Tip of the Day - How to Organize Schoolwork!

Let's see - My daughter is in 5th grade this year and I finally figured out the perfect way to organize her completed school work - DON"T! Year after year I would try to come up with an organizational system to "file" away their completed homework when they brought it home from school. I had files - Artwork, Teacher info, Math, Spelling....you get the picture.
My system was too complex and too time consuming. Since I never had time to "file" - homework would just build up on the counter till I couldn't stand it anymore. Not this year. I decided to implement the "Big Bin" approach.



I told my girls that whenever they had completed homework, art work, or misc. papers - I did NOT want to see it! (Ok - I did want to see them - but I didn't want to be responsible for them!) They were old enough to just come home and plop it into their own bins. This system has worked beautifully! No clutter on the counters (ok - no Homework clutter on the counters) and whenever we need to find additional info on a homework assignment we know right where to go! My only disappointment is that it has taken me 6 years to figure this out!

At the end of the school year - I will go through and sort their papers. I will keep about 10 percent of what you see. I will make a little accordion folder for that year, label it on the outside and stick it in their closets. They can throw it away when they get older but I will feel like I did my job as a mother to keep those special papers!

How do you organize your children's paperwork?

Organization in the New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year! That is over now and perhaps you have been left with a huge mess. Perhaps you started with a huge mess (that is more the place I am in). Over Christmas break - my mother inspired me. She made me go down into that room that I try to avoid at all costs - my craft room. I was so excited when I moved into this house- primarily because I was going to have a designated "Craft Room". It didn't take long to realize that my craft room was reallly my CRAP room (pardon the french).



I took this picture when we were practically done with the room - you can imagine how messy it was to begin with!



This is the finished room (do I hear the choir playing in the background?)



The best part now, is that I know what is on each one of those shelves. You want clothes pins for a craft - I got 'em. You want bandanas for a western day - I got 'em. You want ribbons for a package - I got 'em - and check this out....



This is an organization tip for your craft room. Put all those rolls of ribbon on slacks hangers and hang them in a closet. It allows you to see your supply and lets you easily access it! Make sure you find a hanger with very small rods - or the holes in the ribbons won't fit. I love it!
Thanks mom for helping me turn this Crap room into this great CRAFT room!