Organizing Tips For

Storing Schoolwork

Sifting through a backpack filled with school papers can be intimidating. Pitch too much and your child is upset with you. Pitch too little, and you are upset with yourself for not taking a firmer stand against clutter.

For help with finding a place for everything your child brings home, here is a five-step plan for storing the best and purging the rest as you hold onto the memories and let go of the guilt that tries to convince you to keep everything.

Gather up all loose school papers and artwork and sort them into piles so there is one per child. Next, consider subdividing each child's work into one or more of the following categories:

1. Artwork
2. Schoolwork
3. Photos
4. Grades/Achievements
5. Strengths/Interests*

*The fifth category, Strengths/Interests, is a recent one for me. I created it to store homework assignments and art projects that provide glimpses of my children's strengths and interests.

Someday, when daughters are trying to find their purpose in life, my hope is that this binder will lead them in the right direction. My ten-year-old, for example, wants to direct movies when she grows up. When an assignment comes home that reflects her plans, I file it in this category.

As another example, my youngest daughter is very thoughtful of others. When she was named "Star Of The Week" for helping another student in need, I stored her award in her Strengths/Interests binder because it demonstrates her care and compassion for others.

2. Purchase -   Purchase the needed organizing tools.

Option 1:

Now that you know the volume of work you plan to keep and the number of categories you have split the papers into, it's time to decide how to store them. One option is to purchase binders and page protectors to store your child's best work.

I started with one binder for each child. After Katie and Hollie entered preschool, the volume of papers grew so that two binders were needed: one for art projects and one for school papers. With elementary school came additional binders to store school pictures and photos, report cards and progress reports for extracurricular activities, and papers that reveal my children's strengths and passions.

Knowing that I wanted to store these binders close to our kitchen (where my daughters process their backpacks each day), we purchased a bookcase for each side of the fireplace in our family room. It has worked well to hold all of our scrapbooks as well as the girls' school binders.

Most of the 2" binders in the photo above and all of the page protectors they contain were purchased from Sam's Club. Binders are also available at your local office supply or discount retail store.

Option 2:

Depending upon the volume of work you plan to keep, it may be more cost effective to forgo the binders and purchase paper storage boxes from IKEA or another store. If you choose this option, allow your child to select the box and let them know that when the box is full, no more papers can go in until less precious schoolwork is taken out.

3. Crop -   Crop papers to fit into the designated storage space.

Once you know the size of your storage medium, you are ready to crop papers that will not fit within the dimensions of your storage box or binder. Because the page protectors in our binders hold 8 1/2" by 11" paper, I use a Fiskars 12" paper trimmer to cut work down when possible.

When artwork is too big or bulky to crop, I take a photograph of my artists holding their work.

Knowing that I took a picture of the item is all Katie and Hollie have needed to let go of large projects in the past.

4. Minimize - Minimize what you keep.

"I can't throw anything away," a mother of two preschoolers told me one afternoon.

I smiled in understanding because I was the same way when my daughters were young and had just a few hours each week to create masterpieces in preschool. Now that Katie and Hollie are older, I know firsthand how unrealistic it is to keep everything they bring home. Instead, I let the girls decide what is precious and what gets pitched. If I feel they are holding on to more than I think they should, I insist that they be the ones to place the questionable items in their binders. Katie and Hollie have quickly learned that, what's not worth putting away, doesn't need to stay.

5. Simplify - Simplify your storage system.

Regardless of how you choose to store your child's precious school memories, the key is to make your system easy to maintain. An organizing system works best if you can find what you need and enjoy what you have with minimal upkeep. Here are a few ideas to get your started.

Idea #1:

Have a temporary storage spot in or near your kitchen and move papers to keepsake boxes or binders when your temporary space becomes full. This works well if you use  keepsake boxes that are too large to store near your main living space.

Idea #2:

Place papers immediately in long-term storage after removing them from a child's backpack. I prefer this approach to the first because it eliminates the nagging feeling that occurs when the temporary storage drawer or bin is full and you don't have time to transfer the papers to your long-term storage containers.

Idea #3:

If you are looking for an easy way to organize your child's school photos but don't have the time to scrapbook them, consider storing them in boxes or page protectors until your children are old enough to place them into scrapbooks. This keeps pictures in order, relieves you of the guilt of having done nothing to capture your child's school memories, and gives you something to look forward to doing with your child when he or she is old enough to be more than the subject of your scrapbooking efforts.

As you continue to find a place for the paper that comes into your home via your child's backpack, remember that what's worth keeping is worth keeping in good condition and in a place where it can be enjoyed, again and again.