throwing out kids schoolwork

wolfehouse

i am 'empty nesting' and going through 20+ years of
x3 kids schoolwork- including old primary maths jotters, english work, projects, art work.

i have taken photos and scanned a lot of the art work, but am feeling a bit emotional as its not the same- the textures and feel of the works aren't the same.

the kids don't want to know but i think would enjoy the stories they wrote as kids. still i don't want them to have to go through this mess later.

anyone else feel like this?
how much do you keep and how much do you just throw away?

shegirl

Thankfully,my house has a lot of built in storage as I don't like throwing any of it away:o

ruby-roo_2

wolfehouse wrote: »

anyone else feel like this?
how much do you keep and how much do you just throw away?

Mine are just at the stage where they are starting to make all this lovely school work and art. Their bedroom walls are covered in their masterpieces . My fridge door is smothered in their achievement certificates etc.

I can only imagine how hard it must be for you to sort through it all and prepare to part with it. You sound like a lovely mum who no doubt helped your kids do their homework and took great pleasure in seeing them achieve and produce all this lovely work. Its part of their childhoods isn't it. Another thing to gradually let go of as they grow up and become independant.

In answer to your question about how much to keep and how much to throw away, my advice is only part with what you are comfy with not having around. It could be stored in labelled boxes and put away in your loft. If your kids decide later on they dont want it, it would take hardly any effort on their part to clear it.

Hermia

My mum gave me all my school work when I left home. She kept a small folder of things she particularly loved for herself. I then went through and just kept the best book from each subject or each stage of school and chucked the rest. Neither of us regret it.

xxdeebeexx

wolfehouse wrote: »

i am 'empty nesting' and going through 20+ years of
x3 kids schoolwork- including old primary maths jotters, english work, projects, art work.

i have taken photos and scanned a lot of the art work, but am feeling a bit emotional as its not the same- the textures and feel of the works aren't the same.

the kids don't want to know but i think would enjoy the stories they wrote as kids. still i don't want them to have to go through this mess later.

anyone else feel like this?
how much do you keep and how much do you just throw away?

My theory is..... once it has gone you can't get it back!
I have saved a sample of each work book from each year unless there is something very interesting.
With pictures if I don't know which child has painted it, and it is not remembered, it goes.

Good luck, don't be too quick to clear the clutter, your children may well enjoy 'going through the mess' later.

dx

mountainofdebt

Well I have to be honest and say that practically all of Junior's school stuff went out.

The only stuff I've kept - and warned the minimialistic OH that if he ever throws it out, he will follow - is the Mother's Day cards that were made in Infants/Junior School.

Spendless

I have very little left from my childhood (and I don't think any old school work) because my parents moved house just as I left Junior school to somewhere with bigger living space but smaller bedrooms and Mum got rid of stuff at that point. It makes the items I do have very precious eg I have a magic Roundabout cookbook for kids that has a Christmas messsage written in it from my Great Grandmother. At the other end of the scale by the time my neice was 8 my SIL had kept every single pair of shoes her daughter had ever worn. I think having a large amount of stuff kept 'dilutes' how special saved items are.

In your case I would say chose an amount eg 1 item for each of the school years concerned and keep them and get rid of the rest

PasturesNew

My parents never kept any of mine.

pollypenny

I have just a little of their work ; DS requested to draw 'flowers on a table' did just that - no vase!

A few years ago I threw all my school stuff out, too. Can't believe I had such neat writing!

busiscoming2

I have kept a few of each of the kids school books or projects and a few pieces of Artwork.

It gets too much to keep everything especially if you think:

3 kids x all the years at playschool, nursery, primary, secondary and the dissertation at uni = LOTS OF STUFF!

dizziblonde

My mum never kept ours - she'd keep paintings and things stuck onto the sliding glass patio doors we had on the living room/hall boundary - mainly to stop people walking into the doors in ignorance, and replace as new stuff came home from school. She kept our old school reports - which came back to bite her on the backside when she started on at me about my effort grades declining at one point, and I found HER old school report and cross-referenced the same age group and pointed out hers had done exactly the same thing!

There are a few bits of my A-level textiles work she liked and got framed which are still up in the house, but not tonnes and tonnes of paintings and what-not.