I have three kids in elementary school which translates to mountains of papers, homework, coloring sheets projects and stuff. If you are a parent, you can understand the problem. During the school year when they bring home their work, I look at each paper and then stack it on a particular shelf in their own folder. That way if there is ever a problem with a grade that is misplaced or entered wrong, I have the actual assignment.

Organizing School Memories

I have three folders – one for each child. I use a sharpie at the beginning of the school year to write their lunch and library number on the front of each. They usually memorize the number pretty quickly, but this helps me if I need to find it when I pay their lunch money.

Once their grades are finalized after each 9 week term, I go through the folders and thin out the insignificant papers. After all, who really wants to filter through hundreds of math homework sheets?

The Three Ring Binder

At the end of the school year, I pull out the large three ring binder for each child with tabbed dividers for each school grade. Each year, I go back through the previous year’s work and thin it out a little more.

When my son finished Kindergarten, I had a whole rubbermaid tote full of his work. But each time I go back through the pages, I find a few more that need to be ‘pruned’. And now, I love the binder idea for organizing their creations.

Other organization options:

Some people keep a pizza box for each student full of the art and papers for each school year. They label each box with the year and the child’s name and store them on a shelf in a closet.

***I take a picture of my child with each art project. Then I print the picture off and put it in their notebook. I tried keeping all my kid’s art work from kindergarten and elementary school until I realized that I would need an entire closet if I planned to keep them all.

How do you keep up with your child’s school creations and special work? I’d love to hear.