throwing out kids schoolwork

thegirlintheattic

I've thrown out most of my old stuff, except for some old exercise books from my subject in secondary - used to steal ideas and some creative writing I did.

I've still got a big bookcase I made in DT though.

There_Goes_Trouble

I have kept all my old school stuff, my Mum gave it to me a couple of years ago. Actually I've kept tonnes of old stuff, I hate throwing anything away and find it really hard to let go of 'stuff'.

However, being currently in the process of helping a friend clear out a recently deceased elderly relative's flat, I'm beginning to re-think and feel I should have a proper clear out so that if anything happens to me, my family won't have to go through my stuff in the way my friend and I are going through her relative's stuff now.

I'm only thinking about it mind, haven't actually done it.

And lots of my 'stuff' is actually utter rubbish...

rachbc

My daughter is in reception and I've already chucked most of her stuff out. Fav pictures get frames and put on the dining room gallery - these are changed as new stuff comes along. I see no point in keeping stuff unlooked at in drawers for years only to then chuck it out 30 years later.

System

When my kids left school they went through a ritual of getting rid of the school books along with the uniform.

zippybungle

well I feel like a really mean mummy now as I throw nearly everything out (well, I put it in the recycling bin anyway).

The only things I save are the kids home made Xmas cards and Xmas decorations.

My Daughter is in Nursery and comes home with at least 10 pictures/paintings everyday, I always make a fuss about how good they are and often me or Daddy take them to work to put on display so that everyone can see them .

Zippy x

aliasojo

My eldest is 29 now and I'd been keeping stuff since he was at nursery.

When we had to move, I got ruthless and kept a small selection of drawings and essays for each of the 'kids' and everything else got chucked.

It was actually a relief to get rid of half of it tbh.

lostinrates

Dh and i had to sort out his and his siblings' saved art and school work. It took weeks, was highly stressful, no one wanted their stuff, so ended up just being a pain.

I would pick a key piece per child per acadmic stage or year and then sort into boxes for each child to have and make decions about themselves as soon as you have finished.

carefullycautious

PasturesNew wrote: »

My parents never kept any of mine.

I havent kept anything either. Couldnt bear the mess of storing it all. plus havent got the room.

msb5262

Hi OP,
I'd echo what others have said - choose some bits to keep and throw the rest out.
Alternatively if you can't bear to do that, you could go through everything and physically cut out the pictures/pages/sections you want and store those...either in a box or in an album/scrapbook.
You certainly won't need to store the whole of every exercise book so get rid of at least part of them, even if it's just cutting out empty pages. If you reduce what you're keeping at least a little, it may mean you don't need to do it again in future.

HTH

MsB

ciderwithrosie_2

I would agree with the storage box idea and just keep a selection of stuff for each child/adult. Things that are good to keep are - reports, certificates (for important things, not just for having a good week), photos (with names as it's amazing how quickly you forget some people!), stories, poems and artwork (that may have won a prize or something).

We've spent many a happy hour laughing over each other's school reports and news books and my carefully preserved 36 year old history exercise book was an ideal prop for a poster I did for our school reunion last year.