School Papers and Projects: Reader Tips for Organizing

School means an onslaught of paperwork, backpacks, projects and lunchboxes. If not prepared, we can be sent into a tailspin.  Here are a few sanity savers:

Home from School…..Where Does All This Stuff Go!?

• Designate a place for backpacks, coats/lunch boxes etc. (Try a mud room, coat closet, back landing, front entrance.)
• Use hooks/shelves that the kids can reach.
• Make it THEIR job to hang up their back packs/coats.

Quick Strategies for Sifting Through the Backpack/Homework Folder!

• Recycle all the papers for things you are not interested in.
• Sign and return items due immediately (keep stash of cash for field trip fees).
• Set aside papers to review with a spouse or child.
• Set aside documents to calendar or review later.
• Set out any unfinished homework for child to finish.

For most of us, the problem is all the things we need to look at later. If we can’t deal with everything right away, we might put it aside for later and then forget. Consider this helpful system that has worked in our household:

I have a board with FOUR clips on it. The clips are labeled as follows:

1. Sign and return
2. Dates to Calendar
3. Papers to review (papers you want to look at more closely later, show your spouse or review with your child)
4. Papers to Save (a great paper you want to showcase for awhile)

This board can be decorative. Try this on a refrigerator or where you will be sure to see it. The goal is to make sure these clips are emptied weekly. This hopefully helps papers from “stacking up.” Use the same clip system for multiple children or have separate ones for each child.

System Ideas For Storing the Important Stuff

(Student handbooks, PTO information, classroom information/rules). I have used two systems that I like for storing information.

A. Box System (A small file box full of file folders according to your needs)

• School info folder (multiple folders if multiple schools)
• Box Top/Campbell Soup labels folder
• PTO information Folder
• Papers to Keep folder (one for each child)
• Other topics pertaining to your family

B. Binder System (my favorite)

I have a binder for each of my boys. I put their name on the outside binding. I have typed all of the School and Classroom information and put this piece of paper on the inside cover of the binder. I include the teacher’s “Classroom Rules,” Tips, Classroom party information, etc. If I decide to save a certain piece of my child’s work, I stick it in the binder.

The “Ahhhh” Stuff to Save for Years Later

• Early handwriting samples
• Journal entries *I LOVE the journal entries!
• Drawings
• A few select worksheets
• Report cards

I don’t keep everything. I try to choose the best. During the year I put these items inside the binder/folder but at the end of the school year I re-evaluate what I have saved and put these papers in a more permanent location.

I hope these tips help ease the extra paperwork that comes into the house when school starts. Remember, the year goes by really fast so try to enjoy it!

Submitted by Springfield Moms reader Amy Peterson.

Additional Reader Tips:

• Thanks to Springfield Moms reader Janet von Behren for these practical ideas on how to better organize your child’s paper onslaught: “Take a 12 month accordion file and re-label it for the subjects/classes your child has,” Janet says. “As the papers come home from school, file them in the proper location. Not only do you have a place for the clutter, the kids will now be able to find homework and quizzes to review from for tests. At the end of each quarter, remove any papers you are sure you are done with and don’t need to hold onto. If you have an extra opening, move the ‘keepers’ to here. At the end of the year you should be left with only those papers/artwork you want to hold onto.” Janet adds: “At our house I expanded on the idea by placing all the files in an empty drawer in a filing cabinet and I placed an in-basket on top of the cabinet. After I am done looking at the school work, I put it into the in-basket. It is up to the children to occasionally go through it and file their own papers.”
• From Lisa Barutcu: “To help you corral all the ‘mail’ coming in from your child’s school, take a two-pocket folder (you can get these at discount and office stores for as little as 20 cents each) and a marker. On one inside pocket write ‘Fill Out and Return’ and mark the other ‘Reference.’ Then file papers as soon as they come in and check the folder as you’re preparing for the following school day to avoid missing any deadlines.”
• Preserve the memories. If you like to save your kids’ artwork and important school papers, date-stamp them on the back so when you take a trip down memory lane, you’ll remember from whence the handprint turkey came. Keep an ordinary office date-stamp and ink pad in an accessible location, and make a habit of marking those keepers as they come home from school or day care in your child’s bag.