If you’ve never experienced a before-school-starts scramble to find playground-resilient clothes, protractors and No. 2 pencils, you don’t need this. But for the 99 percent of us who do, here’s our smart mom’s guide to getting it all done—on time.

It was the pencil-top erasers that put Jennifer Alvey over the edge.

Jennifer, a self-described “recovering lawyer” who’s now a career and life coach, arrived too late to buy son Nicholas’s school supplies at her favorite Franklin, TN, store. The last items on the list were the erasers: those bright little cones you pop on pencils after your kid decimates the attached ones. They were nowhere to be found. “I thought, This is silly. They’ve got to be here,” Jennifer recalls. Nope. She stopped at a second store on her way home, also out of stock. Third store, nada. Fourth, she finally found the elusive erasers. “I was really annoyed at the stores and myself,” she says. “By leaving school shopping for the eleventh hour, I wasted a huge amount of time and gas.”

We see you nodding knowingly. Maybe it was the Very Specific Glue Stick brand your child’s teacher requested that sent you on a frantic, late-night school-supply scavenger hunt. Or maybe you felt that too-familiar disorganized desperation when you slunk into the school office with the hot-lunch order and vaccination record a week after it was due. How to put an end to last-minute panics and make the first days of school calmer for everyone? With your very own ready-for-school schedule. We consulted three top family-focused organizers, who helped us develop this easy week-by-week list—so you can find those pencil-top erasers, and a little peace.

One Month Before School Starts
Sort and purge the wardrobe. This is probably the most painful task for your kids, so start early. Do multiple sessions if need be. Donate, store for a younger sibling or toss clothes that are outgrown or worn out—or that your child labels “Way Uncool!”

Make a clothing wish list. If your kid doesn’t insist on shopping with you (lucky you!), note sizes and any color/style preferences.
Cool Tool: The Evernote app lets you clip pictures from online retailers of clothes your kid likes and kee a list of sizes and items needed. It syncs the info for all your devices (free, evernote.com).

Hit the sales.  If your town offers a tax-free weekend, stock up on clothes (get ideas from “Club Kids”) and supplies (“Cool Tools for School”) then. Otherwise, shop as early as you can—before all the good stuff is picked over.

Book kids’ doc, dental and eye appointments, pronto.  It may take you a little time to get in. Plus, you might need follow-up visits for things like dental fillings or glasses.

Three Weeks Before
Get social.  Arrange for get-togethers with school buds your kids haven’t seen this summer. Is your child starting a new school? Ask for a list of other families in his class, and plan an evening/ weekend park date with a few of them. Meeting classmates in advance can ease first-day jitters.

Confirm fall child care.  Sign off on or update your registration; confirm the days you’ll need care. (Mark your work calendar to put in for flex-account reimbursement later on—and keep the receipts!)

Stock up on supplies.  Pull out last year’s leftover glue sticks, rulers and such (you saved them, right?) and mark them off your child’s supply list—probably now available on your school or district’s website. Buy everything else you need this week. If you wait, supply-loving teachers and über-organized parents will clear out the aisles. Mark your child’s name on personal supplies and pack them up, ready to go.

Create a homework center. While you’re at it, buy extra school supplies for home use. Assign them to a specific drawer or give each child her own mobile homework caddy to use anywhere in the house.

Cool Tool:  For a great homework caddy option, check out the colorful Crafter’s Tote ($38, bluefig.net).

Two Weeks Before
Check transportation. Go over this year’s school-bus schedule and mark it on your family calendar. If driving to a new school, do a dry run to see how long it takes. If your older child will take public transportation for the first time, test out the route with her ahead of time. Carpooling? Email or text the other drivers now to set up a schedule.

Go for grooming.  Now’s the time for haircuts. Also, did your child add summer color to her mane? Check your school’s policy—you may need a stylist’s help to cover it up before classes begin.

Cull last year’s artwork and papers. Your kids are probably ready to let go of some of these now. Assign a new bin or folder for this year’s keeper art, reports and projects.

Cool Tool: With the Artkive app, you can snap photos of your child’s artwork and save them digitally or make fun prints (free, artkiveapp.com).

Log the dates. Pull a copy of the school-year schedule and mark holidays, half days, events and more on your family/work calendar (or both, if they’re not combined). Add in sports practices, afterschool care and other activities. Post a weekly or monthly paper or dry-erase calendar for kids to see. Use a digital one for you, your spouse and older kids. 

Cool Tool: Wall calendar find: Wall Pops Dry Erase Peel & Stick Whiteboard Weekly Calendar ($15, amazon.com).

One Week Before
Prep paperwork, please. Take a few minutes to fill out school forms—directory updates, immunization records and so on. You’ll need them for the first day back or open house (next).

Hit the open house.  If your school offers one, drop off school supplies (You organized them two weeks ago, remember? Booyah!), let your kid meet his teacher, and scope out the new classroom.

Exchange uniforms.
Schools requiring uniforms usually host a clothing swap now. Turn in items your child has outgrown and pick up the next size.

Adjust sleep schedules.  If your child is on a later summer sleep schedule, switch it back by 15 minutes a day until she’s ready for the earlier school-year hours. Have her practice using her own alarm clock.

Brainstorm home routines. Talk with your child about morning, afterschool and evening to-dos. When will he do homework? Shower? Chores? Piano practice? Post a schedule (with simple pictures of the task for young kids) in a central location. Also, set your school- year electronics rules (e.g., no screen time until homework is done; TV on weekends only).

Plan a “Yay, the kids are back in school” outing with your own friends. If you take the first day of school off from work, add in some social fun. Or set a weekend date for lattes, mimosas or mani-pedis. You deserve it!

Three Days Before
Confirm first-day wardrobe. Have kids pick one or two outfit options. It’ll help settle pre- first-day anxieties and (maybe) prevent a last-minute “I don’t know what to wear!” meltdown.

Simplify the lunch-making rush.  Stock up now on lunch and snack supplies (see our special lunch box recipes). Pick up extra change for hot-lunch buyers, or make sure their school lunch accounts are topped off. Mark hot-lunch days on your family calendar if you order in advance.

Ease breakfast plans, too.  Especially for the first week of school, buy and prep easy, protein-rich morning supplies, like hard-boiled eggs, cinnamon toast with peanut butter or instant oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts.

The Night Before
The countdown begins! Do as much as you can tonight so tomorrow is an easy day. Build in some extra talking and snuggling time, too. It will help your kids—and you—feel calmer tomorrow. To-do list:

• Lay out first-day clothes.
• Pack backpacks.
• Prep tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch.
• Charge phone/camera for “first day of school” photos. Bonus idea: Search online for “free printable back-to-school signs.” Print them for your child to hold in tomorrow’s photo ops.
• Review tomorrow’s routine with the kids one last time.
• Get everyone bathed or showered and ready for bed slightly early.
• Read together or talk one-on- one with each child. Don’t talk too much about school if your child is anxiety-prone.
• Set alarm clocks. Sneaky tip: For the first week, set the bedroom and kitchen clocks five minutes ahead.
• Be sure to get a good night’s sleep yourself. And rest easy knowing you just earned an A+ for back-to-school planning! 

The Experts

Krista Colvin, organizing and lifestyle expert at Organize the Whole Shebang (organizethewholeshebang.com), Camus, WA; mom of two

Kathy Jenkins, CPO, The Organizing Tutor (theorganizingtutor.com), Richmond, VA; mom of two

Liz Jenkins, CPO, professional organizer (and former teacher), A Fresh Space (afreshspace.com), Franklin, TN; mom of one

Amy A. Trager, CPO (amytrager.com), professional organizer and president of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Chicago chapter