Organizing School Papers~the Preliminaries

Why, oh why, have I waited so long to really start doing this right? We're getting ready to start our 5th year of homeschooling (if you count preschool~and I do) and I've had school papers, etc. in boxes, folders and book bags all over my house. It's been driving me crazy, but it seems like the past few years have been so hectic (what with all of our moving!) that I haven't taken the time to stop and organize. And the thought of it all just makes me cringe.

And now that we are getting ready for another move I've decided that some preliminary organizing MUST be done first.

First I got out these cute and appropriately named *keepsake portfolios* that my mom had personalized for the kids (a few years ago). I've blurred out their names, but you get the idea. They've been basically empty this whole time. Every time my mom asks about them I just mumble something lame about working on getting their stuff together. Pitiful, just pitiful. But this week I was determined!

Out came one of my favorite tools~our label maker! What a handy little gadget! I made labels for K4 through 2nd grade....then I ran out of tape:) But that's okay because my oldest has just completed 2nd grade and that's as far as I needed for now.

Finally came the gathering and sorting. This seemed to go on all. day. long. In fact, it did go on all day long. And some more of the next day. But I knocked it all out~kicking myself the whole time for not doing this (actually very simple) task sooner. Well, it would be simple if done on a regular basis and not every 5 years.

Like I said, these are the preliminaries. Now that I have their papers, art, play bills, programs, etc., all filed into the correct year I can properly begin their school scrapbooks.

But that's a job for another day.

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