What do you do with used/finished curriculum?

[elise1mds]

My state has no requirements for keeping any records. We've gone through a fair bit of material this year and did consume the consumables (I only have one student and so no need to save it for a younger child), so I have a bunch of stuff to get rid of. I remember seeing a thread where some people had a ceremonial bonfire and burned the used books, but I don't know that I can bring myself to burn a book. DS might, but I just don't know that I can. So I'm curious what most of you do.

[hsbaby]

At this point, I still save it....all of it. I don't need it for record keeping, I just struggle throwing out what the kids worked so hard on all year! I'm sure my story will change in a few years when my closet is overflowing with expandable file folders:)

[plain jane]

I keep all of the history work and transfer it into a 4" binder for each child, which I will likely keep until they are grown (and beyond). I take pictures of all the projects they have done and file the pictures with the appropriate SOTW chapter.

 

I don't keep things like science lab sheets, but I do keep their narrations/illustrations that they have done and again, I save/print any pictures of labs, print them and keep them in a science binder. Some lab observations sheets get saved if I have a picture of the lab, but not many.

 

For LA, I get rid of all grammar and spelling work. I save about 1/3-1/2 of the writing. We do IEW and WT so there's a fair amount of stories and longer pieces. I keep mine (and their) favorites or ones that are unique (different genre) than the others. I do not keep their WWE work.

 

Everything else pretty much gets thrown into recycling. We went through 4 packages of regular looseleaf paper this year, along with an absolute TON of photocopies of workbook pages and printouts I had made. I simply can't keep everything. :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: oh. Maybe I misread your question. I send all used consumable materials to the recycle bin. If books are in useable condition and I know I will not use/need them again for future kids I list what I can for sale.

Edited June 1, 2010 by plain jane

[scrapbookbuzz]

I keep alot of it! We use Sonlight which we LOVE and, since we're avid readers, can't bear the thought of getting rid of such quality literature! The only things I've found I can get rid of are those books, etc, that are not necessarily included in the SL Cores we've used, are using, or will use. The rest is extra. HTH!

[Guest]

I give everything that can possibly be used again, from books to leftover science supplies, to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. There are a lot of kids with various disabilities, not just CP, who are homeschooled by their parents and have access to these used materials. Many of them have such steep medical costs, even with insurance -- and many are without these days -- that they use everything, every little thing, I've passed along.

 

I have stacks of things my daughter has made or written, though, dating back some years now that are just pleading to be gone through, and mostly tossed into the recycle bin. I read once that a few things are memories; lots of things are just lots of things. It struck me deeply at the time but I haven't been able to get to sorting yet; it's pretty well at the bottom of my endless, and endlessly growing, To Do list.

[Nestof3]

All workbooks go in the recycling bin the day they are completed. Daily Grams were thrown out last week. :)

[SamuelsMommy]

I keep a binder of all the work he does throughout the year. This is my first year, but my plan is to go through his binder at the end of the year and only keep the best pieces. I do take pictures of everything we do though and put it on my blog so we'll be able to go back and look at the things we've done even if I don't keep them all