Set Up a System to Deal with School Papers

The kids have been back in school for about a month and a half now and, especially if you have preschool or elementary-school-age children, the papers they bring home are starting to accumulate.

If you want to get a handle on this influx, you’ll have to be systematic and ruthless!

Your set-up should include two things:

1. A space in your home for temporary display of schoolwork: the refrigerator, a bulletin board, a changeable art frame, or a piece of clothesline hung in front of a window or wall
2. One art portfolio (14”x20” works) for each child and a place to store them (in a closet or tucked behind a piece of furniture works) ​

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Now you're ready to tackle the influx!

• Check the backpacks daily for papers.
• Immediately (Yes, right now!) process school notices: add them to your calendar or to-do list, sign and return them to the backpack, whatever action is needed.
• Toss into the recycling bin any papers that aren't worth saving and aren’t needed for studying (math worksheets, spelling tests, fill-in-the-blank sheets, scribble drawings, etc.). Feel no guilt!
• Display artwork or academic accomplishments (that fantastic essay or well-done test) in your temporary space.
• When the next batch of stuff comes home, stash the old temporary displays in the art portfolios and display the new work. (NOTE: If the old temporary display pieces aren’t really worth keeping, go ahead and recycle them now.)

Check back here in June for ideas about how to process the portfolios at the end of the year.

If you’ve been good all year about weeding out the unnecessary stuff, this will be a quick, simple, and fun (yes, really) process.