Kindergarten was easy. On Friday they brought papers home and I put them in the file. DONE...

1st grade is going to be more complicated. There will be homework, permission slips, more things that need to be returned to school, and stuff I haven't thought about. I need to come up with a great way to have all of this stuff organized because I can't deal with chaos.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Dawn

Mom to Samantha, Jeremy, Paige and Christian

Born 12/12/03 @ 31w 2d



http://lovinglifewithquads.blogspot.com

As soon as they come home from school I go through their backpacks. Sign papers that need to go back to school and back in the backpack they go. I look over and throw away what needs to be tossed. I have a box for special papers that I keep. The older they get the less stuff I save. I mostly save their journals and really great artwork. Everything else gets tossed. I just don't have room for all that crap! lol

DD always asks me why I put her school papers in the recycling bin. I tell her that I just can not save every single paper she does in school. My house is just not big enough sorry! lol


Terri~
12/21/01 at 33 weeks

Honestly I don't even try. I look through it and it goes either back into the folder (signed and with check attached if needed), with them to the table (if it's homework), or into the trash, unless it's a priceless piece of art in which case I deal with it accordingly. If I don't do it right then it won't get done and there WILL be chaos!

Starting in K they were put in charge of their own papers and work. They would stand in line after school while I went through their folders one at a time and coached them on what to do next. I keep very little and if I can scan what I want to keep, so much the better! The bonus is that they learn to be responsible for their things, which is a slow process but better than their singleton brothers were at this age.

Kari S.

Mom to BBB 21, 18, 14
BBG 9/25/01

I hate clutter, but allow five clips in "their color" on the side of the fridge. (They are super strong people-shaped clips I got at a teacher store.) I have stacking drawers for save-able papers, one drawer for each kid. I also keep a clipboard. I keep the school calendar on the clipboard with all my kids' events highlighted, and I add any other events like scouts and sports to the calendar. (I also have a copy of the lunch menu and questionaires I have the kids' teachers fill out at the beginning of the year and that sort of thing on the clipboard.)

The kids bring home their homework for the week on MOnday and that goes on their clip. Each day I go through their backpacks and chuck the junk, put the good stuff in their drawer, sign anything that has to go right back and send it right back. Reading sheets and that sort of thing that are on-going go on their clip.
HTH.
Ali
Jack, almost - 9 years
Abraham, Dylan and Zane - almost 7 years
and now . . . . Tobias, one year old!

I have a filing cabinet with three drawers each child has their own. I have a file per child for art, writing, and then math. I keep the important, cute things and then at the end of the year I transfer the files to a Rubbermaid container for them to have when they are older. I do not keep everything, just the things that mean something.

as far as notes, calendars, events at school I have an information center in the kitchen where I post everything, when I get important dates, things my husband and I both need to be at I place it on our online calendar so it will alert both of us a week in advance.

BBG Triplets Born March 31, 2004
31 weeks three days
Douglas
Kalie and
John Michael

Just thought it would be good to bump this up again as school's about to start again. Over the summer I've finally gotten our old system, which was a mess, cleaned out.
I have given each child a plastic drawer (about 16x20x9 inches) where they can keep papers they want. My strategy is to let them see how full it gets and learn to pare down what they keep. Not sure if it will work or not. I fear the tears to come as the drawers are getting pretty full.
I do agree that our house isn't big enough to keep everything but I'm just not sure what is safe to throw out. I did tell them the other day that any papers left on the floor were destined to be pitched. I guess I just never knew the impact 6 yr olds could have on the environment. (now that they've found my printer, it's always out of paper---UGH!)
I do need to find a place for me to keep the really important papers. That will be esier once I get my office moved out of DS's new room.

Andi
g/b/g
triplets
start 1st grade in 11 days!

> I guess I just never knew the impact
>6 yr olds could have on the environment. (now that they've
>found my printer, it's always out of paper---UGH!)
>

LOL, this struck me....me too!!! If they aren't drawing on it they are making airplanes out of it! They found a paper airplane site online and if I would let them, would go through a ream a day!

They do use scrap paper too but they have to have "contests" all the time and there is not enough scrap paper in our house for that!

Kari S.

Mom to BBB 21, 18, 14
BBG 9/25/01