Do you dread the mounds of school papers piling up on your kitchen counters, but struggle to part with them?
Keep reading for a great idea on what to do with old school papers…
What To Do With Old School Papers?
Ask yourself this question first.
If my child were 30 and married, would they want to have this in their possession?
If your answer is no, throw it away! While I know it’s hard to trash any of your child’s masterpieces they will thank you later!
You’ve decided to keep it, now what?
So you’ve identified a piece of school work that you should keep. My keepers are usually writing pieces where my child has written about how a family experience has made them feel, or how they enjoy doing an activity with a relative. I agree, these are gems.
Create a decorative bin system in your home to store these temporarily so that you can keep each school year together. My unit is a bookshelf with baskets that have a small chalkboard label so that I can write their names on their basket. I even added decorative hooks to the sides of my piece of furniture where their book bags hang.
Sometimes they bring home such a special paper that I just want to be extra sure to preserve. I use a small laminator to make sure I can cherish it forever!
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At the end of the school year, it is time to move your mementos to permanent storage. Each child should have a file storage box with dividers for each grade in school.
If you want to dwindle your keepers down even further you could take your top 10 picks and keep only those. This is probably a good idea as over the 12 years you want to fill a single storage box, not several.
Someday, when they are all grown and have a place of their own you can give them the gift of one small filing system container to keep. They and their spouse will thank you!
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Great tips! I’m a large family homeschooling mom and papers can add up so quickly. Another strategy I use is taking pictures of papers and projects that don’t make the save list. It helps the kids deal with tossing them better to know there’s a photo they can look at later.
Yes! I’ve started collecting artwork for the month and then displaying all of it and photographing it and only keeping the really special pieces. The kids love having everything displayed to see and then I feel better about trashing it at the end since there is just so much!
This was very helpful! I feel like papers are cluttered everywhere around the house as my kids are getting older. Loved this post!
We homeschool and I have the urge to keep EVERYTHING we make together. We hang their creations for the month on the wall in our school room and then we scan each paper into our computer or take a picture of each project and store the photos in the cloud online (which jas a backup just in case).
We only keep what is required for our portfolio assessment at the end of the year and then it gets tossed! With mutilple kiddos, stuff can really add up over the years if you save it all!
Awesome tips! As a homeschool mom, I’m getting overrun with paper clutter! I really needed to read this.
I try to have a storage box to store their papers. But more often than not a picture is what I end up going with because space is limited. I also like your idea of lamented papers.
I love this! And your first sentence was such an excellent point. Not every paper is important or worth keeping as a memento.
I so love the very first question you asked. I always keep things “in the moment” when I probably shouldn’t. Good tips!!
Homeschoolers here! We take photos and keep a digital portfolio,
the papers are endless. I usually photograph and toss
I love this idea. I just started a binder where I keep my kids’ report cards and a select few pieces of artwork.
This is so helpful! My daughter isn’t in school but she has so many drawings and crafts!
It is so difficult to get rid of things like this, but it causes so much clutter!
Mom goals! Love how organized you are, hope I can be too! Such a great idea to laminate the special drawings so that you’re sure that they stay for a long time!
-Marielle
http://www.mariellethinks.com
Great way to declutter!
I love these ideas about displaying artwork for a month. What I do, is I decide what I keep my how it made me feel when the kid first showed it to me. Things made with handprints usually make me squeal with delight, where as worksheets don’t quite get as much enthusiasm. If it made me so proud and happy it goes in their grade box. I have a file box with folders for each grade that the really special stuff goes into.
My son started kindergarten this year, and the paper is something else. Thank you for these tips!