Catching Up - Sorting Kids Schoolwork

This month (July) was a catch-up month. I figured it was a good time to tidy up around the house and actually tackle those items that I walk past daily and they shout out to me "give me a home" or "file me" or "sort through me". I'm sure you have those types of items in your homes too.


The thing is, these tasks never take as long as I imagine they will and the results are great. So why do we put off these little tasks and continue to walk past them?

I had a large stack of papers and projects, mostly from the second half of school. It took me only 15 minutes to sort through all the papers for two children. I sorted them into keep and toss piles. That alone cut the pile in at least half.

Second, I took photos of the craft projects from my daughter's preschool and put them in a clear plastic box just for her school work. This took me about 20 min.

A bit later I went through my son's pile of crafts and papers. It seems that once they hit Kindergarten, there is a lot less crafty stuff and a lot more workbook pages that are much more easy to part with. His pile took about 15 min. to photograph. And then I added his "keepers" into his clear plastic storage box.

His box is pretty full now so next school year we'll have to be a bit more strict and review what we really need to keep from the past two years. It's hard to let evidence of their growth go, but photos help a great deal with this issue and saves a ton of space.

This entire task took me under an hour. And since I did it in three small chunks, it was completely painless (minus the heartstrings being pulled when seeing evidence of just how sweet my kids are).

Now to tackle a few other items around the house begging to be given some attention. And I'm hopeful that they won't really take that long once I just do them. I'm sure I've spent more time stressing about them than it will take to handle them once and for all.

Good luck with your small catching up projects!