Thanks everyone who submitted questions for Ask the Organizer! I will be answering them throughout my regular posting schedule. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! Here is this month’s Q and A.
I have all my children’s artwork and schoolwork and am having a hard time parting with it…any ideas on what to save? I have tried the “save 2 a year” thing and can’t quite pare it down to that.
Oh dear, I wouldn’t be able to pare down to two a year either… in fact I save quite a bit and it takes up very little space! I sit my kids down at the end of the year and we pick out our favorites. Then we take pictures of them and let the physical paper go. Once I have enough art saved up for each child I will have a book printed out for them to flip through. How thrilled will they be to see their art published!
Here are a few guidelines to help you wade through the artwork madness…
1. If it was painted by your child, keep it.
2. If it was pre-cut pieces that your child simply glued together, toss it.
3. If your child used his or her imagination only, keep it.
As for the schoolwork, I scan the big reports the older kids do every year and maybe a couple of “great job” papers. For the younger kids, I simply save a coloring and writing sample from the beginning and end of the year to see how they have progressed.
Sometimes the kids might have a hard time with the purging of the papers in the beginning, but taking pictures of the artwork lets them know that all is not lost. This activity will help your child build that “it is good to let go” feeling.
RSS
I take the “toss” pile and divide it among the grandparents and send them an envelope of artwork every few months.
I also scan artwork that fits on my scanner. It accomplishes the same thing in the end. Helps me let go of the physical pieces that’s taking up room in my home.
this is a good one!! funnily enough i was down at my parents house today clearing out some old stuff for a garage sale and found my entire grade 6 art folder (a big poster board sized folder) in the back of my old closet. along with every note/report/test from every class since about grade 5!!! clearly i have some sifting to do
a friend of mine scans all the art work and has one of those iBook things made for her kids…but taking pictures sounds a little less time consuming! great idea! thanks!
Wendy that is a great idea… for those of you that might have a hard time keeping up with sending artwork to relatives, go ahead and pre-address and stamp some envelopes so all you have to do is drop the art in and send them off every so often.
I scanned mine at first but then taking pictures was a lot less time consuming. Pin them up with clothes pins and you can zoom in to lessen the amount of cropping you ave to do.