Wednesday, September 30, 2009

9 School Paperwork Overload!


Any mom with a child/children in school, knows the overwhelming amount of paperwork that comes with it!  The important thing to do with the school work is to review it each night, read the important stuff, save current homework study guides and any favorite school work pieces.  All other worksheets and items should be recycled.  Especially if you have multiple kids in school, that paperwork can build up FAST!  Just remember to jot down any important dates/info before recycling newsletters and reminders.  What you want to keep to "remember" the things they did in school, are pieces of schoolwork that show the great milestones the child is achieving, such as tests, writing projects, report cards, pictures taken in class and especially anything that makes you secretly giggle as you read it!  Anything more than that, will most likely not be looked at in the future, so why keep it?

I have been building binders for each of my children's schoolwork, which houses all work K-4. This way, someday, I can pull out a "book" to look through and reminisce, vs. digging through piles and piles of paperwork.

 


This school binder is an easy and inexpensive way to keep any munchkin's schoolwork in one place. 

Materials:

*  1 Clear View Binder
*  Scrapbook Paper (for decorative cover/binding)
*  Letter Stickers (to label binding)
*  Glue
*  Printer (optional)
*  3 hole punch

As for those large art projects they bring home, I will have a future post with ideas on storing and saving those, so stay tuned!

I actually still heart this idea, however, I had to update it to be both easier to maintain and to house more documents since our binders were bursting at the seams.  To check out our new system, click here!

School Paperwork Storage System

9 comments:

  1. Love this idea! I will definitely be making a couple of binders for my little ones! :)

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  2. What a great idea! So much better than stuffing the papers in a manilla folder like I do now.

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  3. I love this idea, too. Currently, my kids papers are in a big tub underneath MY bed. :-/
    Question though.. Why do you have the binders go until the 4th grade?

    Thanks,
    Jeanette

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  4. Hi Jeanette!

    I updated the post to include our new system... which is K-12. However, originally I went K-4 since that is how our elementary system was set up. I was planning on adding new binders for 5-8 and 9-12.

    Thanks so much!

    xoxo,
    Jen

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  5. Aww, I got you. Thanks a bunch for responding. I love looking at your site.

    <3 Jeanette

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  6. Did you ever come up with a solution to storing the large art projects they bring home? I would love any ideas on how to handle them... we get soooo many around here since my youngest is still in pre-k.
    xoxo
    ELisa

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  7. Hi Elisa!

    I love the advice to save three things from every age of each kid — one that shows handprint size, one that shows handwriting, and one drawing. Don’t ask me how to possibly decide which of those are the most save-worthy. And of course, I will probably end up saving more than that.

    But I do love getting rid of stuff, so for me, unless it’s remarkably creative or unique, out it goes. For the rest, I found these boxes are perfect for larger art projects:

    http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90167726

    I still plan to whip up a whole post on this subject soon!

    xoxo,
    Jen

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  8. My husband is uber organized and he has made file boxes for each child with all the important documents and momentos to save. Two are now in college and they love knowing that everything is in it's place!
    A family binder is great and then the files as they grow, birth cert, passport, doc info all filed.
    pve

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  9. Would love to hear what suggestions you have for all the daily paperwork (items for signatures, future projects, etc.) that comes flowing in on a daily basis?

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