What do you keep?

[Moxie]

I feel like I should keep some of the worksheets the kids have done this year but, why? I have no desire to go back and see my worksheets from 2nd grade. It is just so hard to throw away those workbooks that we spent so much time with this year.

[Sheri]

I know it is hard. I just did a major purge this month. So far...no regrets. :001_smile:

[Tracy]

I keep one thing per topic per quarter. The one exception is that we have kept everything from Five in a Row, because dd likes to look back through what we did.

[JudoMom]

I keep what will fit in a one inch binder for each kid. Math tests, some penmanship, writing samples, etc....

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I take pictures of the really neat things and keep it in a folder on my computer.

[MelanieM]

If you keep something for 20 years it becomes special just because it's old. So, think about how much stuff you want to saddle your kids with when they're grown.

 

Maybe you could take pictures of all their workbooks, or a couple of favourite worksheets, every quarter or so and then pitch the physical items. Keep all the photos together on the computer, create a slideshow, print them off and scrapbook them, etc. That way you still have something to trigger the memory if you want it, but not a lot of physical stuff to deal with.

[tricia]

It is a hard decision to decide which things to keep and which to throw. I think that's why I love notebooks and commonplace books because everything they do is kept neatly inside and those aren't too difficult to store. I have 12 kids and they've all been homeschooled so I can get a pretty good pile but it is worth it. But keeping them in notebooks does make things easier.

[ProudGrandma]

I keep what will fit in a one inch binder for each kid. Math tests, some penmanship, writing samples, etc....

 

I like this idea..but with 3 kids, I might have to make it be 1" binder for each year (all 3 kids in one binder)...or a bigger binder for each kid and put several years in each...hmmm....something to think about.

 

Kathy

[Tutor]

I keep a portfolio for each child in a 1" binder every year. I keep, at most, 6 items per subject for each of them. I also include pictures of larger projects, field trips, and such. The kids help pick what goes in each portfolio and I often pick one or two things I particularly liked. Each child also makes a cover for his or her portfolio.

 

We started doing this because we had to keep a portfolio to fulfill PA's homeschool laws. We don't live in PA anymore, but the kids love going back and looking at past years' portfolios and requested that we do them every year, and I was happy to oblige.

[happyWImom]

Next year, we will have Main Lesson Books, and those will be great to keep, because it's their artwork plus the things they've been learning. But this year.... I have half finished spiral notebooks, workbooks, and tons of loose sheets of pictures and things.

 

The CLE workbooks are all thrown into a bin, and the loose sheets of pictures they've drawn are in a huge, ever-growing pile, on top of a bookshelf in the schoolroom. :eek: I'm trying to put it all out of my mind. I'll think about it sometime.....

[Jennay]

I take digital pictures of special picture/projects with the child holding it. Then we usually pitch it. We keep a very select few.

 

Workbooks???....recycle those!

[coffeefreak]

I've always taken a 3" binder, and made it into a portfolio for the year. I also keep some workbooks. We've started boxing up curriculum to get rid of and moving new curriculum to the shelves for next year. Last night, dd and I went through her old binders. It was so much fun! She loved all the artwork, writing assignments and even the math worksheets she saw. It's one way to show your kids how far they've come, and encourage them to keep going. It also backs me up when I tell my oldest, "Your sister has less work because she's younger than you! When you were in first grade, you had less work to do too!":tongue_smilie:

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[AHASRADA]

I include pages from my dc's workbooks in our overall portfolio. I save pages of work from the beginning, middle and end of the year, ones I think are good representative samples of their abilities and progress. This includes hand-written, typed and drawn assignments, as well as worksheet pages. I also tear out the cover page and table of contents (if there is one) for the workbook and keep that in the portfolio along with the pages I have chosen to keep, as a record of the workbook completed.

 

It can be very tough to think about tearing up recently-completed workbooks, and throw out so many pages of hard work, but I don't think any of us have the space (or the desire, really) to keep years and years of completed workbooks. I usually wait until the end of July/beginning of August to do this, when we are far enough removed from the old year to have released some of our attachment to the work, and when preparation and excitement for the new year and fresh, clean workbooks overpowers our need to keep all of the old stuff. Just to be safe, I do the tearing apart of workbooks when the kiddos are not around. They rarely ask about the old workbooks, and if they do, it is well into the new year, and are pleased when I tell them I saved their "best" or "most important" pages.