Are you a paper tosser or a paper keeper?

[JoyfulMama]

I often read of families who toss completed work either at the end of the day or the end of the week.

Do your children find it frustrating to create/complete work that is simply tossed in the garbage/recycling?

 

We don't do too many workbooks, and maybe that is the difference. Much of our paper trail includes pages created that day, not necessarily pages completed. I'm not talking fancy work like lapbooks, but written paragraphs, summaries, dictation, copywork, etc. We do a pre-printed math curriculum, and have been using a white board more. (Which does create less paper.) We keep the math pages. I keep a record of math drill times on those pages. My children (and I) like to be able to see what they did last month for comparison of growth, or to review a previous concept or topic.

At the end of the year I pick and choose a sampling to create their portfolio for the year. The rest then is tossed, once we are "done" with it. Hmm... maybe that's it? Do you teach your children that they are "done" with it earlier?

[ChristusG]

My 6 year old DD would have a heart attack if I tossed all of her papers that day. I keep everything that we do for the whole year. I have small file box that I label a seperate folder for each subject. When DD finishes something, I file it in there. I keep everything for a few reasons. One is just in case the county ever asks for a portfolio. Two is so that DD doesn't freak out LOL. And three is so that I can go back over her progress if I want to. At the end of the year I choose what I want to put into a manilla envelope and that's what I save.

[elegantlion]

My ds almost had a fit because I wanted to toss his math workbook from two years ago. I do keep papers for a year at least, in case we need to reference them. Plus I like him to see the progression of his work, nice for me too.

 

My goal is to contain most of his school papers to one Rubbermaid container (not a huge one either). So far we have grades 1-6 in there. I may do a separate one for high school, never knowing what we might need when it comes time to apply to college.

[BikeBookBread]

I want to be a tosser, but I'm a keeper. Not sure what that says about me! I get so frustrated from all the paper that I inevitably go through a paper toss binge about twice a year, probably tossing what I SHOULDN'T.

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

I have every single piece of work ever completed. :glare:

 

I have several file/folder boxes and everything is indexed and filed away by subject, grade, and year.

 

I figure, if I'm going to be a pack-rat, I had better at least be a well-organized one. :lol:

 

I guess the short answer is . . . I'm a paper keeper!

[NanceXToo]

I cannot even FATHOM throwing away a paper a child just worked on that day- how frustrating and worthless that must seem to a child, to spend time working on something that is just going into the garbage immediately after! People really do that?!

 

I tend to keep most of my kid's things. If I wasn't going to keep certain things, I would wait until the end of the school year and then decide which things I wanted to keep and which things I didn't think any of us would care if we held onto it or not- but I'd never throw away anything that I thought a child would miss or be upset about or that showed their creativity and so on. (like would we need to keep math worksheets forever? No. But would I keep reports and creative writing pieces and so on? Yep)!

[Parrothead]

I have every single piece of work ever completed. :glare:

 

I have several file/folder boxes and everything is indexed and filed away by subject, grade, and year.

 

I figure, if I'm going to be a pack-rat, I had better at least be a well-organized one. :lol:

 

I guess the short answer is . . . I'm a paper keeper!

I'm a keeper. So many states have a "keep until school is finished" policy that I hesitate to throw anything away. If we live in one state for years 2 and 3, move to another for 4 and 5, then back to the first, I might eventually come up against some hard nose that wants papers from year 2 and 3. It is just easier to toss it in a bankers box and be done with it.

 

At the end of dd's homeschool career, I'll compile a book for her with things from K-12.

 

That said, I throw away almost every other kind of paper that comes into the house.

[JudoMom]

I cannot even FATHOM throwing away a paper a child just worked on that day- how frustrating and worthless that must seem to a child, to spend time working on something that is just going into the garbage immediately after! People really do that?!

 

I tend to keep most of my kid's things. If I wasn't going to keep certain things, I would wait until the end of the school year and then decide which things I wanted to keep and which things I didn't think any of us would care if we held onto it or not- but I'd never throw away anything that I thought a child would miss or be upset about or that showed their creativity and so on. (like would we need to keep math worksheets forever? No. But would I keep reports and creative writing pieces and so on? Yep)!

 

:lol:

 

Yep. And some of those children happily rip the paper out of their binder and throw it away. One of mine tries to joyfully pitch his work before I check it.

 

I do keep a good sampling of work, though. All writing assignments, mapwork, lab papers, penmanship samples, etc. But Daily Grams? Gone. Math fact sheets? See ya. Phonics worksheets? Buh-bye.

[DarlaS]

I'm a tosser--but not immediately! Good grief, does anyone really toss things that fast?

 

At the end of a year, I toss about 80% of completed work, saving only tests, longer papers and maybe (for a younger child) the most recently completed math workbook.

 

I'm planning to start keeping more though as ds 13 heads into the high school years. He does a good bit of his work (writing, literature and history papers) on the computer, so I'll just burn a cd. Grammar is a workbook (2+ years worth in one) and his math and science are in composition notebooks. Tossing parts of that would actually be difficult.

[DarlaS]

 

I do keep a good sampling of work, though. All writing assignments, mapwork, lab papers, penmanship samples, etc. But Daily Grams? Gone. Math fact sheets? See ya. Phonics worksheets? Buh-bye.

 

Oh, well I can see that.

 

DD loves to toss her completed drill type work. :w00t:

 

DS gets a little miffed if I even suggest it. :tongue_smilie: (I hide it and toss it later. ;))

[LG Gone Wild]

Ummm, we file paperwork but I do toss artwork. I am not that sentimental and yes, dd finds it frustrating. But we can't keep scraps and scraps of doodles.

 

I hate having lingering paper. I might try saving more stuff but I don't see the point.

[JenneinCA]

Yep. Some people really do that.

 

Do I need to keep another copy of the facts drill sheet for math? NO!

Do I need to keep the paper that the spelling words were recopied on? NO!

Do I need to keep handwriting practice? NO!

Do I need to keep the art project that they rushed through so they could go outside and play? NO! (I take pictures of the art projects.)

[elegantlion]

I have every single piece of work ever completed. :glare:

 

I have several file/folder boxes and everything is indexed and filed away by subject, grade, and year.

 

I figure, if I'm going to be a pack-rat, I had better at least be a well-organized one. :lol:

 

I guess the short answer is . . . I'm a paper keeper!

 

:cheers2::cheers2: I bet all your flip-flops are organized too. :grin:

[nukeswife]

I have every single piece of work ever completed. :glare:

 

I have several file/folder boxes and everything is indexed and filed away by subject, grade, and year.

 

I figure, if I'm going to be a pack-rat, I had better at least be a well-organized one. :lol:

 

I guess the short answer is . . . I'm a paper keeper!

 

:iagree:

This is me!

[dm379]

My kids love it when I finally say "okay, recycling" after checking their work. They happily throw it away. I only trash vocabulary, handwriting practice unless it's something unusual, our phonics supplement since it's done out loud anyway and spelling. Everything else stays in binders until it gets too full and then we go through and they choose what to trash. Not sure what we'll do at the end of the year. Art stays on the fridge for one week and then gets trashed. If it's something they want to keep it can go on their bedroom walls.

 

ETA: they actually had a blast ripping up their grammar books last week. The way GWG is designed was annoying them so they would rather rip the page out and trash it when they're done.

Edited September 28, 2010 by dawn8500
forgot a thought

[justamouse]

I'm a keeper-until I had to move it all, then I got totally overhwlemed and just packed it all. I decided I was going to tackle it in the new house--which I did! as opposed to letting it sit in the attic for 40 years.

 

I saw this really cute idea online-about making a binder for your kids for that year. So now I take out the cute stuff, the stuff they worked so hard on, the pictures, and I put it all into one binder-like a scrap album of schoolwork. Their syllabus, lists of books, then I add a few actual pictures of them, awards, articles, whathave you and they get their stuff to look through when they get older.

[Elizabeth in WA]

I'm a keeper. I was just looking at how full my kids notebooks are already this year and trying to formulate a plan for how to manage that. Somehow we did not generate as much paper last year. New notebooks for the next six week planning period (we are in week 5 now) or move things out to files or subject notebooks. Hmmm.

[Dmmetler]

I keep a binder while we're on that level, and when we complete a level (or the binder is full), we go through and pick a few special things to keep. Same with the math workbooks-when we're done, we save the stuff that is special/important (usually the reviews, because that's what I use as tests), and toss the rest.

 

DD often adds things she's done independently to the binder that fit a subject, which often are what we end up keeping, but she also seems to enjoy going through those copywork pages, dictations, narrations, and so on and seeing what she's done. She was laughing at her copywork from even a couple of months ago earlier today.

[ThelmaLou]

I'm addicted to tossing. And not just papers. I hate clutter. I wish I had time to hate it even more. I can't purge my house fast enough of things that I no longer need.

 

With 9 of us under one roof, I can't afford to keep things around that are no longer useful. I used to save all of my kids' work, but then I started tossing their daily work and saving only tests and papers. If it's a 3 dimensional project, I take a picture. I have never once regretted getting rid of their daily work. When they make it to college, all of their previous tests will get tossed, too.

 

I absolutely love dragging trashbags out of my house. I'm addicted, I'll admit it. But it's so completely freeing. I value the space, the neatness, the ease of cleaning, and the lack of mental burden that all go along with a minimalist home. Love it.

[CAMom]

Tosser. Definitely! I just threw away a huge pile of paper!:D

 

Once they are in high school, I keep an accordian file (one for each year) with one subject per space and keep things like essays, lab reports, etc. to develop a portfolio for them.

[HappyCrazyMama]

I'm a tosser--but not immediately! Good grief, does anyone really toss things that fast?

 

At the end of a year, I toss about 80% of completed work, saving only tests, longer papers and maybe (for a younger child) the most recently completed math workbook.

 

I'm planning to start keeping more though as ds 13 heads into the high school years. He does a good bit of his work (writing, literature and history papers) on the computer, so I'll just burn a cd. Grammar is a workbook (2+ years worth in one) and his math and science are in composition notebooks. Tossing parts of that would actually be difficult.

 

That would be me. :001_huh: When I am cleaning up school in the afternoon no one even asks me where the math page went. :tongue_smilie: I keep art for a while and sometimes a MFW K page will go on the fridge for a couple days but yes I do toss a lot the same day it was completed. Some types are work are kept for the duration of the school year in their yearly binder, for example, maps and writing assignments.

 

Every year my dc have a manila envelope of things I kept for record keeping purposes; the covers of the workbooks and worktexts, most texts, and their planner pages. I keep their completed writing assignments in a binder that is K through 12, it's fun to look through.

[StaceyinLA]

I keep a sampling each year and make a bound portfolio of that year's work along with copies of the tables of contents of texts/books used. The rest goes to the trash! I am SO not a hoarder!!

[Peela]

I am a tosser but I am sensitive to my kids' feelings too! I wait till the emotional attachment has gone.

I am in a shedding phase right now and am getting rid of a lot of things. Many books, many clothes, and much paperwork. However, I am keeping certain writing assignments and history assignments and their gratitude diaries- I would like to make a lovely portfolio of it all (which is I guess a scrap book thing, not that I am into scrapbooking) so that they end up with ONE lovely momento of their homeschooling years, with samples of their work from over the years.

Other than that, all the drills and not so interesting stuff gets tossed once or twice a year. Definitely not weekly or daily.

[mcconnellboys]

I have room to be a paper keeper, and so I am. But now that my older son is in college, I will begin culling out his things and tossing those that I no longer have any reason whatsoever to keep. I kept their work from homeschool in case I ever needed to produce it for any reason and also to help me when I was ready to prepare a high school transcript. I also didn't know what sorts of things colleges might ask for during the admissions process.