What to do with all the paperwork, certificates, workbook pages, stories, and artwork from all the years of homeschooling?

Most kids want to keep everything they have ever written or created. My two girls are also genetically predisposed to becoming hoarders. So what in the world do I do with all that paper? 

The short, straightforward answer is that I make THEM choose. Starting at 4 years old when we began nature journaling, they wanted to keep every piece of art they made, even all they would create in a flash of creative energy on any given Wednesday when they could easily make 15+ pieces of art. 

To help them, each girl was given a box; that we refer to as their “Forever Box”. We picked pretty boxes with an easy-to-close magnetic lid that fits under their beds. But you could use a big tote, a file box, or a cardboard box. Just remember it will be kicking around your house for years and also think about where it will be kept. I wanted them to be in charge of their Forever Boxes, so they needed to be able to reach it easily, but I also didn’t want to be tripping over it for years. 

We told them they could keep anything they want to save in their Forever Box, but they only get this one box for their entire childhood - until they graduate high school. So they would need to learn to be discerning (yes we used this word with them at the age of 4 because we homeschool and know they can learn, and use big words.)  We explained their Forever Box is where they could save artwork, schoolwork, letters, crafts, notes from friends, birthday and Valentine’s Day cards, completion certificates, stories, time capsule letters to themselves, build-a-bear certificates, and their award ribbons. The oldest even wrote to the Tooth Fairy and asked to keep her baby teeth, so they are in a tiny box in her Forever Box along with the teeny-tiny letter the tooth fairy wrote back to her. We do encourage them to put their name and the date or at least the year on the back of their art, but it often doesn’t happen.  These boxes are for their keepsakes, so of course they should be the ones to decide what is meaningful to them to keep. 

My older daughter, on a handful of occasions, has spent whole days looking back through her Forever Box reliving her hand-written stories, her awards, artwork and special memories. She enjoys being nostalgic. A few times she has had to go through her Forever Box and thin it out to make room for new treasures. Meanwhile, my younger daughter has been seen standing in her box to cram more items in. To her, having more of her papers is more important than the condition they are kept. 

What an important life skill to learn for oneself - what is important and meaningful - to you. We felt this was an important skill to learn and practice vs. us telling them what should be important and meaningful to them. There are MANY items I would have tossed, but they can tell me in great detail the thought process or the memory behind what appears to me to be a simple scribble. Other items, I would have kept because maybe I thought it was a good drawing, they don’t have a value for or a memory attached. Sometimes a piece of art might hang up for a while and then head to their Forever Box, and other times it hangs up on display and eventually gets recycled, but it is their call.

I have also gotten a Forever Box that my husband and I share where we keep the special cards and drawings they have made for us over the years. It also holds some (less aesthetically pleasing) artwork or crafts they made and gifted to us. We usually display gifts until a new piece is gifted or sometimes after a few months it gets quietly moved to the Forever Box (or sometimes the trash).  When I got my own Forever Box I thought I might save some of their tossed art or paperwork, but I haven’t. I have learned to honor their feelings about their work. 

So they choose. They decide what is important to them. We also talk about using this same discernment in other areas of their lives - toys, gifts, friendships, and even the activities, co-ops, and classes they choose to do or no longer do. 

We want our girls to know and have confidence in who they are as people. This lesson began when we gave them their Forever Boxes and the independence to choose for themselves what is valuable, important, and meaningful to them.

Written by Amanda Campbell