GETTING two kids ready for school is enough to give you a headache – now think about doing it for 12.
Well, that's exactly what Iris and Cordell 'Storm' Purnell have to do every morning.
But Speaking to Fox News, the parents discussed how they've nailed down the school routine to avoid chaos at home.
The couple have seven sons and five daughters: Malikhai, 17, Cordell Jr., 17, Janai, 15, Trinity, 13, Messiah, 12, Josiah, 11, Love, 9, Seven, 8, Michael, 6, Royal, 5, Heavenly, 4, and Hope, 3.
But it isn't just the kids at school, as Iris and Cordell are both taking college classes.
The pair revealed their top tips to making the school mornings a breeze, and revealed they always get ready on Sunday evening.
Creating a weekly schedule and meal planning helps the family stay on track.
The couple always sort out who will be doing the morning and afternoon school run each day.
They then develop a cleaning and household chore schedule and a list of things the children will do once they've returned home.
“You don’t want the children to be idle because when they’re idle and have no instruction, then that’s when they get into stuff,” Iris Purnell said.
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“So, you want to make sure that they always have something to do. We have a list of what needs to be done.”
The dad-of-12 added that their Sunday school preparation can take a full day to plan.
He explained that meticulously planning their day means they have all the information needed for the school week and always you to get tasks out the way, like filling up the car for the week.
Although Cordell admits you can't plan every detail of the week ahead – the system works wonders for his family.
The family also write down all the food they will be eating over the coming week and do a giant food shop on a Sunday to prepare.
Iris added three of her children help with cooking and they rotate duties with their parents.
When it comes to buying clothes and school supplies for their family the Purnell's have a few tricks up their sleeves.
They recommend not buying school supplies too early as people tend to buy stuff they don't need.
When it comes to buying winter clothes, the Purnells opt to use their summer ones as much as possible – until the weather actually changes.
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Only buying winter clothes when the season changes and prices go down.
“Big families deal with things as they come and don’t try to pre-prepare (with back-to-school shopping) because it creates unnecessary stress,” Cordell said.
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