Somehow the Summer school holidays are over again. It’s now time to start to get back into a routine and tidy up loose ends from 2017. Did you get a chance to sort through the kids’ art/school work they bought home at the end of last year? If not here are 3 easy steps to help you get the job done.
1. Sorting
Grab the pile of work and starting with one piece of paper at a time roughly sort the work into 4 piles:
1. Recycling – Pull out the scraps of paper and bits of rubbish amongst the work an put to one side in a recycling pile.
2. Definitely keep – certificates or beautiful artwork or enlightening stories can be put straight in the definitely keep pile. School reports and school photos can be added to this pile too.
3. Tell me more about it – This is a pile of work that you don’t think you need to keep, but would be nice to make a video to keep as a snapshot of the child and the work.
4. Unsure – this pile may include doodlng (like the cool stripy cat in the pic above) or pieces of work from a workbook that catches your eye.
Once you have sorted the work into piles, discard the recycling.
2. Final decision as to what to keep
Get your child involved so they can have the final say about what they 
keep. Have a chat to your child to set up some boundaries about how much they can keep. Use this exercise to help your child to learn to let go of things. Still having troubles letting go try some of the techniques in this blog – Letting go of kids’ keepsakes.
3. Archive
Keep only what will fit in a small folder or tub. We only keep what will fit in this folder in the pic on the right.
Take a photo of each bit of work that you have decided you are not going to keep. File these photos in an electronic folder with the date and description.
As for artwork and sculptures in the form of cardboard box construction or larger items or work, I highly recommend the video technique. Our oldest Son had a large box construction collection just before he started school. We convinced him to let them go after we took a video of him describing what he made. It is priceless to look back on now 7 years later as he’s starting High School.
If you are going to keep some of these larger items, be clear to your child how long you will keep the item. I do love to display my kids work in my home and you will find it dotted around everywhere with my other decorative items.
Hopefully by sorting the items, setting some boundaries and using various techniques to let things go you can say goodbye to the majority of what your kids bring home and enjoy or preserve the ones you decide to keep.
Still need help doing this job? You can contact me here or check out my services here.