Parents, how much of your kids' school work do you save?

My kids are now all grown up but I do have a tin with some paintings in, cards they made me, a journal my son wrote in junior school that contains some very funny stuff. Little things like that. The rest has gradually been removed to the bin. My kids think I am a nut for keeping what I have. Well except my middle child who regularly gives me a guilt trip for not using the teapot she made in pottery class. I would but I need to lift more weights and build up my muscles first.

Keep as much as you can without it taking over your house or until someone suggests you go on that show about Hoarders. Everyone always says they grow up so fast. It’s true. The memories are well worth it.

I pretty much save it all (except for things like daily worksheets and whatnot) through each school year, then over the summer, I go through it and decide what I seriously want to keep. I typically end up keeping their art projects and “special” things, like tests with a grade of 100, report cards, Honor Roll cards, science projects, etc…

I long ago turned what they wanted to keep over to them. They are surprisingly unnostalgic.

just a couple of things here and there

I scan to PDF or JPG all the important stuff like awards and report cards. That’s about it. We have a box in our closet that might have hard to scan stuff like end of year home made memento yearbook but only if there is significance to them like notes from classmates or photos.

High school papers are kind of boring to look at, and anyways, they are on the computer. So it seems like it suffers a natural falloff somewhere around sixth grade as their stuff turns from arty stuff to writing.

I have about 15 pieces from each kid.
Once, when my son was in 3rd grade he brought home a boatload of school work one day. I tossed most of it…..he saw it in the trash. OMG. He was so, so, so upset with me! With tears in his eyes he said, “I worked very, very hard on each and every one of those!”
I apologized profusely and pulled them all out. I think I still have THAT whole batch somewhere!
I felt SO bad. That’s the worst part about being a parent…when you let your kids down like that and you didn’t mean to. The tooth fairy forgets to come or something. :(

Up until 7th grade, I pretty much kept everything. Now I’m lucky if I even get to see what they have done so I save the personal writings such as poems, stories and opinions they turned in as assignments that I get my hands on.
I know mine is overkill but I don’t really care. I’m a sentimentalist and until I figure out exactly how I want to preserve them and have the time to do so, I will keep the many, many boxes of drawings, paintings, writings, scribblings (all x3) that I have… ; )

Some real Estate Sale is going to come to our home someday, @Ela :(

They ain’t gettin’ one teeny tiny scrap of paper without a fight @Dutchess_III!
I remember going in, giving them morning kisses and slipping money under the pillow cuz the stinking tooth fairy fell asleep!