Schools already have, or are  about to open. Your host child or children  may have a backpack and it is up to you to manage  it.  Here are  some hints: Do this everyday!

Find the homework. Set it out in the homework area and gather any supplies needed. As homework  is completed it belongs  back in the  backpack. Organize your host child/children!

If there is a lunch box, empty it  and wipe it out. Let the host family know if anything was not eaten.

Find any notices sent home and put them aside  for the host parents. Note any activities and put those on the master calendar.  If there is material that must be signed and/or acted upon, make sure the host parents are aware and put them back, signed, etc, into the backpack  to be returned to school, if necessary.

Prepare the next day’s snack and/or lunch and make sure it is ready to go back  into the backpack the next morning. What else  does the child/children need  for the day? Clean gym clothes- a show and tell item. Make  sure all is in the backpack the night  before.

At the end of the week, make sure that the backpack and or lunchbox are  cleaned thoroughly.  These items are big  breeding grounds for germs.