Organization with 4 Children

We homeschool and have a lot of materials to keep organized, so I bought two multi-pocket hanging systems that hang on the bedroom door. They are made of reinforced fabric and have nine pockets each, which I label by subject. You can get them online through Lakeshore Learning.

SAHM of seven

I got each child one of those 3 drawer organizers and they get to keep it in there (any artwork, etc) until they can't shut the drawer. Then, it has to be "recylcled."

I have 5 kids all in sports etc. I have thier 5 calenders on the side of my file cabnet they can add too or look at. Every Sunday I go through thier calenders my husbands and mine to make one big one. Each kid has a basket and a drawer with thier name on to put stuff. School work,etc.. I go through the basket every couple days, the drawer is thier own to put stuff like gum, wallet, $, pics, stuff I dont need or are not important for me to look at often. Organization kind of left my house when #3 came. My house is always a mess but I am loving the time I spend with my kids while they are young. I can only do it once! Good luck H. but remember don't take time away from your kids no matter how unorganized life is. P.

I like folders, the kind you find in the back-to-school section. I put their name and the activity (school, daycare, swim team, etc.), and that way I can just grab it off the shelf and even take it to a meeting for that activity if I like. Hanging folders are a drag for me...I can't get to them as quickly as I need and I keep my family's activity folders on the shelf in our kitchen...which is kind of my office lately:( but oh well

That is so funny that you ask this H. because I just did this myself. I bought a wicker basket for each child and put it in my entry way. So each time they cleaned out their backpacks or I did, then I could put their papers in their baskets. Then at the end of the school season I will go through the pile and let them keep a few of the special papers. The other thing I did was put up some bulletin board strips on a wall, just the little 1/2 inch stips and anytime they have papers that need to go back to school, field trip info, etc, they or I will put them on that strip with push pins so we know right where they are. It has been working out perfectly. Hope that helps!!

L.

Hi H.... We are pretty similar. I am a SAHM and have three girls that are 8, 6, 3 and a baby boy that is one and have been married 13 years. I like to use stacking trays for school papers and a file cabinet for health info ect.... I still find it very hard to keep it all organized with the amount that comes home from school each day. I date the special things I want to keep and put them in a box or I take a picture of them holding it to put in an album. I hope you find a solution, I may read your info to find one as well. Good Luck!!!

H., God Bless You!
I only have two and my "pile" gets huge.
I'm a big fan of binders. The 1" kind with clear plastic on the outside. Have the children decorate the binders and clearly label them with their name and what's inside "Kari's school stuff" on a piece of paper and slide it into the binder cover. You can change it out as needed.

You may want to get a couple for each child. Your choice on how far to organize. I have one for each child's school stuff, one for their "scrapbook" stuff, one for "picture/portrait" stuff (ie. loose pictures people give us, extra or old school photos or portraits, etc.) and one for their art/coloring/painting/drawing stuff that we want to keep. The school one you keep in the kitchen, the others you keep in their closets - top shelf so they can't tear it apart. :-)

Fill the inside of the binders with the clear sheet protectors. You can buy a big box of those at office supply stores. Then you can easily slip in phone number lists, lunch menus, fliers, etc. into the school books. You can do the same with scrapbook stuff and artwork into the others. It makes finding what you need quick and easy and you never need to waste time wondering where to keep something.

Hope it works for you!

The folders sound like a great idea. i also had a box for each of my four boys for school papers. I would put them all in there and then in the summer sort through and save the ones I wanted to keep. I tend to save too much and could sort through the next year too and get rid of more. I found it easier to get rid of some of the things when they got older, then they didn't seem so precious. But I am a saver. I am down to one smallish box for each of them and the youngest graduate tomorrow. I have a box for my daughter now. hers is bigger right now. I look forward to sorting through and seeing how she changed over the year through her papers. Good Luck, it is easy to drown in papers and not be able to find the important ones when you need them.

I've also got 4 children (15, 13, 7 and 5). I needed to go to a hanging folder situation. Each person is color-coded and has different folders (i.e. School, Religion, Sports and a Mail folder at the front for any new items they need to see). I am always swimming in paper, but it definitely helps. My husband and I also have folders. I have mine in the kitchen right by the door.

Hi H.,
Though I have only one child... she is an arts and crafts kind of kid and is always making things. When she was younger I started taking pictures of the art projects that were too big to keep or that would never become part of a scrapbook or other memory project. She was the type of child you could reason with so she wasn't sad to see her project or masterpiece get recycled, because she saw the pictures were saved on the computer forever. I did use a lot of the colorful art for scrapbook calendars for the grandparents at Christmas, scrapbook pages, cards and even framed some for her bedroom walls. Now that she is in high school most of her art is drawn in bound sketch books or on the computer. We still frame some behind others so she can enjoy the latest and greatest creation.
I hope this helps you save those masterpieces and have room for those yet to be created!
K.

Hi, H..

I use a vertical file system. I purchased a letter-size file (like the kind that is used in many office situations) for each child and myself, and mounted them all on one of the walls in our kitchen, where everyone can see them as they enter the house from the garage. That's where we store all the projects/homework that they're currently working on, paperwork on field trips, etc.

When there's a form to be signed, etc., I sign it and put it in the child's file. It's the child's responsibility to make sure the form makes it from the file back to his/her backpack and back to school. This doesn't always work, but it's a great way to teach responsibility with naturally occurring consequences!!

Be sure to give yourself a file as well, for paperwork that is more general school-related and not related to a specific child's classroom.

For all the work and projects that come home, I try to deal with it right away. I assess whether I think it's the kind of thing that should be kept as a memento/sample of their work for that year. I put the keepers in one pile and the tossables in another pile. Then, just to be safe, I have the child go through the tossables in case there's anything in there that they really want to keep. Whatever is deemed a keeper gets stored in a bigger bin.

Now that I've learned how to use Shutterfly, I'm planning on putting together a photo album for each child for each grade of school, so I'll probably take photos of the keepers and put them in the albums. That way, I can toss some of those keepers. But, I know there will be keepers that I won't be able to toss. Those I plan to put in one large box per child -- the kind of box that can slide under the bed. If THAT box gets too full, then I'll work with the child to weed through it.

Another idea I heard was to limit the keepers to one special item per year of school. That sounds reasonable to me. That way, assuming they're all 8.5x11 inches, they could each be slipped in protective plastic pouches and stored in a three-ring binder. One binder should be big enough to hold one project for each of their school years K-12. Once their in college, they're on their own!

Hi I wanted to share something I started doing to help with the big piles of papers and projects just from my two children. I started laying out a few projects at a time and taking pictures of them and putting all the pictures onto a disk for each child. That way I could throw away the actual projects but still see them anytime I want. Some mothers dont like the idea of throwing it away but it really helped me with all the clutter. With papers I started saving a few here and there and put them in a box with a lid and dividers for each child. That cut the pile down to a couple small boxes and disks. Hope this might help.

We get the paper pile up at our house too. Not only from schoolwork, but from junk mail and what not. What I have to help the clutter is this: On my desk I have severeal stackable desk trays. One for myself where I put whatever paperwork I need to take care of, one for my husband so I can put his mail in it (since leaving it on the counter for him ensures it will be there forever), and one for each kid where I put there homework.

Then I also have a hanging file for each kid where I select which papers I want to keep that they bring home from their completed work, or special things they have made. At the end of the schoolyear I will take out what they have done for that year and label it and put it away and start all over again next schoolyear. This has worked pretty well to get rid of some of the extra clutter, although we still end up with the junk mail piles. But it is 10 times better. Hope you find something that works for you!!

How about a big binder with a calendar in front, and a section for each kid? You can color code the sections, and write that child's activities in that color too.

I have not done this myself, but have an idea to scan some of the projects and pictures and keep them on the computer. I am a pack rat and cant throw out the painting of a "tree" that has one blob of brown paint. For me it is a blob, but my 3 year old love to look and it and every proudly say's "look, my tree picture!" I plan on keeping the items that are too good to not look at in person, and scanning in all the rest. Even making an album of them.

Just a thought...

Hi,
The paper is never ending, I have two - can't imagine four. I bought two baskets but they are deep at least 12 inches. I put their names on them and they live on a window seat in the dining room which is where homework and unloading of backpacks occurs. I toss artwork, notes, etc. in each one that way I can sort through if I need to refer to a note from school. They are usually full by the end of the year and I can sort through and save what I want.

I also have a large binder with their names and grade. I fill each with plastic sleeves and they are used for things I know I want to keep - awards, school programs, special art, pictures, etc. They are also in the dining room for easy access. I can grab them and slide the work in very quickly.

Good luck - I'm a pile person - but I know what is in each pile!

C.

I'm a single mom with a 5 year old and still have some trouble keeping the pile under control. He mostly has artwork he brings home and I keep it in a box that's placed close to the door we use to enter the house. When I have time I choose the things I want to keep and put them in a 3 ring binder. I use the sheet protectors so that his projects and papers don't stick to each other. Things that are too big for the binder are folded and 3 hole punched, or mostly thrown away. LOL

H. - everyone always thinks of organizing as such a large and expensive task when really it doesn't need to be.
It's best to see visually what you are trying to organize. If you are organizing the papers that they bring home from school... then yes a file system that is able to be in a reachable spot for you (when in a hurry). Covering one with contact paper to match the kitchen that I bought at a garage sale or Good Will has worked for me. I also have a spare shelf in the kitchen for the special projects that they have brought home from school. At the end of each quarter I sift through the projects letting the kids pick their favorites and I in turn pick my favorites. We also have these many colored sheets available for sending with notes and letters to friends and relatives.
Lastly the one item that I need really helpful in keeping track of all the doings is a family calendar where each family member has their own line and all their activities go in that spot throughout the year. It has a pocket in back for stuff (I put the pizza coupons or permission slips there) so that it is kept close to where we are checking the dates. It all is magnetic and on the frige for the family to get the scoop!
Good Luck!

Hi H.,
A great way to keep "piles" under control is to take pictures of what you can and create an online album. That way you always have what things looked like but don't have the mess. I also have four children and find clutter is a constant battle. I use shutterfly.com. Good luck.

What I have started doing is keeping the things I like by scanning them into the computer. I only physically keep the very most special artwork and schoolwork.