What to Do with Your Homeschooler’s Work
When it comes to your homeschooler’s schoolwork, should you save it or pitch it? Find out how to sort and save your homeschooler’s work.
Why You Should Save Your Homeschooler’s Work…Sometimes
When you started homeschooling, you knew you would need to store scads of books and supplies.
You may not have thought through what to do with your homeschooler’s work.
Should you save every worksheet, essay, art project, and lab write-up?
Here are some reasons you should save some of your homeschooler’s work.
Homeschool Portfolio
Many states require an end-of-year assessment; one of the most common forms is a portfolio review.
Typically, a state-certified teacher reviews a sample of your homeschooler’s work and signs off that they are making educational progress in your homeschool.
You have an empty portfolio if you don’t save any of your homeschooler’s work.
Umbrella School Review
If you belong to an umbrella school instead of registering as an official homeschooler, your school may ask to review some of your homeschooler’s work.
Transferring Back to School
If you plan to send your child back to a traditional school in the near future, that school may wish to see samples of your student’s work.
Although these samples overlap with what you included in a portfolio, you may need to have all tests and writing assignments to show.
You would also need your curriculum list, including the table of contents and scope and sequence for each book.
College Portfolio
If you have a high schooler, some colleges may ask for a record of your homeschooler’s work.
This is especially true if your child took science labs in high school for dual enrollment, CLEP, or AP credit.
You would need to save the lab notebook and any lab reports.
Display
Many classroom teachers display their student’s work on bulletin boards.
You can do the same at home.
Mementos
Your baby is growing up, so of course, you want a record of their childhood.
That includes some of their schoolwork.
It is heartwarming to look back through the work, and one day, they may want to have it.
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How to Decide What to Keep and What to Save
Before you begin the sorting process, consider the above reasons for saving your homeschooler’s work.
Which reasons suit you? You may even have more than one or two.
With those “whys” in mind, begin the sorting process.
You can choose to sort daily, weekly, biannually, or annually.
Daily Sorting
Throw away any papers you know you never want to see again.
These could be math scrap paper, a scribbled coloring page, or a practice spelling test.
Do something to stem the tide.
Weekly Sorting
Assign each child an outbox. This basket or box is for all the homeschooling papers from the week.
At the end of the week, select samples of work you want to grade or display.
Biannual Sorting
The middle of the year is a perfect time to sort through schoolwork.
It’s time to stop and assess whether teaching/learning is going well or if you need to change things up for the next semester.
You can review work from the beginning of the year to the midpoint and save examples of progress in each subject.
You can also save your favorites.
Annual Sorting
This level of sorting happens when you compile a portfolio or save items emblematic of the year.
For a portfolio, save items that show progress from the beginning, middle, and end of the year.
For more on compiling a homeschool portfolio, check out this article.
Don’t Be Afraid to Throw It Away
If you are a sentimental person, throwing away your homeschooler’s work can be excruciating.
However, if you don’t, the books and papers will soon overtake you.
If your child is in middle school or younger, confine yourself to saving yearly work that will fit in a binder or small tote.
Give Schoolwork a Second Life by Displaying It
Your student works hard on a project, paper, quiz, or craft.
Squeeze some more joy out of it by displaying quality work.
Not only will this delight you, but seeing their hard work on display will please your child (whether they admit it or not).
You can display schoolwork in a number of ways.
Bulletin Board
A bulletin is the educator’s choice for displaying work.
This linen bulletin board is pretty enough for any space.
Fridge
The refrigerator is a classic choice for displaying student work.
The fridge is the hub of the home, so everyone will need the schoolwork displayed there.
Clipboards or Easy-Display Frames
You can make your homeschooler’s work an art installation by hanging clipboards on the wall.
(These classic clipboards have a hole in the back of the metal clip for hanging.)
You can also use these opening frames, which hold up to 50 papers in the back. They’re both a display and storage place.
Send It to Grandma
Maybe you don’t have the space to display schoolwork, but Grandma does.
Send samples of your child’s work to relatives. They will love to see what your adorable children are learning, writing, and making!
Organizational Solutions for Your Homeschooler’s Work
You have several options for organizing and storing your child’s schoolwork.
Binder
A binder is a ready-to-go portfolio option.
Use a Viewbinder so you can label the cover and sleeve with the child’s name and school year.
If you have multiple children, consider assigning a color to each child.
File Box
These hanging file boxes are attractive enough for open shelving. They also come in 30 colors!
You can store oversized art pieces on the bottom of the box.
Go Digital
In this day and age, you don’t need to save every paper.
You can quickly scan and save schoolwork and art projects to store digitally.
Simply create a folder for your homeschooler’s work and, most importantly, back it up to the Cloud.
That way, the work will survive even if you spill coffee on your laptop (ask me how I know).
You can read more about How to Organize School Papers here.
Check out How to Store Kids’ Artwork here.
Sorting and Saving Your Homeschooler’s Work
Your child’s schoolwork is a treasure, but you can’t save everything.
The mountains of papers will overtake you!
By following these guidelines on what to save and what to pitch, you can be confident that you are keeping the essentials and saving yourself much-needed storage space.
You know you’ll need that space for next year’s school books!
