How to Survive the School Year with Essential Oils

Back to School with Essential Oils

The end of August will always be a time when we think about going back to school. Back to school entails quite a bit of preparation. Think of all the things that most families need to gather. Paper, pencils, bags, clothes, shoes, the list goes on! Maybe by now I am bias, but I think that essential oils has a place on the "back to school" list.

I have been a teacher for several years now, and I have been on both sides: teaching without oils and teaching with oils. Let me tell you, "school life" with Young Living Essential Oils is quite a bit different. I have created a "Back to School" cheat sheet for essential oils!


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10 Ways to Use Essential Oils to HELP Survive the School Year

1.) Thieves Oil and Thieves Vitality Oil: 
Thieves Essential Oil is a Young Living blend of Clove, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, and Cinnamon Bark. Thieves Essential Oil is one that doesn’t leave my side, basically from Fall through Winter! It is our Wellness Keeper in our home.

We use thieves everyday, specially since I'm surrounded by a lot of kids that carry quite a microbial burden! I use my Thieves from the moment the school year starts to support my immune system. There are so many ways you can use Thieves, and I will explain some of my favorites. Keep in mind, studies have been performed on Thieves essential oil as it related to antimicrobial and antifungal effects. Some of the results are promising. Cinnamon and Clove oil have high antimicrobial activity against persistent cultures of Borrelia burgdorferi which is involved in developing Lyme disease. Eucalyptus oil is reported to have antimicrobial effects against E. Coli and Staphylococcus aureus (skin infection). Even Lemon oil demonstrates some antimicrobial capabilities in a recent study. Remember, antimicrobial suggests stopping the growth of certain microorganisms which a school contains a bunch of! 

Nevertheless, here are ways I use Thieves: 

• Wellness Roller: I add Thieves, Lemon, Oregano, Raven, and Frankincense and dilute to the top of a glass roller with carrier oil. I use my roller everyday by rolling taking off the cap and rolling the ball on my Root Chakra (base of the spine in plain English). If you want, you can learn how to make several different kinds of rollers in this post. 

• Diffuser: I love putting Thieves in the diffuser in my office and at home. Typically when I get to work, I immediately put my stuff down and get the diffuser going. I put about 3 drops of Thieves and 3 drops of Lemon in my Desert Mist Diffuser. The combination of Clove, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, and Cinnamon Bark creates a very fresh indoor aroma! I always have students and colleagues walking in and out of my office, bringing lots of microorganisms in with them. This is were some of the effects of the oils found in the Thieves blend comes in handy. Besides, my office is in a locker room so it helps keep things fresh! I even use this blend at home as it allows us to eliminate candles (candles may be a source of serious pollutants). Finding essential oils such as Thieves, Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg allowed me to get rid of the candles in our home and keep all the delicious fall aromas.  

• Thieves Spray: In a 2 oz spray bottle, I add about 10 drops of Thieves Essential Oil, a dash of Thayers Witch Hazel, and fill the rest with water. This DIY spray comes in handy often for those areas that need a little extra care and attention, like in our bathrooms, the locker room, sneakers, or gym bags. These are also the perfect gift for teachers or friends to maintain a clean environment. While I'm at out of my house, I use thieves spray for on the keyboards, door handles, shopping carts or anywhere else where unwanted stuff lingers!

• Thieves Tea: I have found Thieves Tea is a delicious way to start or end your day! I enjoy making Thieves Tea specially on cool fall or winter mornings and for a cozy evening to support my immune system and help my body stay well. I notice its a good choice for my body if I ever feel worn down from work. There is a special way to make it though, at least for me to enjoy my tea. Depending on how you put the ingredients together could change your desire for the tea. When I first got started I tried making this tea but completely put it together wrong. Here is my tip for the best Thieves Tea:
  • Add honey to an essential oil safe mug, then drop one drop of Thieve Vitality Essential Oil and one drop of Lemon Vitality Essential Oil on top of the honey. I like to have the honey on a spoon and drop the oils right on the spoon, then put the spoon into the empty mug. Lastly, I add the hot water and stir the spoon around. Doing it this way helps spread out the Thieves Essential Oil. I enjoy one drop of each, two drops may be too much because Thieves does have a spice to it and can be strong. If two thieves essential oil drops come out, I simply use those two drops to make two cups of tea.

2.) Tummy Roller:
This is a blend of Digize and Peppermint Essential Oil to aid in digestive health. I also keep this one in my bag year round. I use this roller most around the holidays or when I start noticing students going home sick and the nurses office is full of sick kids.

DiGize and Peppermint are two essential oils that you can feel working immediately. Try this for yourself and see:  

• Tummy Roller: use a safe dilution of Digize and Peppermint into a glass roller bottle, I typically use a 5ml or 10ml roller bottle. Then I fill the rest with carrier oil. I typically I use fractionated coconut oil as my carrier for this one. Again, I feel it is important to follow safety guidelines for children and there are several resources that we recommend that have those guidelines.
• Alternative Tummy Roller: in a roller, use Lemon, Orange, Frankincense, and Peppermint for digestive support. We choose our dilution ratios based on our desk reference and fill the rest with a carrier oil of your choice. ​
• Tummygize Essential Oil:  Part of the Kidscents Line which means that it is already pre-diluted for kids 2 years and older. It actually smells good and you can easily put a roller top directly on the bottle for convenience! This may be my favorite option because Tummygize has a great smell to it and blended for kids. Using Tummygize means no making anything which can sometimes be a hassle for busy moms. Put this blend directly on the belly or toes.

3.) Thieves Household Cleaner:
Thieves Cleaner is a must have in your house! When I started learning about chemicals and toxins this was the first household item that I purchased to help me ditch the chemicals and switch to natural cleaner. I like the fact that it is an effective cleaner all while having the supportive properties of its' blend of oils (Clove, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, and Cinnamon Bark). This stuff is very economical too! I order one bottle of the Thieves Household Concentrate at a time and it usually lasts me anywhere from 6 months to a year.

• Here is how you Thieves Household Cleaner: I use a 16 ounce glass bottle to place a capful of Thieves Household Cleaner in the bottom. I then fill the rest with distilled or gravity-fed water. For all the ways I use this cleaner around the house, check out our Thieves Cleaner post.
  • To prove just how cost effective this concentrate truly is, we ran the numbers and estimated that each 16 oz container costs us about $1.50. Think about all the money you will save on cleaners!

4.) Thieves Hand Soap:
I fell in love with the Thieves Hand Soap because of how gentle and purifying it is. As a Health and P.E. teacher I am constantly required to wash my hands while at school. When I used to use regular soap products my hands would become very dry and cracked as the colder months set in. My first year of teaching I noticed my ezcema was at an all-time worst. My products in the past caused so much damage to my skin. Not anymore! Not since I started using Thieves hand soap. 

I feel Thieves Hand Soap is perfect option to keep me healthy with everything that is likely on the doorknobs, desks, pencils, lockers, keys, and computers, practically anything that the kids touch inside the school. 

You can buy a single bottle, a three pack, and you can even buy the refill bottle! You can learn more about Thieves Hand Soap in this post. Further, you may also wish to investigate a Thieves Starter Kit.


5.) Ningxia Red, Nitro, and Zyng: 
I absolutely love Ningxia Red because as a busy teacher and coach I find it important to get as many antioxidants as possible so I don't get run down. Although I do a good job getting my nutrition from a healthy diet, Ningxia Red is an added bonus. We even use it with the dogs as well. They love it!

I drink Ningxia Red because it’s designed to energize, fortify and revitalize your body and mind.  What makes Ningxia Red so amazing is that it is made from organic Ningxia Wolfberries which are reported to have an extremely large amount of antioxidants. These Wolfberry antioxidants help combat the effects of free radicals and cell damage.  

We all have free radicals, our body produces them on their own. We also tend to increase our free radical production based on exposures and environmental factors. Antioxidants are important for minimizing the effect and exposure of free radicals. 

The potency of Ningxia Red is incredible. One single shot contains the same antioxidant levels as 1000 blueberries, 100 oranges, or 59 broccoli florets! To further boost my system I tend to add any of the following Vitality Oils to my shot: Thieves, Lemon, Tangerine, and Lime.

In the afternoon, when I used to grab an extra coffee, I use Ningxia Red with plain seltzer. I sometimes even mix it with Ningxia Zyng or Ningxia Nitro. Nitro is great as a preworkout or mid afternoon pick-me-up. To be honest, I wish I had these back in college on the days we had to stay up late to study or write a paper! There are no harmful ingredients or extra sugar which is another reason to love the Ningxia lineup. There is a Ningxia Red sample in the new starter kits. There is even a Ningxia Red Premium starter kit. 


6.) Head Spray:
When we have young kids, sometimes we have to worry about those little critters coming home from school! Luckily, being a middle school teacher we do not see this as often but a DIY head spray is something to consider for your "school survival bag".

• DIY Head Spray or Mermaid Hair: In a 2 ounce glass bottle add 1/2oz Thayers Witch Hazel, 1.5oz distilled water, 10 drops Lavender Essential Oil,  10 drops Rosemary Essential Oil, and 10 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil, 10 drops Cedarwood Essential Oil. It can be added to your nighttime routine for your little one, you can spray in hair, hats, and backpacks or where ever needed! The DIY Head Spray or Mermaid Spray will also support healthy hair. Lavender and Cedarwood are also great essential oils night time. All resources can be found on our tools & supplies page!  ​
• If you don't have time for a DIY recipe, simply drop Purification Essential Oil on the bottoms of their feet and the remainder around their neck and hairline. Even consider adding Tea Tree Essential Oil to the family shampoo!

​7.) Peppermint, Clarity, Geneyus:  A Brain Power Roller!
Here are the three that get me through the workday:

• Peppermint Essential Oil: An essential oil that’s stimulating, energizing, refreshing, cooling, uplifting, can support with focus, alertness, or attention. I love putting a drop on the back of my neck or at my temples, or using the roller around those areas too. 
• Geneyus Essential Oil: a Kidscents essential oil that is formulated specifically for children ages 2+ and contains a blend of amazing essential oils used for their abilities to stimulate the mind and to help one focus and block out distractions. Geneyus contains sacred frankincense, blue cypress, cedarwood, melissa, idaho blue spruce, palo santo, galbanum, bergamot, myrrh, royal hawaiian sandalwood, geranium, rosewood, ylang ylang, hyssop, spruce, and rose! I absolutely love the smell of Geneyus and I would love to  lather this one all over my diffuser bracelets if I could!
• ​Clarity Essential Oil: an essential oil that helps support memory retention and mental alertness. Clarity contains the perfect blend of basil, cardamom, rosemary, peppermint, rosewood, geranium, lemon, palmarosa, ylang ylang, bergamot, roman chamomile, and jasmine! I love putting a drop on the crown of my head before I head to work, this helps get my brain moving in the morning.

NOTE: I often put these three together to create a powerhouse roller!

Who doesn’t need support with focus, energy, mental alertness, and the mind, especially in school! Learn more about making rollers in our post: Essential Oil Roller Recipes! 


8.) Stress Away Essential Oil 
One of my favorite smelling essential oils! I consider Stress Away vacation in a bottle. Sometimes there are demands that can take us away from the real joys of our day and our job. When we are stressed, how could we possibly feel joy? I find it refreshing to smell something so uplifting and beautiful. Stress Away helps make me just feel at ease and the aroma gives me that mental reminder. 

I think during the school day, everyone can get stressed. From parents, to teachers, and even our students too. I think even the dogs get stressed! Dogs and kids seem to be experts in body language and mood interpretation (at least they think they are "experts"). Stress Away can help with problems related to emotional balance and immune system functioning. It's important to consider our mental health because stress will be the first thing to bring us DOWN both physically and mentally.

Stress Away is a perfect blend to use when we may encounter some tough spots in their lives to encourage joy in even the hard times. I love wearing Stress Away Essential Oil topically, but as a physical education teacher I do have to pay attention to photosensitivity of the citrus oils. Keep them away from sunlight due to increased risk of a them causing damage to the skin when they interact with UV rays. While indoors, it is perfect to apply to the wrists, temples, neck, or on the bottoms of the feet. I also apply Stress Away to my diffuser jewelry. When I diffuse Stress Away in my office, I love pairing it with Orange, Tangerine, or Citrus Fresh. Stress away has been a true life saver for us and is my husband's favorite blend! 


9.) Night Night
Getting enough hours of sleep can be tough during the school year with the busy schedules. No matter how many hours of sleep your getting it is quality AND quantity that matters! I took a deep dive into learning about the overall health effects of sleep in Matthew Walker's book Why We Sleep. For anyone interested in improving sleep and getting motivated to improve sleep, look no further than Matthew's book! It is incredible!

Sleep quality can impact everything from our cognitive performance, mood, and appetite just to name a few. I have found that adding essential oils to the diffuser at night has dramatically improved my sleep quality.

For families and teachers, "Back to School" means strict bedtime routines. I bet sometimes it’s tough to get kids down on time, especially when school first starts. They are so used to the later hours and sometimes it is still light outside.  Winding down is hard for everyone after a long day at school, work, after-school sports, then the dinner-time hustle. I always turn to my relaxing and calming essential oils.

My go-to, night time essential oils are Lavender and Sleepyize. Some other great choices are: Stress Away, Peace & Calming, Cedarwood, DREAM CATCHER, Roman Chamomile, and Valerian. Here are some ways I personally use oils around bedtime:

• I put a couple drops of Lavender and Sleepyize in the diffuser and dilute to the fill line with water. Read my posts How to Use Essential Oils for Aromatherapy to learn more about diffusing essential oils!    
• I have a nighttime roller that I apply and sometimes I just put a few drops of any sleepy oil to the bottom of my feet, remember to dilute for your little ones. ​
• Pillow Spray: Fill an 8 oz spray bottle with distilled water and 10- 20 drops of your favorite blend of the aforementioned bedtime oils. Dilute with a little witch hazel.  You could spray the sheets, pillows, and blankets before bed. ​
• Tubby time should be fun, relaxing, clean and SAFE! Do yourself a favor, go in your bathroom and look at your "gentle baby" soap, shampoo, bubbles.  Google the ingredients, if they are any of the things I used to use, you’ll be shocked. At least I was, I realized how many ingredients are known carcinogens or endocrine disruptors.  Be on the lookout for fragrance too. Once I realized my personal care products were harmful, I slowly made changes to Young Living.  The good news is cleaning up your routine is quick and simple, you will know that the products you are using on yourself and your children are not only safe and effective, but actively helping to support their health and well-being. Don't let toxins creep into the bath time! Add some essential oils to your own DIY products to help your night time routine.  ​
• Night Time Bath Salts:  Choose some relaxing essential oils and create a bath salt jar for your kids or you to use during the tubby time. Please be sure to learn proper dilution for children before making your bath salts.

• Still interested in quality sleep, more recently I wrote How to Get the Best Sleep Ever with Essential Oils

10.) Valor, White Angelia, Sacred Mountain, Peace & Calming, or Joy
These are our "emotional oils". They tend to speak best to combat our negative emotions with the strong qualities found in these oils. Use these oils to help facilitate mindfulness!

As a parent or teacher, realize that your child will require a period of time to figure out their comfort zone and what is required of them to fit into a new environment.
Each year the requirements, expectations, and surroundings change which can cause quite a bit of stress around the home.  Using these essential oil blends has significantly improved my emotions surrounding "back to school" time and throughout the year.

I wear these essential oils as my daily perfumes and on my diffuser bracelets. Also, these are great to apply on your wrists, behind the ears, and on our necks. You can even use these in the diffuser or for making bath salts.

• Valor:  I use valor for everything! I always carry valor in my purse, it supports encouraging confidence, bravery, overcoming obstacles and getting rid of fear! ​
• White Angelica: Have you ever felt emotionally or physically drained after talking to someone. Does negative energy or attitude rub off on you? Do you naturally feel what others feel? As a person who interacts with hundreds of people all day and everyday, I know different energies can pull my emotions in every direction. White Angelica supports staying grounded, peaceful, and protects from negative energies. It’s a positive and uplifting unicorn oil that helps me stay grounded and be a shield to protect myself from negative energy around me. 

• Peace and Calming:  The name says it all. It is a beautiful smelling oil that can help combat that nervousness and fear that anyone can feel in new situations, such as school, a trip to the dentist, getting on an airplane, starting a new job, working with new people- you name it! I also really enjoy using Peace and Calming during my yoga practice. ​
• Joy: A beautiful blend that helps to encourage memories of being loved and helps to open up blocks that we sometimes have that shut down.  Joy can help to open up the adrenal glands that can be shut down when there is grief. Remember, the adrenal glands are responsible for producing cortisol, a main stress hormone. When a person is having a difficult time emotionally, these glands shut down. Joy helps to open up the adrenal glands and helps a person cope. To help process emotions and decrease stress, I wear Joy to promote joy.

• Sacred Mountain: Another favorite essential oil for yoga and daily perfume! It is a blend of Spruce, Ylang Ylang, Idaho Balsam Fir, and Cedarwood. Sacred Mountain helps instill strength, empowerment, grounding, and protection with the spiritual feeling of being a sacred environment.  This essential oil sort of reminds me of a “safety blanket”  specially when blended with Frankincense. I love putting these two on my wrists and on my jewelry to keep my frequencies high during the school day. They help me feel safe, grounded, and like no one could mess with me!

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These 10 ways to use essential oils during the school year are the most important for me as a teacher for physical to mental support. Please understand, your need's may be a little different from mine but I hope this helps you get a better idea on how to use essential oils and how they can support your lifestyle!  I wish everyone the best of luck as we all start the school year!!

Special Resource Review for Back to School: 

Kids Diffuser Bracelets- fun set of two diffuser bracelets makes it easy for your child to use essential oils all day!

Related Essentially Well Post:

• How to Get the Best Sleep Ever with Essential Oils
• 5 Essentials Oils You Need for Fall Recipes!
• Delicious All Natural Elderberry Syrup Recipe​
• Top 9 Essential Oil Roller Recipes

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