Curating School Papers
& Artwork
|by Sandy Kreps
School is back in session. With most schools,
that means plenty of paper: spelling tests,
math homework, artwork, notes and reminders. That paper pile can quickly become an
avalanche if you don’t have a plan for dealing
with it.
You can’t keep everything your child makes.
There’s simply too much of it. Not only do you
not want to store it yourself, chances are good
that grown-up Junior won’t care about every
scribble he made when he was 5.
Decide in advance what the criteria will be for
choosing the keepers. Think of yourself as a
curator – you want to choose the best, the favorites, the pieces that really show your child’s
development at each stage.
sort as they come in
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It is much easier to deal with artwork and
school papers as they come in than to sort
through later. Start by preparing a landing
spot for all those papers. A simple set of files
in a file box on the counter can catch papers as
they come in. Create a folder for each child’s
work where you can slip pages each day. At the
end of the week, sort through and decide what
to keep and what to toss.
curate your collection
Each week, and again at the end of the school
year, go through your child’s artwork and
homework and choose the special ones, such
as that A- math test he studied so hard for, her
first spelling test, or that drawing he created
for the school art contest. For schoolwork, you
can set up a binder or use a file box for longterm storage. Use one box or binder for each
child, and be sure to label each piece with the
child’s name and the date it was created. Keep
only what you need to document your child’s
handwriting, personality, and development for
each grade level.
Curating the artwork is a bit different. For
larger pieces or 3D art, take a photo of your
child holding the piece – this gives you not