End of the School Year

Last Day of School

When school is finished, the kids bring home all their school work and artwork. What should you do with it?

Here is a list of things to keep:

Report Cards. You must show proof of education when you move. As adults if your children live in another province (or country), they must show proof of education in one language (either English or French) if they want to send their children to school in that same language.
Photos. It’s a good idea to keep a photo of your child for each of his school years. Also, keep the class photo. Help your child write the names of all his friends on the back of the class photo.
Certificates, awards for school work and extra-curricular activities (swimming lessons, piano lessons, etc.). Your child can look back on this and be proud of his accomplishments.
Examples of school work of which your child is proud: journal, tests that received high marks, projects on which your child worked extremely hard. If the projects or artwork is very large or too delicate to store for a long period of time, take a picture of it and note the details on the back of the photo.

School Supplies

Sort through the school supplies that your children come home from school. Get rid of anything that is broken or unusable. Keep those items that your children may be able to use the following year such as rulers, scissors, pencil cases or duo-tangs. Put everything in a bin labelled “School Supplies”. In August when you receive the list of required materials, “shop” in your own bin before heading to the store.

Creating Limits

The amount of clothing your children have should be limited by the amount of space they have in their drawers and closets. If you notice that the drawers are too full to close, take a few minutes and assess what’s in the drawers. Donate clothing that is too small or seldom worn. If you think that the winter clothing will fit them next year, keep it somewhere else such as a shelf in the top of a closet.

Teach your children to tell you when their drawers are too full and to put clothes they’ve outgrown in a basket in the closet or the laundry room. When the box is full, it’s time to make a trip to the donation bin.

Organize an activity for those who organize

Children don’t want to be cleaning their rooms all summer. Organize and activity for them as a treat for tidying up. For example if they organize their rooms in the morning, take a trip to the community pool in the afternoon. Remember, your house doesn’t have to be perfect, just functional. Enjoy the nice weather!

7 Responses to “End of the School Year”

1
On June 16th, 2009 at 5:45 pm Julie said:
These are great tips Jacki! “Your house doesn’t have to be perfect, just functional” are words to live by.

We did a big “clean out” last summer of the basement. One of our focuses was dealing with all the stuffed toys. One at a time, the kids got to gather all of their stuffed animals and put them into a pile on the couch. We took photos of each child surrounded by their “stuffies” before tackling the piles.

We did the “choose your three favourites” and then went on to “keep one, give one” for the youngest, and keep one, give three for the oldest (as her pile was massive). Only the very favourites were kept.

It’s amazing how much clutter can be caused by stuffed toys. It’s much better having the space back!
2
On June 16th, 2009 at 9:17 pm Jacki said:
Great idea to take photos of all the stuffed animals. The “keep one give one” (or 2 or 3) is super too. Sometimes it helps kids to know that someone else will love their toys too. You can have them help take the toys to a charity or children’s hospital.
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On July 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pm Janet Barclay said:
I can’t imagine NOT keeping school photos! I still have every single one of mine, and I’ve been out of school for, um, a few years now. I also have most of my report cards. Would that be considered clutter?
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On July 7th, 2009 at 2:08 pm Jacki said:
@Janet – I also have all my school photos and all my report cards. I wouldn’t consider it clutter if it is important to you. It should be properly stored and labeled so that you can find what you need when you need it. Knowing you, your stuff probably is!
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On July 9th, 2009 at 6:43 am Janet Barclay said:
The photos are neatly arranged on a bookshelf with all my yearbooks – I could find them in two seconds. The report cards are in the banker’s box I mentioned in “A Sentimental Journey” – http://www.janetbarclay.com/2009/06/15/a-sentimental-journey/ – so they would take me a bit longer to find, but then again, how likely is it that I’ll actually need them? )
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On July 9th, 2009 at 9:09 am Jacki said:
I knew you were organized! Thanks for the suggestions on how to do it!
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On July 23rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm Janet Barclay said:
You are very welcome!