School Papers--keep or Toss????????????

I have 3 kids in school this year. What I started last year was that the kids get to choose what gets put up to display. When the area gets too full, they choose what comes down, and what stays up. Last year, my son kept one paper up the entire year because he was proud of the note the teacher wrote on it. Anything from art to math to writing papers are displayed. At the end of the year, the teachers always have samples of the work done through the year, so I will look at those and keep a sample from that portfolio.

Hey L.,
As a teacher, you're my dream come true! I always felt that so many parents took the things from our kids folders and trashed them. So often I would ask..."Did you receive the field trip permission slip?" only to hear "What? Field trip?" Ha...anyway, I'm glad that won't be a problem for your child(or their teacher). :)
Don't keep all the papers...throw out the daily work, the newsletters, the projects the teacher does most of the work on and things that just don't seem to hold that much value to you or your child.
Keep the important projects or something your child is very proud of. If there are Christmas decorations or a special spring project, get it out at that time of year and display it proudly. Your kids will love that year after year, especially when they're teens and older. :)
Keeping things in a box that 95% is just busy work from the teacher is kinda pointless. Save the big stuff in an important place...a decoration bin or something. Their first written stories and things are also great memories to save, but have a file folder to put those in so they're more likely to be read in a few years to see just how much they've learned and grown.
Have fun!

I have two children - 10 and 13. I have a small bin that I "toss" (paper size) art projects (no big ones), interesting papers - something that represented their writing style or short stories/essays, report cards, invitations to birthday parties and fun cards for the year At the end of the year, every June, I sort through this small bin and save the good stuff in the folder that they used that year the most (the one with the most doodles, phone numbers and obnoxious stickers on it.) I have one for each grade. I have friends who don't keep any of it. But, as a daughter of a "Mother" who did this, every now and then I go through and show my kids some of the stuff that I did at their age. Just an aside...my mom kept a birthday invitation from a little friend's party, in 4th grade, who died the next year. It was quite an event for me back then. Years later, I looked at the invitation and realized she shared the same birthday as my son. I loved learning that. My mom and dad are both gone and I'm grateful for the little stuff that gives my childhood its history.

One thing that my mom did and I try to do too. Make a little notation on some of the papers - something interesting or timely that happened that day, even a weather event. I have papers that are dated with "big snow storm day" or "she came home from school and couldn't wait to show this to me...." or some.....big school story that they shared with me that day. If you are a journal keeper, then you keep these great moments in print, already. This is my outlet for saving these stories for them to read, someday. Good luck!

I take a digital picture of it and save it that way. :) Hope this helps.

I only keep the special projects from Mothers day or Christmas, etc. Anything else I will hang on the fridge for a while until she brings home a new one, or I get in a mood to throw things away.

My son is 18 years old and there are certain projects of his that I still have. he made me a giant flower out of tissue paper in kindergarten and I still have it stuck in my curtain rod in our bedroom. We moved 6 years ago and it moved right along with us. I think what you need to do is decide which projects mean a lot to you and which ones can go after a short time.

S.

My daughter just started Kindergarten today, but I kept many of her Pre-K papers. I kept them until the end of the year and then she and I sat down and decided on which 20 or so she really wanted to keep. I did take a digital photo of the very first time she wrote her name for me from memory. =0) I have it on my iPod.

WOW I LOVE THE IDEA OF TAKING A PICTURE AND SAVING IT DIGITAL... GREAT IDEA!!

i don't keep their work. I hang it up to see and then at the end of the week I toss it.

If he wrote me a special note i put that in my office until I get the next one.
I do always make sure they know I am so proud and we hang their stuff in the windows... which fade fromt he sun anyway. The kids love the fact that they can see their work outside too.

I may change now and do the picture thing what a great idea! I love this group!! :0)

- F.

Hi L.,
I have four kids (3rd grade, 4th grade, 6th grade and Freshman). I have a box from Office Depot for each of my kids. I think it is called a file storage box. I have a file for each grade, preschool through 8th grade, a file for class pictures, report cards, award certificates. I keep most of the art projects (if they fit in the box). As they got older, I kept the art papers that looked like they tried their best. If it looked like they hurried to get it done, I threw it out. As for class papers, I usually keep the A and B papers. For prek and kindergarten, I kept the papers when they were practicing their printing. Same with when they started to learn to write in cursive. I saved the practice worksheets. If it was busy work at school that just had a check mark or whatever on there, I throw it out. It was hard to decide at first what to keep and what to get rid of. My kids still like to take the box down and see their work from the previous years. They are non the wiser of what I kept or pitched.

I have four children and I keep a few of the homemade projects, maybe one of their first spelling tests, etc. in plastic tubs in my basement. You'll be surprised how much you can fit into one of those. EVERYTHING ELSE GETS TOSSED! I do have a bulletin board hanging in my kitchen and allow each child to display 2 papers from school each week. When a new week starts, the old ones get pitched and the new ones go up. You'll be surprised, too, that the older your children get, the less of an issue this is.

Some things are worth keeping like the first note sent home from the teacher or their first drawing but keeping it all starts a junk pile no one is interested in. Also if an event has past throw the paper away it could get into the mix of next year and you'll dress your kid up for pajama day when that day really does not exist. My mother always kept the mothers day cards but not the popcorn creations and candy houses.

I have a 13 and a 14 year old. There is no way I could have kept everything, and some of it was not really worth keeping. I started to save all the special or really good papers in their baby books, a few really great ones from each year. I have also saved several of their projects that I just keep in a tote. I started a scrapbook for each of them when they were young to keep artwork in and I add special pictures they do. My youngest is a great artist so I continually add to his. As they get older you will become better at picking and choosing what is more special or important to you and them. I am really glad I kept the things I did because I can look back on milestones and the kids get a kick out of seeing their old drawings and papers.

Hey L.- I have 4 kids- 3 school age and I know this sounds unorganized (and I am unorganized) but I keep the favorite or "best " projects in a big plastic rough tote- 1 for each kid. I tend to sift through them when it gets overfilled and we decide what to keep (I do throw away a TON!!) Good Luck
Beth

I use a clean empty pizza box to store their treasures. I save the "special projects". They love looking in their old pizza boxes and reliving earlier times. So far I just have 3 boxes. Could get abit cumbersome as they get older but for right now it works great!!

Michelle