Decluttering

With the start of school comes the start of the avalanche of school papers entering our homes.  There are the notices of events going on, the permission slips, homework, worksheets, and all the art work the younger children do.  With so many papers coming in so fast it’s hard to keep the piles from growing out of control.

 

That is, of course, if you don’t have a plan on how to handle all those papers!

Now is the time to set up a system to get control of the incoming avalanche of  papers. It will help the whole school year go smoother.

School Papers Organizing Tips:

1.  Notices, permission slips, etc.: 

Pocket folders work great for these. Make sure each child has a different colored one for easier filing. Every day when your children bring home the papers be sure to mark the date on your calendar for any events or when permissions slips are due. Then file the paper in the appropriate folder.  Instead of separate pocket folders you can use a 3 ring binder with labeled or different colored pocket folders in it.  This might work better if you have several children instead of just one or two.

2.  Current homework:

 Each child should have their own notebook or folders they keep in their backpack.  Usually the teachers will recommend what they want for their class. Check it daily.  Your child will need to clean out this folder periodically or else the current homework could end up lost in the old homework.

3.  Old homework:

This is were it’s harder to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Depending on the grade level there can be a lot of papers that your child never needs to look at again.  If there is a chance they will need it to study for a test then help them set up a folder for each subject.  Most of the time in the younger grades the practice papers can be recycled.  At the end of the school year very little if any needs to be kept.

4.  Art work/stories:

Many of these will be keepers, at least for a short time.  You can hang up the art work, give it to the grandparents, or store it.  Plastic boxes that go under the bed work great for these since many pieces of  art work are larger than the standard piece of paper.  You can also put those short stories they write in this box.

If you still have last year’s papers laying around now is the time to go through them. The article “Decluttering Children’s School Papers” will show you how.

Here are more tips on back to school routines.

“7 Tips for Back to School Evening Routine”

“Back to School Tips”

“Back to School Organizing”

Hope everyone has a great school year!

Janice