(X-post) Old homeschool work--what to do with it all?

[StaceyL in Canada]

This will be my 15th year of hs'ing, and I'm down to sons #3 and 4 (#1 is off to college soon and #2 will be doing grade 12 at a Christian school as the oldest did.) What to do with all the flotsam and jetsam of years of hs'ing four boys? No need to keep various consumable workbooks (spelling, vocab, etc) but what about all those binders full of their early writing efforts and later essays? (I do have some on computer, once they began to type, but far from all.) How about the assorted computer downloads and print-outs we used to enhance our book studies? What about the pages and pages of looseleaf with all their answers to math or science questions? What about the endless array of full to bursting index card boxes we used for vocab cards in various subject areas? Should I just toss all of this, in the realization that they will likely never look over this material again (if they ever did)? Just knowing that all of this mass of STUFF is lurking behind closed cupboard doors , in drawers, and in bins and binders is enough to drive me around the bend!

[Grace is Sufficient]

My summer project has been organizing it all...

Maybe I'm crazy but I know at least one of mine has enjoyed looking at stuff from 'the early years,' and the other may as well someday, so I bought cardboard boxes used for filing and semi-accurately sorted their stuff by grade and kid. I just (more or less) finished a couple of nights ago.

Of course, giant trashbags would always be another option, but that stuff probably represents more of my work than theirs, given all the planning and praying that went into it, and I just couldn't bear to toss it all.

Blessings...

[StaceyL in Canada]

Yes--it's been my "summer project" ever since we moved into this house 9 years ago, lugging along the previous several years' worth of hs stuff! Unfortunately, the actual accomplishing of the project has yet to come to pass. I just hope I can deal with it all before we have to move again.

[kate in seattle]

i kept practically nothing from the elementary years. i have nothing from my elementary years, and frankly, at 53, have no desire for it. I may have a few of lynne's writing projects.

I have more from molly and abigail, but i threw out a lot and let them look at what I had and let them pick what to keep. Eventually I will take it to an office supply/printing place and have it comb-bound.

Lynne was very organized - she has kept all her book notes, book 'reflections' and any essays she wrote. She also kept her history 'newsletters'. I have even less for Alex.

I remember the day I threw out all my notes from college. I very, very rarely regret it.

I have friends with notebooks and notebooks of stuff their kids have produced, so there are those on that side - but they tend to do it within six months or so of a school year finishing.

Out, our - you will feel so liberated - I am sure!

However, do not talk to me about my bookshelves . . .

[StaceyL in Canada]

At this rate, I probably won't get around to clearing out this stuff until I absolutely have to (ie, moving). I did reply to your pm, by the way--hope you got my message. This summer has been impossible so far, as it has been entirely taken up with major house/ basement repairs due to water damage, etc. It feels as thought he summer hasn't even happened yet, partly because the weather here has been unseasonably cool as well. I almost wish it would just be September already, except that I'm not prepared. : ~

[CynthiaOK]

That was my first summer break project this year. My oldest finished his first year at college and I'm now in the position of having all high schoolers (well, the 8th grader is really not high school but working there). So...I went through about 10 boxes of "stuff" and culled the "important" papers.

For the oldest, I kept selected items from all his years of school - handwriting pages, first book reports, art work, then some of his lab reports from high school, essays, tests, etc. I put it all in one box (the type that printer paper comes in). There was still some extra room...I'll let him add whatever he wants from college.

For the other 3, I did the same with all their papers from Pre-highschool. For workbooks, I would rip out the pages I wanted to keep. But I'm keeping all their high school work until they graduate. So they each have a box with the earlier years school work in it, and another box for high school work. Too many boxes, but it does keep it all organized and I can just toss stuff in and worry about it later :-)

Thankfully we were still cleaning up branches from the ice storm of over a year ago and had a large burn pile going in the pasture. I burned all the other papers along with the branches. It was kind of sad to see it go, but now that I've cleared out a huge area of the storage closets I'm happy. Now I have a place to store all the boy scout camping stuff!