did the following:

• Kids are going to use the backpacks they already have
• Going to wait to buy new clothes until the season changes
• Bought school supplies in bulk for items they all needed

Next year, I’ll be budgeting for band fees, tech costs, and the unexpected, because now I know better.

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The Hidden Costs You Don’t Expect

It’s not just the receipts that add up; it’s also the extra tasks, time, and mental juggling.

School Lunches and Snacks

Speaking of costs… let’s talk about school lunches and snacks.

My youngest is a very picky eater. School lunch won’t work as most of the options are things my picky eater won’t touch at home. I worry that if lunch is skipped, it’ll make for a tough afternoon.

I’ve decided to pack school lunches. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but logistically, it’s an extra cost to plan and prep for. I’m exhausted even thinking about doing this for the entire school year. There will be a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t work.

When I say my youngest is picky, it’s even harder to plan meals at home. To try and make lunch and snack planning easier, I did the following:

• I made a list of what my youngest will
• I bought the Omie lunch boxes because I wanted the option of sending something that would stay warm, and I like that it has a bowl included.
• I started watching numerous videos on school lunches to get ideas of what I can include.

To overcomplicate things:

• My oldest kid will sometimes bring lunch.
• My middle kid has always eaten the cafeteria food, but of course, now wants to bring lunch sometimes as well, since everyone else is.

What does that mean for me?

• Printing the meal schedules for all three schools. The lunches are similar, but my kids have different preferences in terms of what they like and dislike.
• Having each kid review the menu and figure out which days they want to bring lunch.
• Then me having to figure out what I’m going to make for their lunches.

I’m honestly not sure how this is going to go! But it’s necessary to make sure they are all eating at school.

Unexpected school expenses:

• One-time purchases (hopefully): Lunch boxes. ~ $40.00 per lunchbox
• Ongoing costs: lunch items = weekly grocery budget increases.

As part of this, I’ve been working with my kids on how to open the lunch box items, especially my incoming kindergartner, as I’m not sure how much help they’ll get at school.

Scheduled Time off

Time is one of the sneakiest costs of solo parenting, especially during back-to-school transitions. With all the back-to-school activities, some items occur during work hours. That means I need to take some time off from work to attend. That includes:

• Bringing the kids to update school required vaccinations ~ 2 hours
• Meet the Teacher days ~ 3 hours
• Orientations ~ 3 hours

Not to mention having to figure out the bus schedule for the first 1-2 weeks of school. It’s always iffy until they work out the kinks so that the schedule may vary. This would impact when I start and end my workday, making mornings and afternoons a little unpredictable.

Reworking my Workout Schedule

As I mentioned in another blog post about how I reset my health habits this summer, in this post, Resetting My Health Journey: From Couch to 5K to a Fresh Summer Focus – Single Parent Life, I adjusted my workout schedule for the summer.

I had a lot of flexibility in the summer to go for walks at the local parks and flex my work schedule. But with the kids starting school, the morning schedule will have to be stricter to have them ready by the time the bus comes.

With school starting, I’m going to be working on what adjustments to make to stick to my health goals. Still aiming for morning workouts:

• Strength training (increased to 3x/week in August).
• Stretching (1x/week).
• Walking 30 minutes M-F to help meet my goal of hitting step count goals (currently at 8,500 steps/day and increasing by 500 each week until I get to 10,000 steps/day).

Being a single parent, it can be easy to neglect yourself, especially during significant seasonal changes like back-to-school. But it’s essential to make yourself a priority and try to stick to your personal health goals. I’m going to try to keep focus on my health goals. To do this, I started a separate health goal (vertically weekly on two pages) planner. I’m hoping it helps me stay focused and on track.

I’ve been consistently working out since July, and I am noticing a difference in my stamina, strength, and mood. It hasn’t been perfect, but I’m headed in the right direction. I want to keep heading that way.

Lots of changes, lots of planning, and lots to do!

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The Emotional Load

Now, some of the heavy stuff.

Starting Kindergarten: My Last First as a Single Parent

My youngest is starting Kindergarten. It’s a massive milestone for both of us. All my youngest’s firsts are my last first with my kiddos. They are all growing up, and sometimes I can focus so much on getting all the things done that I forget to take a moment and let myself feel all the feels.

My last baby is starting school.

I’m a bundle of happiness and sadness and excitement and anxiety, all wrapped together. I think my kid is handling it better than I am!

Junior High Transition for a Child with Special Needs

Lots of things are changing for my oldest. My oldest has special needs, and change can be difficult. There are going to be a lot of changes:

• New school
• New school administration
• New IEP team
• New counselors
• New bell schedule

The beginning of the school year is always a challenge for my oldest, and this year, there will be a lot of adjustments that need to be made. I already know it’s going to be a rough start, and I’m trying to prepare both of us for it.

How am I handling the changes?

Navigating the first day of kindergarten and a junior high transition for my kids, all while managing the emotional load of single parenting. Handling these two milestones as a solo parent can be difficult. I have no one that I can share all the joys or the angst with.

So, I have to find ways to cope with it. I try to stay focused on planning, executing, and staying busy by focusing on logistics, school lunches, and scheduling meet-the-teacher times. But I know I’m going to have to let myself just let it all out somehow.

Lots of first-day school emotions for all of us. I’m sure that waving bye to my kids as they get on the bus on the first day of school and hearing all about the first day excitement will help me through it all. I’m also trying to focus on journaling my feelings, so that I have an outlet to express my feelings.

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What I’m Doing to Stay Sane

The number one thing that I do to keep my sanity during this chaotic season is use my planner extensively!

I do use a paper planner, and I started a new Sterling Ink academic A5 vertical planner in July. I’m pleased with it! It has areas for goal setting, monthlies, weeklies, and blank pages that I’m using for rapid logging. I am a functional planner and prefer minimal layouts.

Using my planner is how I stay organized. I use it for time-blocking all the Meet the teacher days and orientations. I am also using the timed vertical layout to balance between work and all the school activities, since most of these activities occur during my typical workday. I have work meetings I need to attend, so I have been juggling all the activities around those required meetings.

Routines! Routines! Routines!

Since August has started, I’ve slowly gotten the kids back into the regular school year routine. The week before school starts, we will be 100% on our school schedule, trying to work out any issues in the morning routine.

Additionally, the evening routine has slowly gone from a less strict summer routine back to our school-time rhythm. My kids like to pick out their outfits, and I’m working with them on picking out their clothes the night before. Hoping that will help make mornings more expedient.

By using my planner to organize the logistics and by working on the morning and evening routines, I’m hoping for a smoother transition into the school year.

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Family Back-to-School Traditions We’re Holding Onto

For some first-day-of-school traditions, we have been doing the following:

• First Day and last day of school photos listing their favorite color and what they want to be when they grow up.
• First Day and Last Day of School video “jump”. On the first day, they jump over the camera, and on the last day, they jump over the camera and “land” on the other side. I then connect the two videos.
• First Day of School interviews. I ask the kids a few questions on their first day of school: how old they are, the name of their new teacher, what they liked about the first day of school, and what they’re looking forward to for the next school year.

This school year, I’m going to try to loop all three items into a video montage to share with family.

I started taking school day photos ever since my oldest was three and going into preschool. It’s grown since then, with the first day of interviews, which started when my oldest started kindergarten. We started the time-lapse jumps last school year, after noticing the trend online, primarily for vacations, though. I hope to keep up with it where my youngest would “jump” from pre-school to high school graduation.

Since technology has changed over the years, I’ve been working on saving each year’s worth of files to my iCloud drive into one folder, so they don’t get lost.

These traditions are fun for me to make each school year. It’s fun to compare each year and see how much my kids have grown and changed.

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Let’s Talk Back-to-School

• Are you budgeting more this year, too?
• What’s one thing you do to make the transition smoother?
• Any other parents juggling different age groups this year?

If you’ve tried any fun first day of school traditions or creative ways to document the school year, share them below!