Get Organized!  Sorting School Papers

This year, let’s start out by having a plan for all those papers and mementos that come our way!  You know it will happen, the papers, the drawings and other great items.  Too many items to store and look at later…   Yes, we can be a bit sentimental but it’s best to keep only the best things to help remember when they are grown what they were like when they were young. They (or their future spouses) may want to look through it for their own nostalgic reasons too. But we certainly don’t have room to keep every assignment they bring home, and it’s hard to tell at the beginning of the year what it going to be truly impressive, original, or special.

A simple solution is to sort only once a year, at the end.  But you might want to do it every few months.  Keep all the papers in one place, in a clean box and out of the way, so you don’t have clutter.  At the end of the year, sort through all of it and keep only about 20% of what accumulated.

How to Sort School Papers:

The kept papers must meet certain criteria:

Cuteness – One of my sons drew a picture of the sun and wrote. “This is the sun. It is like my mom.” I’m not really sure what that means, but I’ve decided it means I light up his world. Awwwww!
Pride – Notes praising my children or schoolwork with messages from the teacher raving about their answers pass my muster.
Nostalgia – Many teachers start Monday by having their students write about their weekend. Not only does it remind me of what we did throughout the year but it also tells me what my boys really value. Anything that covers a page front and back was certainly noteworthy.
Creativity – Extraordinary drawings or interesting spellings qualify. When asked how plants make food, my son wrote, “Photo cinfisis.” Yup, I kept it.
Oprah – OK, so Oprah doesn’t have a talk show anymore but someone will. If my son becomes a famous author, the storybook he made titled “Rattlesnake vs. Python” will have the entire audience giggling.

The final step is to put the paper into storage. Each child also has a file box with 14 hanging folders (Pre-K through 12th grade). The keepsakes go into its proper folder and I have all their best work to peruse at my leisure.

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