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 Although the year-end vacation period is nearly over, ask almost any student and he or she will say that the holidays are never long enough  . Whether your child is starting school or on the verge of secondary school, these ten tips will help your young learner get a good start to the new school term. Starting each year on the right footing is important and not hard to do - if you take a little time to prepare.
1. Sleep on time
Holidays are often synonymous with waking up late, and sleeping only after that last PSP/Nintendo session or late-night TV programme. Get the kids to follow a sleep schedule that's close to their daily school routine, especially if they start school in early morning. Generally, schoolchildren under 12 should be going to bed between 9-10pm, to ensure that they get at least 8 hours of good rest.To encourage them to rise early, you can work in early morning walks or family exercise time - which is not a bad thing for you too
2. Get nutrition on track
Synonymous with relaxed sleeping habits are altered meal patterns - some children get used to rising late and eating brunch and dinner only, or having a light breakfast but a heavy lunch. There is also a tendency for kids on holiday to consume more 'easy' meals such as instant noodles or fast food, which provides energy but without the necessary nutrients. Review meal timings and menus, and restock your kitchen so that the kids get used to consuming something more nutritious for breakfast that will sustain them for most of the morning - such as chicken porridge, an egg or cheese sandwich, or at the very least a milky drink.
3. Check out school supplies
By now you would have probably bought all the school supplies you need such as textbooks, exercise books and items such as calculators and mathematical instruments. Get any 'missing' items before school starts if possible; if there are certain books that are out of stock or can only be bought once school reopens, make a note of these and follow up onces term begins. However, make sure you have enough home stationery for homework and revision, and school projects as well. Your child should have enough files and magazine folders to organise notes and assessment books, and colour-coding is always a good way to keep things organised.
4. (Re)Organise your child's space
If vacation time meant DVDs and computer games galore for your children, now's the time to reorganise leisure spaces and the kids' room to ensure better focus on their studies. Reshelve 'leisure-time' items such as PSP games, DVDs and even magazines to a less conspicious area and create aconducive environment for learning with a clear worktable, sturdy chair and good lighting, where schoolbooks and resources can be neatly arranged and retrieved when needed. It is a good idea to have a whiteboard or corkboard to pin up schedules and other important memos, but do ensure that it doesn't get cluttered up with unnecessary brochures and outdated memos.
5. Touch base with classmates
Older kids have probably been yakking with their friends all throughout out the holidays, but if your child is going to start Primary One, in lower primary or on the shy side, it may be a good idea to let your child have a phone chat or meetup with a schoolmate who will be in the same class next year, especially if you know the friend's parents or live near each other. In this way, even if your child will be startin the year with some new classmates and a new form teacher, there will be at least one familiar face, and this will help your child to adjust better.
6. Do a dry run
If your child is starting school or moving to a different session next year, 'testing' out the transport route first can help ensure smoother trips once school starts, and help you to identify any potential hiccups. If there are several alternative bus/MRT routes, test them out to see which ones are most suitable - the nearest route on paper may not always be the fastest. This is especially important if your child will be travelling on his or her own, in which case, remembering distinctive landmarks and relevant street names along the route could come in handy. If your child will be sent and fetched each day, do find out the correct drop-off and waiting areas or gates, which could differ depending on your child's level.
7. Revise and review schoolwork
If your child has been doing some form of 'holiday' revision in the form of assessments, that's great. This would not only ensure that your child's 'learning mode' remains active during vacation time but also give him or her a sense of the important facts, theories and principles from the previous school year, which might form the basis on which additional lessons will be taught in the next year. For children who have had a long spell away from their schoolbooks, you can help ease them back into 'learning mode' by reviewing the summaries and key lesson points that are often found at the end of textbook chapters, and doing some revision papers. Pre-reading the first couple of chapters in their new textbooks may also help to give a sense of what to expect once the school year begins.
8. Discuss your child's goals
Being a student is a large part of a child's life, but not the only aspect. Have a good chat with your child and discuss what he or she wants to do this coming year - both in and out of the classroom, and this discussion should go beyond target grades and scores. What does your child want to do differently this schoolyear compared to the last one? Are there certain skills or hobbies that your child wants to pick up? Are there certain subjects that your child finds challenging, and anticipates needing more help with them this coming year? Having these issues out in the open will help your child to be mentally more prepared for next year.
9. Enjoy (what's left) of the holidays
Just because school is starting soon doesn't mean that holiday activities have to end. Plan that picnic in between spells of hot weather and catch that new movie in between revision sessions. Let your child start school feeling refreshed and recharged, with the mindset that he or she has 'played well', and now can 'work well' too. If you have several children who may not see each other much due to different school timetables, it is all the more important that you use this time to let them bond with one another.
10. Get into the right spirit
If your child is feeling the blues about the impending end of the holidays, help them to turn the feelings around. Remind them of all the things that they enjoy doing during the term such as their CCA activities, the camaraderie in class, the interesting events in school and so on. And importantly, you must be in the right spirit as well - feeling positive and starting the year with hopes and dreams will rub off on your kids too.
Do you have other 'starting school' tips to share? Do let us know 
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