Not sure if this is the right place to post, but, I am looking for suggestions for the best way to organize school papers. I would like to do a binder or folder for every grade year and include items such as report cards, certificates, etc. Any ideas would be appreciated.

During the year, I throw their stuff into a box in my closet... all together but with their name and date at the top.

Then, I have a large plastic tub labelled with each child's name. I keep different things from each year in separate file folders. I don't keep anything that is too large or hard to keep (unless it is REALLY special). My 6th grader has completely filled up one tub and so he's starting to work on tub number 2 (which is much smaller... stuff seems to get smaller and less to keep as they get older). I store the tubs in the crawlspace under the house.

We pull the tubs out each summer and go through and put things into scrapbooks before we put them away again... A good summer project! At the same time, I also frame some of their artwork and hang them all over the house. Their bathroom is especially full of their artwork... we get lots of comments from company since it is also the guest bathroom!

I saw a suggestion about this a while back. Scan your child's papers and store on disks. This way there's no papers to store or turn brittle. I know, it's not near as sentimental as pulling out the papers and going through them. However, it is practical in the long run.

Do you mean to keep forever?
If so, I get a container each schoo lyear and I put all of her work and label it what grade it was.

If you man to keep up with the work then I take the lesson aims that are given on Friday and wait to the following Friday to get back the paper for the week and then I staple them all together and put them in a folder in the desk. When progress reports/repost cards come out I am able to easliy cross check to make sure the grades are correct. Last year I had soooooo many problems with the teachers grading the papers BUT putting the incorrect grade in the computer. I will tell you that my daughter would have probably gotten a letter grade less than she did if I had not kept checking.

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If you're looking for a daily basis a simple method is a pocket folder with "do" on one side and "done" on the other. This is better for lower elm. A more organized system is a plastic accordian folder. Label each pocket with class titles and then office papers to be signed and returned. Then you child can put each hw or other paper, notes, etc. in each subject area and they are easily organized and easy to find.

Thanks for the suggestions -all were helpful! (Sorry I wasn't more clear - I meant storing the paperwork for the future.)