Here we go again: The first day of school is fast
approaching. Is your family ready?

The countdown is on: Orange County public schools start the new academic year on August 24, while some private schools are starting classes this week. There's only a short time left to get everything marked off on this year's back-to-school checklist, how many items have been checked off on your list?

For students:

___ Backpack
___ Lunch box
___ Food for aforementioned lunch box
___ New clothes
___ New shoes (or shoes that will pass for new)
___ Supplies (pencils, erasers, rulers) that remind you of when you were in school
___ Supplies (laptops, software) that never existed when you were a child
___ Supplies (wet wipes, tissue, paper towels) that used to be supplied by schools but now you have to buy them in bulk quantities
___ Sharpie marker to label all school supplies (that means each crayon in the box)

For parents:

___ Alarm clock set extra early
___ Strong cup of coffee
___ Tracking the tropics to see if any tropical storms/hurricanes might interrupt the first week of school
___ Pictures from summer vacation
___ Blank checks for materials fees/activities registration/fundraisers
___ Pocket calendar to keep track of all the days you just volunteered at school
___ Name of the mother of a child who was in your kid's class last year and you always got along with her but now you've blanked out on her name and she clearly remembers yours
___ Wondering what you are going to do with all of that “free time”

For more info: Read more about back to school issues for incoming college freshmen HERE. Find out more about how the H1N1 flu might impact schools HERE. Get tips on where to find back to school bargains HERE.