Planning the Fall with Intention

four practical steps to prepare your home, heart, and habits for the school year

Jul 26, 2025

The shift into a new school year always feels like an invitation to reset. Before the busyness picks up, take some time to reflect and make a plan that serves both you and your family. Here are a few things I do each semester to prepare our home, heart, and habits for what’s ahead:

Start With Your Rhythms

Take time to think through your weekly, daily, and monthly rhythms. Consider your family and don’t forget yourself in the process.

Weekly

Start by writing out a rough draft of your week. Begin with the non-negotiables: school drop-off and pick-up, extracurriculars, church commitments, and work hours. Once those are in place, look for the open spaces. Where might you build in moments of rest, time to prep, or intentional connection?

You might designate a day for Sabbath, choose a consistent prep day (I use Mondays, more on that below), or set aside one evening each week for rest, hospitality, or catching up. As you look at your schedule, consider: is there margin?

Daily

Rather than creating a rigid routine, consider a flexible rhythm that supports your well-being. For me, that looks like setting three simple daily goals: move my body for 30 minutes, drink 80 oz of water, and read for 10 minutes.

Monthly

What do you want to happen regularly each month? This could be a personal planning or reset day, intentional family time or date nights, or setting aside time to connect with friends.

How Do You Want to Feel?

This is a question worth considering: How do I want to feel as I move through this fall Calm? Present? Prepared? Flexible? Once you name it, ask yourself: What would support that feeling in a practical way?

Reflection Prompt:
Think back to last year: What rhythms helped? What made things feel rushed or overwhelming?

For example, I’ve learned that I don’t enjoy starting my mornings feeling rushed. So I use Mondays as a prep day to set the tone for the week ahead. Here’s what I do:
– Lay out the kids’ school clothes for the week
– Prep snacks and school lunches
– Plan a crockpot meal for Tuesday (our busiest day), which gives us leftovers for Wednesday

The kids also take responsibility for getting their lunch boxes and water bottles ready each morning. They grab what they need from the fridge or freezer, and it’s been a great way to build independence. Honestly, they rocked it last year. We only had two mornings where someone forgot a water bottle (and thankfully, the school keeps extras on hand!).

Meals + Grocery Planning

Set yourself up for success with a few simple steps:

• Write down your go-to meals. List every dinner you regularly rotate through then jot down the basic ingredients next to each one. This will make weekly meal planning and grocery shopping easier and faster.

• Decide when you’ll grocery shop. Can you set a consistent day for it each week?

• Think ahead to busy nights. Crockpot meals, leftovers, or freezer meals can carry you through midweek chaos.

Plug in the Calendar

Now’s a good time to glance through your school calendar and plug in key dates such as: holidays, early release days, events, and breaks. You don’t need a fancy system. Just get the basics down on a calendar, phone, or planner so you’re not caught off guard. Pencil things in knowing they might shift.

📚 Recommended Reading

If you're looking to be more intentional with your habits, these books by Justin Whitmel Earley are a great place to start. Each one invites you to consider your habits in a different area of life:

The Common Rule – For personal habits that shape your day-to-day life with intentionality and grace.
Habits of the Household – For shaping family rhythms that form the hearts of everyone under your roof.
Made for People – For building meaningful community rhythms and embracing the vulnerability of real connection.

If this was helpful, I’d love to hear how you’re approaching your own fall reset. And if you found it encouraging, forward it with a friend!

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