I stood on the front porch of my house last week, without glasses, with my hair in a mess and still in my pajamas. I was trying desperately to get my daughter to put on a pair of shoes that she hates and get her to slide on her backpack as her school bus inched closer to the front of our house.

Welcome to the new school year.

The adjustment from summer to school is always a bit of a struggle — I have to remember to pack lunches again, I have to make sure all folders are in the backpacks and that the homework is in the folders. I also have to confirm that the kids know the details about how they are getting home that day or which activities they have after school.

With three kids at three different schools, we need a traffic controller to help manage which kid is going where. Amid all that confusion, we have to ensure that all of the kids are dressed and have their shoes on, that they've been fed and they've taken any medications needed. All that must be done while making sure they are out the door on time each day. If my kids make it to school without forgetting a Chromebook, or a trumpet for band, or a piece of homework on the counter at home, it’s a small miracle.

Perhaps that should be on the business card for motherhood. Mom. Chauffeur. Personal Assistant. Organizer. Chef. Traffic Controller.

We somehow made it in time to get the traditional “first day of school” photos, which feature all three kids by the front door, backpacks on and smiling. But it’s admittedly been downhill from there. Perhaps it’s the change in schedule. More than likely it’s because the bus now comes 20 minutes earlier than it did last year. But when it comes to the morning get-to-school routine, my family is officially on the struggle bus.

By the second week of school, my youngest child was running out from the driveway toward the bus stop, with her feet bare and her hair unbrushed as I chased her with her backpack. We missed the bus.

We put clothes out the night before and I also pack lunches the night before. We’ve tried simplifying breakfast to tea and toast or cereal, which my older kids can make themselves — but sometimes the kids eat hot breakfast at school instead, because they leave the house so early.

And when it comes to getting out the door on time, I’ve accepted that I’ve got to get the kids on the bus before I can get myself ready for work. That's the way it goes, unless we want to get everyone up before dawn, which doesn’t seem like a viable option. Having a stressful morning trying to get out the door can lead to a stressful day at school, which no one wants.

So, if my neighbors see me on the stoop of my house each morning, in my pajamas and bedhead, without my glasses, I hope they ignore the sight. I’m just another mother trying desperately to adjust to the morning back-to-school schedule.

Here are some tips from realsimple.com for ways to make the before-school routine easier, by planning the night before (some that I am going to start getting my kids to do themselves.)

Lydia Seabol Avant writes The Mom Stop for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at momstopcolumn@gmail.com.