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keeping worksheets?


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because we are military and I never know what the laws may be where we will move to (not that it matters because they shouldn't be able to ask for anything prior to us moving to that state) I keep it all, I currently have 4 years worth of work for my kids up in my closet. I keep it all in file jackets in bankers boxes in my closet. I have a box for each child. Each box has file jackets for LA, Math, Science and History for each grade level. I used to keep things in binders but the files take up less space and large binders are really expensive.

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I am a minimalist by nature and do NOT keep everything. As the dc do their work, they each have a box that they put the pages they've completed. About once every 3-4 weeks I go through those boxes and keep a sampling of each subject and toss the rest. Here's my system:

 

Math - keep every 10th lesson for ds and every 5th for dd (she only does 1-2 lessons a week)

 

Spelling - toss any worksheets - keep weekly spelling tests

 

WWE - keep all (we don't use the workbooks - so there is one page a week with his narrations, copywork, and dictations)

 

FLL - keep all (as there is only a few lessons a month that we actually do written work, there is not much to keep)

 

Catechism - we do 1 - 1.5 pages of this a week and so far I've been keeping them all - but at the end of the year, I'll probably cut it by half at least.

 

ETC - dd does this 5 days a week and I keep 1-2 pages per lesson (there are about 10 pages in one lesson)

 

Science - take pictures of all projects and toss after about a week - make a collage page at the end of the year to print. If there is a worksheet or written page with anything, we keep it as most of our science is done orally or with experiemnts.

 

History - keep all (this year it is mostly 1 map and 1 colorpage per week - next year there will be a bit more, so I'll revisit keeping it all then)

 

Art - keep all (this year we are doing Drawing with Children, so all there is is one page a week)

 

At the end of the year I make a cover for all the school work for each child with the year, their names, and grade level and bring it to Staples to get sprial bound. After the cover I put a few pages of photos from the year of projects or activities we did, a book list of our read alouds, the handwritten schedule I made during the year to keep track of our weekly tasks, and all the papers I've saved. I try to keep it as thin as possible, so I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to tossing what we don't really need. I just make sure there is a good sampling of work.

 

And granted, I've only had to do this for 3 years now for ds and 1 for ds, but so far it's been a good system and they both enjoy looking through the books from the years past.

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I kept our Saxon sheets so dd could see her progress--but then she got higher up and didn't use worksheets, so I only kept the tests (and the timed tests, since I didn't want to make or use the graph to keep track of scores). At the end of the year, I think I tossed everything.

 

Nothing else was worksheet-oriented for us. I did keep history notebooks, but those were narrations and coloring pages, and maps.

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I don't keep anything.

 

For the most part everything goes into the recycling bucket after it is completed.

 

I do keep copies of stories/papers on the computer, and I keep our weekly lesson plans but everything else I get rid of.

 

I can't see why you would need it more then the end of the year IF you have do to a portfolio. Then you would just keep a few of the best things.

 

I can't imagine if you put them in school any public school being interested in looking at old worksheets.

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I don't keep much. I usually keep a page or two from the beginning, the middle and the end of the workbooks, our history is a big scrapbook like thing where I keep the maps, one of the coloring pages (I have 3 kids, so I rotate whose I keep), pictures of the projects, Science is often lapbooks and projects which I keep some sort of record (usually pictures), and that is about it. When my kids were in PS, i didn't keep many papers either...it is just impossible to do so.

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I keep pretty much everything. I've got a banker's box per year that is stored in the attic. I just don't trust that I won't need it to prove we are doing what we need to.

 

Me, too. I keep absolutely everything. I have binders for current stuff and at the end of each semester, I put everything into big manilla envelopes and label it all. At the end of the year, everything goes into a banker's box and down to the basement. So far, I can get all the work for both kids into one box and I think I can even fit two years' worth, so it doesn't take up too much space. I'm a firm believer in CYA. :D

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I just don't trust that I won't need it to prove we are doing what we need to.

 

To who? When? Why?

 

I have lived/homeschooled in 3 different states, attmitedly pretty easy to homeschool in states, but I can't imagine anyone looking through all of our old worksheets.

 

Not trying to be snarky, just wondering who might want to see all of our old papers??? Is there really a reason for keeping things??? (I'm not talking about a few representative papers or projects or test scores, but boxes of daily work. I wouldn't keep it if they went to PS.)

 

Like I said, I know the states I have homeschooled in have been some of the easiest (Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri),but I follow the laws required and don't fill up my closets because of fear of "what ifs".

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My kids each have a cubby for all artwork and loose worksheets. Every two months, we do portfolios. The kids and I each pick 5-6 pieces of work from the loose art and worksheets as well as the work in the workbooks. I try to pick examples that show their progress. They're allowed to pick whatever they want, though I give them the guidance that it should be something they're proud of. We put everything into a nice presentation portfolio. Then everything else goes into the recycle bin.

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At the end of the year I make a cover for all the school work for each child with the year, their names, and grade level and bring it to Staples to get sprial bound. After the cover I put a few pages of photos from the year of projects or activities we did, a book list of our read alouds, the handwritten schedule I made during the year to keep track of our weekly tasks, and all the papers I've saved. I try to keep it as thin as possible, so I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to tossing what we don't really need. I just make sure there is a good sampling of work.

 

Jessica, I would love to do this (starting the end of this year since they are only in K). I called Staples to find out the cost and it's not expensive at all. I do have a question though...do you include in your spiral binding items that you've 3-hole punched? Most of our work is in loose leaf notebooks and I have the holes punched already.

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Jessica, I would love to do this (starting the end of this year since they are only in K). I called Staples to find out the cost and it's not expensive at all. I do have a question though...do you include in your spiral binding items that you've 3-hole punched? Most of our work is in loose leaf notebooks and I have the holes punched already.

 

I do a similar thing, but save a bit less. I keep it in a clamp binder, you can put punched or unpunched work in there. I have a summary of what was covered each year with a few pictures at the bottom, a few pages of math, a few stories or poems, a few science experiments, and really cool projects. I have a few more pages each year and put it all in one clamp binder so far, when it is full I will put the rest in another. My daughter enjoys looking through it and it is nice to compare year to year.

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Jessica, I would love to do this (starting the end of this year since they are only in K). I called Staples to find out the cost and it's not expensive at all. I do have a question though...do you include in your spiral binding items that you've 3-hole punched? Most of our work is in loose leaf notebooks and I have the holes punched already.

 

 

Sorry I didn't notice this post earlier - yes I include the 3 - hole punched items - it's not that big of a deal. It holds the papers fine.

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Right now, I'm keeping things in binders, but when we're done with a subject, it's going out of the house. I see no need to keep every little worksheet we ever did. If I had to do a portfolio, I'd keep some important stuff for that and throw the rest out.

 

In school, the teachers don't keep every little worksheet, and neither did I when my son was in school. No one is ever going to want to look at them. If there is a question about what he's learned, I'll have some important bits, but most importantly, they can just test him with a standardized test if they really want to know if he's learning what he should. I'm sure he'd have no trouble passing the test for his grade level. :tongue_smilie:

 

I know the laws in my state, so I just don't have to worry about being able to show someone every little thing. If someone showed up at my door wanting to see stuff, I'd be on the phone with my DH, telling him to call a lawyer ASAP. I know my legal rights. I'm following the laws in my state (my state has NO requirements on what to teach and NO requirements for standardized testing). I'm part of a cover school, and I report my progress to the cover school twice a year (not required by law, but I did select this cover school partially because I do want to be held accountable to *someone*... They require these reports so that they know the members of their school are teaching something and not just sitting around all day eating bon bons). This report is just a one page form where I fill out "For math, we completed Math Mammoth 1B and started Math Mammoth 2A. We are on chapter x." Pretty easy.

 

I'm saving narrations and such right now so we can refer back to them later, and also so I can see the progression of skills. But the math worksheet we did when doing sums of 7? Nope. I don't need that. Who would want to see that?

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