This is a summer of reducing our household paper weight by about 500 lbs I hope. So far I've emptied 10 binders, several the 3 inch variety, and 2 bankers boxes. The picture above shows the closet that was completely full before starting.
A few years ago I admired an older friends schoolwork keepsakes. She put together scrapbooks with photos and samples of work, but I'm not much of a picture printer, so I just put together books of their work with a few pictures from award ceremonies added in.
The idea of keeping the kids work (pretty much ALL of it) seemed fine until we were out of space. I've got one closet dedicated to the keeping of the work, and last year there was not a spot for their papers, so it became clear a change was needed. Having had our mom's die already, we understand the burden of a lot of stuff to deal with upon our demise. I also recall the lackluster feeling of inheriting random baby/child items that belonged to my husband when we were married. Baby shower keepsakes only matter to the mom-to-be, folks :). It was fun to see the pattern of the plates at the shower for my husband when he was yet to be born, but I really didn't need to. Likewise, those AWANA Cubbie books don't mean anything to the kids years later, nor do the awards...or all their math pages, or CC work. I've finally realized that the learning we're doing matters in the MIND, and we don't need a paper trail to prove anything. I've got test results and kids that can multiply when they are supposed to be able to--end of story!
So, while my girls reduce what is in their room by half, I am working hard at getting rid of all old school work AND teacher resources I'm not using. What is the point of all those old TOOL notes which I never read or refer to?? No point, say I! Be gone notebook pages talking about learning styles!
How about you? Is this a summer to lose weight in the house?
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