What do you do with school work?

DillsMommy wrote: I feel bad throwing any of it away. I get too sentimental (sp?) Dylans doing so good writing and coloring in the lines I just can't bring myself to get rid of any of it. But it's starting to take over my kitchen counters and they haven't even been in school 3 months yet.

Anthony275 replied: maybe you can put them in folders, or ask him which ones he dosent want you to keep? something along those lines

luvmykids replied: I have one of those under the bed storage boxes. Everything goes in it until it gets full, then the kids and I go through it together. If they want to keep something I ask why they like that page so much and make a note on the back and put it back in the box.

I also have those inexpensive, clear picture frames that just snap apart and we change the "artwork" in them frequently. I have about a dozen and they are in the stairwell, the kids love to see their stuff on the walls

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: we keep something if it seems particularly special but most everything gets thrown away after she goes to bed. I think she had 10-15 masterpieces just in the hour or so she was at teh hospital today...I am trying to simplify all teh stuff in my life and part of that is kid artwork

mom21kid2dogs replied: I scan some of her artwork into the computer then pitch all but the best of the best. I save a few papers in each subject (and scanned them in to the computer as well) from each quarter ~the rest go to file five. I'm not too sentimental about that kind of stuff, though plus we don't live in a castle with infinite storage. I've used some of the scanned artwork in her grade scrapbooks and that worked out nicely.

PrairieMom replied: Every week I pick a family member that lives far away, like great grandma or aunts and I collect everything Ben has brought home and mail it to them so they they can enjoy it. His teacher sends home a note at the end of the week that tells everything they had one, so I throw that in there too, with a note from me explaining why we are sending all his school work to them. My family LOVES this. Esp great grandma who rarely gets to see the kids.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I keep a few things on the wall in my dining room... other stuff gets taped up to my kids' room walls... the rest gets given to grandparents or thrown away

i'm sentimental to a certain extent... but an inch of school work per child every month is just too much to keep it all

luvbug00 replied: hi I'm Nadia, I am a packrat ....


I keep everything..EVERYTHING. i have a plasitc bin i have everything in until i sort it out and find another way to store it. I'm sure lars will break me of this but until then the plastic bin it shall be!

moped replied: I am not a keeper at all - I throw everything away!

DillsMommy replied: Great ideas, thanks guys! Guess I'll be making a trip to walmart for a bin, file folders, and plenty of envelopes to mail stuff!

Boo&BugsMom replied: I do a few things with them. #1, I have a couple large tupperware bins that I have been saving stuff in since Tanner was a baby. Handprint art, writing, etc. #2, I usually only save things that reflect a milestone. The first pic he drew a person on, I saved it. The first time he wrote his name, I saved that. The first time he colored in the lines, etc. etc. #3, random pictures, unless it's something I know I want to remember (like one he drew of our family ), I throw it out after it's hung on the frig for a week or two. #4, at school he makes a lot of little books that he writes words and sentences in, or ones that he colors with sentences in them. I am saving those books in a box for when we travel. He can practice reading them while in the car. I would love to save everything, but if I did I'd already have 5 huge containers of things because he has been doing projects and worksheets and stuff since he was very teeny tiny. I have a footprint ghost the daycare made when he was a baby at 3 months old...that is when it all started.

jcc64 replied: I throw almost all of it away. You'll realize after 3 kids and 15 yrs, no house is big enough to keep it all. I know a "keeper" when I see one. The rest goes in the garbage. Living in a relatively modest sized old house with not too much storage space, it's either the old artwork or the skis/skates/snowboards/baseball equipment, etc...

punkeemunkee'smom replied: This is why I got a piece of her artwork attached to me! I am a packrat and I have yet to decide how to sort it all out! Tara I do love the idea of sending it off to family to enjoy!

DillsMommy replied:
I LOVE that! I may steal your idea and do the same thing. I'm just waiting for the "perfect" drawing to have it permently put on me.

punkeemunkee'smom replied:
I would not change it for anything! I think you may grow out of other tattoos but this one means more and more as she grows and her handwritting and art changes!