With the new school year upon us the influx of school papers is as well. This is something that I have always struggled with and dread when my kids get home from school and hand me their paper piles. Ugh.. who can relate? Thankfully, I’ve figured out a few ways to help manage the papers from getting out of control and taking over our dining room table or the kitchen counters, both favorite “drop zones” for the kids.
My first tip is to deal with these papers on a daily basis. It’s easy for them to pile up if you let it go for too long. If you take just a few minutes each day when the kids get home from school to sort through the papers it’s much more manageable! Just ask them to hand over any school papers, including graded assignments, art projects, or permission slips as soon as they get home or at a designated time each day. It’s best to keep the timing consistent and to pair with something like walking in the door or right after dinner to help them get into the habit so you don’t have to constantly remind them.
Next, when looking through the papers have a trash can handy. 🙂 It’s tempting to want to keep every assignment that our kids complete but it’s not realistic and honestly, it doesn’t give the truly special items an opportunity to shine. You don’t need to keep every math assignment or spelling test they complete. If you want to keep these at all limit yourself to only a few. The special items that I look for and keep are things that they created, such as art pieces or things they wrote. These are the things that you will look back on someday and be glad that you have. Think about it.. do you look back at a spelling test you did in second grade and think, “Wow, I’m glad my mom kept this.” No, of course you don’t. The things that you are excited to look back at are those that you created as your younger self, especially things from the heart like a special paper, poem or art project.
Now, I’d like to take a moment to recognize that some kids are sensitive to you throwing out anything that they bring home. Be sensitive to this. They need to know that you care about their feelings and want to see everything they are doing in school. If you know you have a sensitive child (I have a few), look through all their achievements with them, acknowledge and praise them for what they have done. If you see any area they struggled with take a minute to talk through it with them and use it as a time to teach. As parents, we are teachers too and it’s important to look for those opportunities. If they want to keep things that you think aren’t very special acknowledge their feelings by displaying those items that they are proud of in some way. You could put them on the fridge with magnets, tape on a designated school achievement wall, or even frame them! I came up with an easy solution using string and some decorative clips which hangs above the opening from our kitchen to living room (pictured below). Use your imagination! Do this also for special art projects that you want to keep but first want to display for other friends and family to be able see. Keep things displayed as long as you like, or until they bring home something to take it’s place.
Next, you need a place to store the items that you know you want to keep. I recommend keeping a small portable file box or expandable file close to the “drop zone” where your kids usually hand you their papers, or just plop them down.. as mine do. I have files with each of their names as well as a “reference-school papers” file which I use for informational papers for the school and contact info for teachers, and a “return to school” file for any permission slips or other forms that require some action. This file system is my temporary housing of these school papers. I make sure this is empty at the beginning of the school year so I have plenty of room for anything I want to keep. (The first 2 pictures below are great examples of a smaller type file storage to keep by your drop zone- both found on amazon-just click on the picture for the link to that product. The options are plentiful, just find one that you like and works in your area) I also keep a large file box for each kid in our basement storage area. In each of their file boxes I have files for each grade, from 3k through 12th grade. Any special papers that I want to keep for them will end up in here. I’ll empty the smaller file from the drop zone area into the permanent file box to the appropriate grade file a couple times throughout the school year. (The 3rd picture below is the type of permanent file storage bin that I use for each of my kids. This has worked really well for me and you can find this exact one at Walmart. But again, find what you like and will work best for your family 🙂
Now, sometimes kids bring something home that you want to keep but it’s not going to fit in the file. For this reason, I also have a larger bin for each kid for any of those keepsakes that won’t fit in the file storage. This has worked well for me and so far I have been able to put anything that I feel is “keepworthy” into one of these 2 bins. (Below is a picture of a similar container to the one that I use for any odd sized keepworthy items. Again, just click on the picture to be redirected to that product page from Walmart.)
I truly hope my tips for school paper organization will help you and your family this school year and throughout the coming years! I love learning new things from other moms and love to share things I have learned to help others. God bless you and your family as you begin a new school year!
