I’m sure that you are well aware, if you have kiddos that are in school or have ever gone to school, the crazy amount of projects, graded homework, and art is brought home everyday!! It’s a lot and the problem is it can add up very quickly!

I wanted to share with you how I organize with my ‘yearbook’ system. It’s really nothing fancy but it works for me……and maybe it will work for you too 🙂

So let’s start with the day-to-day stuff that comes home. I make sure to go through backpacks and folders for work brought home and sort it that evening. Most graded homework is put in the recycling bin unless it is something special I want to hang on to. For instance, a perfect spelling test or a paper with their name written really well (I do save random assignments throughout the year to document how their handwriting has improved…….I have little ones so that’s important:)

Other things I keep:most creative writing art workbook reports projects

Everything that I keep is dated and sometimes an explanation for why I’m keeping it (it made me laugh/cry or made me proud OR it was something my child was proud of)

I bought these journaling stamps for this purpose! You, of course, don’t need to run out and purchase a new set of stamps. For me, it made it more fun to record my memory!

Once I’ve dated what I’m keeping (and I don’t always write a paragraph on each paper:)it goes here:

I dedicate an entire drawer to schoolwork beacause like I said it does add up quickly and I want it out of sight until I’m ready to go through it.

At the end of the school year after every last item is collected I go through my drawer and I sort again. I sometimes find that I in fact kept 30 spelling tests when really I could probably do with 4 or 5! There’s always an overload of artwork when their little so if it’s not something that really strikes a chord with me or it’s something that they worked really hard on I get rid of it!

Oftentimes I involve my kids in this process and ask them of the items I’m willing to get rid of which ones would they like to hold on to. That way it’s special for them too!

Now onto the year end folder! I found the largest 3-ring binder I could and embellished the front (this one is back in my scrapbook days)

and labeled the spine with the school years it contains

I organize each school year with a cover sheet I created. You are more than welcome to use it if yu think it will help you 🙂 Simply right click, click ‘save picture as’, save to your hardrive and print!

I like to include a photo of their first day of school! Any additional photos I’ve taken throughout the year I put into photo pockets right behind the cover page.

And there you have it…….a organized ‘yearbook’ school folder!

I hope that this helps in your attempt to tackle that school work pile and easily organize them so they can actually be enjoyed!

Have fun with it! Good Luck!