Put it in your box

I have often been asked how I organize my kid's school work. With at least 6 kids in school, all of them coming home daily with overflowing backpacks and folders this has been no easy feat. The system I started way back when Kara was in kindergarten has stood the test of time for us and has helped to keep my sanity and a little less clutter in our busy bustling household.



In my pantry (or behind my couch in our old house) each child has a box. This box is where they put everything that comes home. I look through the backpacks each day, jot down in my planner due dates etc, and then they put it all in their box. By the end of the year the boxes are overflowing.

The first week of summer is when I sort (Or I pay my daughter who is desperately trying to earn money for EFY to sort for me). One by one each box is emptied and sorted into piles. One pile for spelling tests, one for math papers, art projects, writing assignments, etc. When it is all sorted I then go through each pile and pick one or two papers from each pile to represent that subject. The rest goes in a big trash sack. Generally, I don't let the younger kids see what I am throwing out because they want to keep everything. I keep all of the awards, notes from teachers, and anything that is journal like. My older kids now can sort their own. They know to take a sample from each class they took and they know that most of it can be thrown out. When I am done I have a nice, neat, and relatively small stack of papers, awards and art projects that is a pretty good overview of the year. I then put that pile in a file folder with my child's name, teacher, school and year on it. (This process is a little time consuming, but my kids help me and it is so satisfying to finish and haul the huge bag of trash out to the recycle bin.)

And then I happily file it away. Kara's box is almost full. One more folder to add and then her box is complete. I like that when she gets married or moves out I will hand her this box, one simple box filled with her work from pre-school to senior year, all organized and neat. Just the way I like things!