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Kids school stuff



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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Nov 20 2019, 11:11 am
Not sure if I should post this here or in chinuch.
What does everyone do with your children's old school stuff? My oldest just started first grade and he gets a whole booklet each week. Until now I've saved certain papers and projects etc but what about weekly parsha booklets?
Thanks
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amother
Mint


 

Post Wed, Nov 20 2019, 11:34 am
For how long do you intend to keep this stuff? They’ll get new parasha sheets next year. I got rid of everything at the end of the school year but saved maybe one outstanding composition or drawing or test paper per child per year.
Don’t kids usually have binders or folders for long term stuff like vocabulary sheets? And by long term I mean for the current school year, not for life. Surely you don’t intend to keep every spelling test and math homework sheet the kid brings home?
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Nov 20 2019, 1:20 pm
amother [ Mint ] wrote:
For how long do you intend to keep this stuff? They’ll get new parasha sheets next year. I got rid of everything at the end of the school year but saved maybe one outstanding composition or drawing or test paper per child per year.
Don’t kids usually have binders or folders for long term stuff like vocabulary sheets? And by long term I mean for the current school year, not for life. Surely you don’t intend to keep every spelling test and math homework sheet the kid brings home?

I'm so not a hoarder and love getting rid of things. I'm just wondering what ppl do. You just throw everything out right at the end of the year? Do your kids put up a fuss? Where do you store it till the end of the year?
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amother
Mint


 

Post Wed, Nov 20 2019, 5:25 pm
My kids don’t object at all. They would cheerfully discard even the papers they need to study for their next quiz, lol! I’m the one who wants to hold on to that great composition, mostly because I feel I should, to show the dc how proud I am. But just the one masterpiece, not every one. And certainly not routine homework papers and tests.

We don’t have an official school papers filing system. As I said, most things go in a binder they carry daily and it all gets trashed or recycled when the school year ends. I set up a folder in my own files for each dc, into which I stash things like honor roll certificates or especially good compositions as well as report cards, diplomas, SAT score reports and similar documents. I purge this from time to time so it doesn’t get too thick with certificates like ״camper of the week” and “middos maidel of the month.” I keep these for a while so dc knows it’s meaningful but not something one keeps forever.

During the school year, ordinary papers like quizzes, homework, compositions, if they don’t need to be in the binder they get thrown out. Well, really recycled because we have municipal recycling. Art projects are displayed for a week or so and then discarded or deconstructed and the materials saved for a future project unless the project is really something special and durable. A painted wooden gragger, yes; a painted paper menorah, no. Handouts that apply to a limited time like parasha sheets and chagim sheets get thrown out respectfully ASAP after the time to which they apply.

You have to be ruthless or the papers will take over your life. These things are not meant to be permanent, and don’t let the teachers or your dc tell you otherwise. Besides, if you think that if you save them your dc will want them when they grow up, think again.
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zaq




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 20 2019, 5:55 pm
This is the right forum. You’re looking for an organizing expert, not a chinuch expert. You happen to be trying to organize school papers, but you could as easily be asking about toys, clothing, recipes or financial papers.

Give each kid one accordion file for all loose papers during the school year. One with dividers for different subjects is ok for a much older kid, maybe, but for a lower-grader just one section is fine. Keep things simple. Purge at intervals—weekly, monthly, before vacations, whatever. Very little really needs to be saved that long unless the teacher specifically says it will be needed later.

Don’t first graders usually paste most things in a composition book, and isn’t it understood that any loose papers don’t need to be kept? I would hope so—these are, after all, five-to-six-year-olds. They’re not corporate lawyers yet.
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