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We know students don’t want to hear it, but we’re currently 22 days from school starting back in Troup County.

In basically three weeks, students will be back in the hallways of classrooms, moving up a grade level and getting back into the routine of school. It’s never easy to readjust after a whole summer off, but that’s what we’ll be asking kids to do here very soon.

With that in mind, we encourage you to start getting back into routine now.

Experts recommend that it takes at least three weeks to reinforce a habit (and often much longer), so we’re right on the cusp of that timeframe.

If you got away from a bedtime, now might be a good time to bring it back. Maybe just move it back a few minutes every day.

If your child is sleeping in every day, it might be a good idea to get them back into the routine of waking up early, eating breakfast and getting them ready for the bus.

Now is also the right time to buy school supplies, rather than waiting until the very last minute. Avoid the rush and start early. Many of the best sales of the year are going on now, centered around Amazon Prime Day (which ended Wednesday), so you might even find great prices right now.

And parents — it’s time to start changing your routine too. Get up a tad earlier so you can adjust to having to get your students ready in the morning.

School will be here before we know it, so we encourage you to start taking small steps toward being prepared today.