How do you decide what to keep/throw out? (handouts, schoolwork, art projects, etc)??

lolc

I am getting overwhelmed by the amount of stuff my son has brought home (kindergarten). There hasn't really been any major art projects yet, but he has all sorts of dittos, handouts, etc and I feel guilty throwing them out. But letting them pile up in my house is getting overwhelming.

How do you decide what gets kept/thrown out?

If you decide to throw something out, how long do you give it before you throw it out (and do you do it once your child is in bed so they don't see? Out of sight, out of mind for the child?)

Where do you store the things you decide to keep?

howleyshell

Only in pre-school here but we've got a 15 yr old (step son) and I've learned the hard way.  Our basement crawl space has boxes upon boxes of stuff that he "cleaned out" of his own room (but didn't throw away) that will sit down there forever and never be viewed by human eyes again.

I pretty much throw out everything.  If there's something he's particularly proud of I'll try to keep it for a while but:

I take photos of everything.  At the end of the school year I'll have him look thru them with me and we'll pick our favorites to make a photo book (think shutterfly) of his art work for the year.

We've been doing this since he's held a crayon.

He LOVES his photo books!!  

 

goldenprincess

 What I do is take pictures of all of the crafts, worksheets, etc and put them into a photo album. I only keep a select few of my favorite projects.  I store them in a bin that I bought specifically for that reason.  ,

blueshirt2003

We do not keep anything unless it is something extra-special in his eyes or our eyes, etc. From kindergarten, we saved his mother and father day projects and at the end of the year his teacher did a mini book of all of his holiday projects from Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. 

I just put them with his yearbook up on the shelf. His projects so far were on normal or card stock paper. Well, we have a Christmas ornament but I digress.

The papers I do toss, I toss when he's asleep and make for sure he can't find that I've thrown them away. I've considered recycling them at the school's bins as well so he definitely can't see it. It'd upset him if he found something he completed in the trash. One time I tossed something and he found it and was kind of upset so I avoided it from then on.

BTW, I agree with you that it's overwhelming the amount of paperwork they can come home with!  

lizloo85

We bought a huge cork board and decorated it together. I pin up the current work and then toss it when she brings home new ones, but don't let her see me throw it away. 

I like the idea of taking pictures! I will do that before I toss the old stuff now.

Julie004

We have this:

www.schoolfolio.com

I keep artwork mainly and some of his worksheets. Plus side is that it's all together, stored neatly!

shopgirl78

My MIL bought me it like a picture frame that stashes artwork, handouts, etc...

I have kept very little this year.   I try to keep a sample handwriting from the beginning of the year and then at the end.  I keep anything with handprints or artwork that is esp cute or that DD is really proud of.  Otherwise, it's trashed. 

mrsskiz

I have a drawer in the kitchen that we keep everything that comes home in. Special art and good test scores get a special place on the fridge until the next ones come along then they go to the drawer too. When the drawer gets too full or we get to the end of the year, we will go through it and he gets to pick out what stays and what goes. He dosent usually want to keep normal class work that was returned so that always goes first. But all artwork is kept, at the end of the year it goes into an expandable folder in his memory box.

Funny this is mentioned, DH asked me last night if I even noticed that the very first art project DS ever made in school was still taped to the side of a cabinet in our kitchen. Its been there for 5 years. It will stay there until the tape gives away and it falls, then I will put it away. Its my special way of holding on to my little baby. BTW its a red apple cut out of construction paper with other peices of red paper accordian folded to make the arms and legs. So cute.

neverblushed

DS: kindergarten -- all paperwork goes in a folder. The weekly homework packet goes in the front of the folder.  When the folder gets too full, we weed out the stuff that's not too important.  If it's important, we might keep it.

DD: 5th grade -- all work gets sorted and organized into the right section of her binder (she's a little sloppy and needs help with this at least once a week).  At the end of each quarter, we weed out the junk and clear some space in her binder.

Artwork:  goes on the inside of the front door (we enter the house through the side door) with a magnet.  Periodically, I take a digital pic of anything that's not super special and toss stuff.  Really special stuff gets put in a portfolio in the playroom.

Ilumine

Even though she is only 21mo we do a bunch of at home or program sponsored crafts.

I take a picture of each craft and then date it electronically vs putting the date on the craft. 

I will try to keep one of every genre (painting, clay, etc) every 6-12 months to show her progression.

And we will switch out the display crafts (Daddy's desk gets standing art and home gets the fridge art) every month. 

OTHER THAN THAT, we throw everything away.