DeDe Does... Organizing (School Papers)

"DeDe I need some hope. (I meant to type HELP but I think I'll leave that!!) How do you handle all the school paperwork that comes home from the boys? Do you pitch it or organize it?"

My plan for organizing those massive amounts of school papers...
by DeDe

I keep a large box or plastic tub and everything goes into it whether it’s from church, school, etc.
 Then, during the summer, we pick a day and weed through it all. What meant the world to them that very day may not be so important once they have forgotten it. Whatever fits in a small box, we keep and everything else gets recycled. I store them in a box in the closet with the year or grade level marked on it. I typically keep fun art projects, especially those with their handprints, and papers they really liked. Always keep a few examples of their handwriting too! I keep seasonal items with my seasonal decorations (Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentines, etc.) and each year we pull them out and use them to decorate! It’s fun to see how far they’ve come “artistically” each year and they enjoy seeing what they did in the past. Just remember to date the back of each one!
Just plan the “weeding” as an all-day event. It’s fun to remind them of what they have accomplished over that whole school year and compare work from September to May and see how they have grown. These years go so very fast… treasure them while you can! And rest assured… you won’t have that many boxes to store, since they usually lose interest in saving EVERYTHING after 5^th grade! LOL They can store their prized papers, certificates and other special accomplishments from their middle and high school years in a 3 ring binder or personal scrapbook. By then, they recognize special items they really want to keep and can manage the “mess” themselves! LOL