Need Help Organizing School (Memory)Papers

Pick out the most meaningful ones and scan like someone else said or you can just take digital pics of them. Its hard to throw those things away, but no sense in keeping it. I love the few things my mom has kept for me... poems etc...

I am the mother of 3 and when they were young my husband and I had a box that each child put all their papers in for the school year. At the end of the year we went through the box and together we would pick several items to keep. These items went into the keep sake box in the attic. When they graduated and moved away from home we all went through the box together had a wonderful time going through the memories.

You could always scan them so that you are just storing a digital copy. I scan all the good art/school work, keep the VERY best originals and toss the rest. I also print a lot of the digital copies in a hardbound book each year (along with photos) so they can frequently view them.
I'm happy to help with either of these steps (scanning or making a book) as these are my specialty! :)
A.
www.CreateHeritage.info

I scan or take pics of DD's art work. I save them all on the computer and CD. Then the ones that I love and can't part with go into a scrapbook. (I just paste it in, no decorating or anything, then add a date.) The CD goes into the book to show what is on the CD. All other artwork gets mailed to relatives in the form of cards, or frames and then they have to worry about what to throw out, but I've given a gift of fine art. ;)
If you scan, paste, and mail weekly/monthly it is much easier to handle. It is just part of our weekly clean up routine now. Hope that helps.

Our daughter was always an artist. We loved all of her art work.. Problem was she drew all of the time. On every page of drawing paper and covered the pages.. For many years I kept everything and then I was afraid the fire Marshall would shut down our house!

I finally decided to save the best of what she did at each age. Towards the beginning of her birthday and towards the end. I also scanned lots of her work and took photos of her artwork, I wish I had taken more photos of her holding her artwork and working on the artwork as I did just the artwork itself.. Then I threw the rest away..

Once she began school. I would keep a few of her writing/spelling papers. Some of the books they created and some of the amazing art works she did.. Luckily they did a lot of their reports on the computer, so I kept some of her favorites in a file and have downloaded them. Even in grade school they now have yearbooks, so I always purchased them for her. I have all of this in a big Rubbermade container so she goes through it and adds and takes out stuff. It has computer discs and flash drives. Date and label everything.. I taught her to sign and date everything..

When she left for college last fall, she had 4 huge portfolios of sketch drawings from every art class she took in high school. Thank goodness they were dated.. I went through them and kept a few from each grade, the rest I used as packing material to pack up her "keepsakes".. When she unpacks her stuff.. at some point... she will still have some of these sketches.. I have already threatened her that whatever she keeps, we will have to charge her for the shipping, cause we will go broke on all of her "stuff" we have saved..

With 3 kids I would be hopeless.. I I think everything is wonderful, but our daughter goes through her stuff and asks, "why on earth would you save this?" I just love all of it..

Jana, I have a wonderful friend about your age and with children. She has a home business helping moms do just what you want to do. I spoke with her recently and she told me how she got rid of the stacks of papers at her house and organized them into a book for each of her children. This is beyond scrapbooking. Laura can show you how. She made it sound easy. Laura is also very wise and can help you decide what to keep and what to pitch. Please email be back so I will know how to contact you. I left a message for Laura to give me permission to give you her telephone number. I am glad you have kept so much and I know Laura can help you organize it. Blessings, B.

Okay, here is Laura Bruner's contact information.

###-###-####
email: ____@____.com
www.mouseclickmemories.com

I suggest taking a picture of each or scanning them onto the computer first. Then, upload your photos/scans onto Shutterfly.com and make a photobook out of whatever is most important to you and the kids. I used to be an avid scrapbooker, but since discovering Shutterfly (a photo website), I still accomplish the same goal of archiving memories, but it looks a lot more professional and costs me less time and money in the long run. Plus, it's fun!

We have a 5 yo daughter and I hate to throw out anything. The best idea I ever got about these was to go to your local pizza place and get a few boxes. Label them on the side with the year or the grade. They hold plenty of stuff and can slide under a bed or stack neatly in a closet. I love it!!

I have four children myself and have found that taking pictures of 3-D things and scanning the papers have been a life saver. I have them preserved and can throw out the items to save space and sanity. I started when the kids were in preschool. Taking pictures monthly of each child with all their artwork (and the calendar for the month) kept things orderly. Now my oldest is 16 and I let her make her own scrapbooks, etc. using the things she deems worthy.

We like using Heritage Makers to have a library bound, hard cover book. (www.PublishFamilyStories.com )

Hi, Jana!

I am a SAHM with 3 kiddos and an independent consultant with a company called Heritage Makers. My personal website is www.mouseclickmemories.com if you want to check it out. I had stacks and stacks of "kid clutter" before I found this company and it has changed my life. Basically, I scan everything in or take digital pics of the big stuff and then I make the most adorable books, posters, etc. to preserve our families memories. Best of all, all of my projects are kept as a permanent record and if anything is ever damaged I can replace it for 50% off. There is a sale this month for $99.95 (less than $8 per month) to get 12 months of all the tools you could possibly want to make the most adorable heirlooms while getting rid of your clutter! I think it is a great price to do something with the pictures you are taking and to preserve all of the special clutter us moms hold onto. I'll teach you how to do it. Because it is all online, you don't have to download onto your computer and I can teach you long-distance. If you can do email, you can do this and your family will love the end result! Even makes a husband happy!!! Call me or e-mail me ###-###-#### or ____@____.com

I am in the same boat. I use to keep everything. I have narrowed it down to keeping the journals that they do in class. Special pictures or class projects (cards, my summer vacation type of stuff). Try to only keep the last report card which has all the grades, instead of having 6 report cards. All the colorings are not worth keeping only the ones that seem special. I normally put the year on the back to remind them of when it was done. If you don't do the scrapbooking you can do the big binders and get the report covers w/holes(I think that's the name)to keep them safe. Of course keep the special rewards or the notes from their teachers praising them.

But, yeah get rid of all the graded daily stuff. Post them on the refrigerator for a couple of days to show them that you acknowledge their great work, but then toss (better yet recycle). You won't feel guilty later.

Good Luck!!

3 ring binder with some sheet protectors. Just slip them in and move on!

Saw a really neat idea on Oprah. They took the kids papers and art work, scanned them(or you could take photos if you have a real steady hand), uploaded them to an online photo company(ie snapfish, photoworks), and had them turned into books. If you don't have one, or can't get to a scanner, lots of photocopy places have them. Good luck!

I tend to keep the papers that have the best teacher comments, have something really funny or smart that he wrote, or is a really great picture, etc. I automatically throw out the math worksheets, handwriting exercises (unless he wrote a really great sentence), spelling tests, etc. I have a pretty manageable pile of papers from this past year.

I SO want to hear the advice on this one too!! I have junk everywhere, the best of intentions, but never seem to get it done!!!
C.

I have 2 kids and can relate! Check out www.gathersortstore.com. Their kits include everything you need to gather, sort and store your loose papers and go beyond just kids' stuff: organize recipes, articles and documents of any kind. Good luck!

All great post ideas and I may use a few myself. I don't keep all the handouts but try to keep whatever is in the child's handwriting itself. Spelling tests are good ones. It shows their progress in their own hand. I keep everything for a year or two and then go thru it later and throw out most of it with the kids help. Then I wonder why was I keeping this? lol
Another word of caution-we have silverfish in our home. They love paper and especially colored paper. Nothing more frustrating to see their Thanksgiving memento with handprints for Turkeys all ate up!! Old fashioned moth balls work.

Take pictures and print the picture for suvenire.

I know what you mean my kids are 7 1/2 4yr and 24 mo. I let my kids pick out one picture to keep and then I throw out the rest or I will put a few on the frig for maybe a week and then throw them out. I use to scrapbook but I stopped because it takes a lot of time and can get expensive so I ordered a book online. It's kinda like a year book it's from pre-k to 12th grade and I stick their papers in it. I also stick some of the pictures in their baby books because the baby book goes from baby to kindergarten.

I use a 13 month expandable file folder. That way I keep things organized by month and I don't have excess.

Have you thought about scanning them and saving to your pc? If you don't have one, how about laminating them and do an album. So far, I have kept all of my daughter's school stuff in a file folder in a suitcase.. in a closet. she can pull it out whenever she wants.

I'm not a scrapbooker eithor. But a great Idea that was given to me is take a picture of the kids projects and save them on a disk. Or they have great web-sights to make a picture book of their art work through the years. I think my kids will appericiate a book when they graduate that contains all our favoirites instead of tons and tons of papaer that will just sit in a box somewhere. And my kids don't have a problem if I throw it away if I have a picture of their art work. Hope that helps.

Here's a tip: Scan documents & make an electronic file for report cards, essays - etc. Take digital photos of their artwork. The digital photos of the artwork can then be uploaded to a site such as "Snapfish" or any photo processing center to make a book out of their pictures. You can put captions with the pictures if you like - the sky's the limit - and I think your child will feel very special having their artwork "published".

Hope this helps!

When my kids were younger, I was the same way. I kept everything! The older they got, the easier it was to weed out. Now, I only have a few files for each child. Also, I let them have an opinion about what they wanted to keep. Some things they didn't even like anymore! Good luck!

Only keep what would be worth mailing/shipping to yourself or what would be worth framing. I'm not saying you do this, but when I put things in that perspective, I choose easily. Then, put it in a keepsake box.

At the end of the school year, I would toss anything
that wasn't a work of art, keeping their artwork
and any papers they had to write that gave any insight
as to how they think and feel or an experience. I collected them all in a large binder and used clear plastic holed protecters that you can get at an office supply store. The acid free are the best and I like the non-glossy ones. I collected them all in a binder that has a clear sleeve in front and back, also at office supply stores or Walmart. I put a self-portrait in the front cover. When they graduated college, I took one of their
first aritmatic problems in kindergarten/1st grade and
one of the last calculus papers in college and put them
with the report cards. It is rare, but fun to look back
at their work. It is like time travel for me. Have fun.
The plastic sleeves are useful for holding medals and
awards that they receive.

Keep only a few of the most special things, then take digital pictures of everything else before you toss it. A digital copy on your computer will last much longer, doesn't take up space, and won't get ruined/damaged in storage. Just make sure to keep a back-up copy of the pics on a disc in case something happens to your computer.

Taking digital pictures of each important item stores the memories ...and then you can do with them what you want someday, but you don't have to store the bulk of each item, nor do you have to address the scrapbook at this point (or ever).

Darwings, stories and little craft projects. These have been my favorite since Pre-K.

Now that we're a little older, I keep all of my daughter's handwritten stories, craft projects and things that she's drawn / created in art.

My Mother gave me a cool portfolio one year that is divided into 10-12 pocket sections. It's big enough that you can hang onto some of the bigger items and not have to fold them. I believe it's called My Art Portolio. She ordered it from one of the children specialty magazines - can't remember the exact one.

Here is a picture of it - you should be able to search for another link to it.
http://www.highlights.com/jump.jsp?itemID=2125&itemTy...

Keep the most important one, Christmas cards, mother's day cards, etc... throw the others out! You will get so cluttered!

I was married to a rare husband who wanted to save and preserve (laminate) every scratch and mark our children put on a piece of paper. Now that the 3 are young adults I realize the stories they wrote that made us laugh are treasures and perhaps one drawing a year. Of course, the reports about "What I did during the summer" or "About My Family" are treasures as well as some special hommade Mother's Day and Father's Day cards if they are truly created by your child. Keep a keepsake box for each child and just remember to have the extra special artwork or report treasures laminated.