Learn what school work to keep and how to easily organize it — no crafting skills required!

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When my daughter started nursery school way back in the fall of 2013, I had to figure out what to do with all the school work she brought home. I had to work through mama guilt for tossing out things she had made, but the reality was that I just couldn’t keep everything.

Until then I had either kept things by shoving them into her baby book or file folder in my filing cabinet. Sometimes I took photographs of art projects from story time or church or home and then tossed them. Deciding what to keep and what to toss was a challenge.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that I needed both a policy and a system for school work. While I wanted to say I’d just toss everything for the sake of being organized, I also knew that one day I’d regret it because she was going to grow up faster than I wanted and it would be fun to look back one of these days.

But, I was also a busy mom with a new baby and a preschooler and don’t have a bit of craftiness in me. Scrapbooks weren’t going to be my solution. I already did family photo albums for each year and that was as crafty as I got (still is!). Then I stumbled upon a school work file idea I fell in love with.

I was on Pinterest when I first saw something similar and knew that it would work well for our family and help with all of the paper clutter and artwork that I wanted to keep for posterity. I made a trip to the office supply store for a few supplies and thus we began our memory files for each child.

What you need

You’ll need one hanging file folder box per child, hanging file folders and their labels. I planned one folder per grade. For my kids, who each went through two years of nursery school, I have 14 file folders each. Depending on how you do it, you may also need one additional file folder per child.

To put our kids’ names on their file boxes for school work, we used white Gorilla tape and a black Sharpie. (I love they make ones that are retractable so you don’t have to keep track of the lid!)

And that’s it as far as supplies go. See? Easy-peasy! You don’t need tools, hot glue guns or crafty skills!

How to set it up

Label a hanging file folder box for each child with their name on the outside. Then label file folders for whatever grade level you are covering. You can do them all at once or one at a time. I do one at a time, mostly because that’s how my brain works! I put the kiddo’s name, grade and school year.

And then simply fill the folder throughout the school year with the papers you want to keep.

Starting this year, I have a file folder for each kiddo in my filing cabinet that I put school work in for the year and will then transfer them into their file box. I’ve found it’s easier for me to stick them in the filing cabinet I am always using rather than pulling out the file boxes and adding the papers in there as we go. You can definitely do it however works best for you!

What to keep

Deciding what to keep is a challenge for sure. Here are some of the things I’ve put in the folders. Each year on the first day of school, I make a mock magazine cover for my kids that includes things like their shoe size, grade, teacher’s name, favorite things and what they want to be when they grow up. I print that out and stick it in the file.

I also use the file folder to put in leftover school photo prints and class photos. My kids go to a K-12 school, so they have a good chance of having many of their classmates in their graduating class that they did in their kindergarten class. I like the idea that one day we can look back at all the years together with these same friends.

Special art projects are something else that I keep. I like things that have handprints or fingerprints or that the kids have spent a good amount of time on. If they are large, then I do fold them down to fit into the file folder.

I keep teacher evaluations and sometimes test scores as well. Usually whatever paperwork comes home with us from parent/teacher conferences I put into the folder for them. It is neat to look back and see how they have progressed and learned through the years.

Writing projects are something else that I hang onto. From kindergarten on, my kids have had a journal they kept at school. They can include both fiction and nonfiction writing. I really enjoy these most, probably because I am a writer! But, they are definitely something I want to hang onto.

I usually keep school work or projects my kids do about themselves or things they like. The first of the school year tends to be a time they do these things and it’s always so neat to see what they have to say about what they like and who they are.

If there is anything not school related that I want to keep, I put those in the folder as well. This has included Sunday School papers or projects and programs from special events (like when they are in a school play).

The extras

And then there are some things that are too big for file folders. I could probably get a separate container for them and may do so one day, but for now, I stick them down inside the hanging file folder box. This includes their baby books, which have many of their doctor papers in them from their baby days as well as their immunization records.

I also kept journals throughout my pregnancy with each of them and put those in the file boxes as well. You can definitely include whatever keepsakes you want to hang onto and will fit in the file box.

Kids’ birthday traditions make for some great memories!

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I am not a crafty type mom. I’m not an over-the-top kind of mom. I don’t throw birthday bashes for hundreds of people that cost thousands of dollars. (I’m not sure that actually happens outside of television shows!) But, I do like having kids’ birthday traditions to make my kiddos feel special on their big day. 

I remember back to my own childhood and how much I loved celebrating my birthday. There is something special about the people around you all stopping to celebrate you — and I say that as an introverted shy person! I also think of my current birthdays. Somewhere along the way, though, birthdays lose some of their magic. 

As an adult, I’ve found birthdays to be bittersweet less because I’m aging but more because there are folks missing from my celebration and because life can be challenging, even on your birthday!

I know that birthdays will change for my children as they age, so before that happens, I want to celebrate and embrace their birthdays — and them. 

In the 10 years since my husband and I became parents, we’ve developed some kids’ birthday traditions make our kids feel special. My goal with traditions is to keep them simple so they are doable from one year to the next, even if life gets super crazy.

1. Hang birthday balloons from their bedroom doorway.

On the night before the kiddo’s birthday, we hang balloons from their doorway with crepe paper after they go to bed. This is a super easy tradition that my kids love and look forward to each year. They run back and forth through the balloons and crepe paper and usually leave them up for a week or so.

2. Wake them with a song.

On the morning of their birthday, we wake them up by going into their room singing, “Happy Birthday.” I always video record this, and it’s fun to go back and see them from the time they were in their cribs on their first birthdays until now.

My daughter was born in the morning, so we usually go in there a little earlier than necessary for a school morning and then count down to 6:36 a.m. when she officially becomes another year older.

3. Let the birthday kid pick dinner.

I love food, so this one comes natural to me. Another kids’ birthday tradition we have is letting the birthday kiddo decide what we have for dinner. They can pick somewhere to go or something for me to make. So far, they’ve always chosen eating out, and I’m fine with that. This year, my daughter picked Chinese food and wanted to get it takeout to eat at home. She is so my kid!

4. Read a special book together.

We continue to read together at bedtime every night, but on birthday nights, I have a favorite book. We read “On the Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman. It’s a great book that celebrates life. I always get choked up throughout it, but I love reading it with them each birthday.

5. Pray over them out loud.

Usually at bedtime, our children pray out loud. Their dad and I don’t usually pray out loud with them at that time. On their birthdays, though, I always jump in after they finish their prayer and add one of my own thanking God for the blessing of the kiddo and asking Him to be with them as they grow and so on.

Of course we do other typical kids’ birthday traditions, too. The kiddos have presents to open. We have a sweet treat, which isn’t always cake. I love cake and ice cream, but my oldest doesn’t so much. So this year, for example, we had Oreo ice cream cake with her friends and brownie sundaes with her grandparents.

Kids’ birthday traditions really do make some great memories. Sure the kids know some of what to expect, but I think that anticipation makes it even more exciting.

What birthday traditions does your family have?

Looking for ideas on what to bake for birthdays? Check out these recipes!

Inspirational quotes for kids in school

I love encouraging and uplifting quotes. Recently, I also love motivational quotes for kids that I can send in their lunchboxes.

Each Monday I send a “Monday Motivation” quote for my kids’ lunchbox notes. These are short, inspirational quotes for kids in school from mom — a.k.a me!

You can use these quotes for your own lunchbox notes or however works best for inspiring your children!

Short motivational quotes for kids

“Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” — Maya Angelou

“People see God every day; they just don’t recognize Him.” — Pearl Bailey

“No one is perfect — that’s why pencils have erasers.” — Wolfgang Reibe

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” — Dolly Parton

“It doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop.” — Confucius

“Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.” — Albert Einstein

“Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow.” — Albert Einstein

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” — Randy Pausch

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” – Mr. Fred Rogers

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“Be silly. Be honest. Be Kind.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” — Augustine

“Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.” — Jim Rohn

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matter.” — Epictetus

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” — Aesop

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sending my kids back to school is bittersweet

At the end of next week, my kids head back to school. I’m not ready for it. I never am.

This year I have a 1st and 4th grader, which seems impossible since they were just born a few months ago. But alas, here we are.

The joys of summer

I really do enjoy having them home for the summer. Yes, there are times that they bicker and it drives me nutty. And other times I long to eat my lunch and read my book in peace for 10 minutes.

But there are also extra snuggle times and belly laughs as they play. There are smiles as they show me what they learned in swimming lessons.

The truth is, I had babies because I wanted them. God blessed me with these two precious lives and has entrusted me to care for them. My children aren’t a burden or annoyance; they are my greatest masterpiece. And I will miss them when school starts.

The good parts of the school year

I will also be glad to get back to a schedule and routine a bit because that’s how my personality is. I know it will be easier to get work done once they aren’t interrupting me. But I still will miss them.

However, another big part of parenthood is putting your children’s needs before your own. In my head, I’d love to just have them home all the time and hang out — and not in a homeschool kind of way. More in a summer-break-we-aren’t-doing-much-productive-many-days kind of way.

That wouldn’t be best for them, though. They are so smart and know so much, yet, they have so very much left to learn. I don’t want to rob them of that.

They love being together and with my husband and me, but they also love being with their friends. They are learning how to navigate friendships, which is important. I don’t want to rob them of that either.

I know I can love on them and pour into them completely, but I also know they are at an awesome school full of adults trained to pour into them in ways I can’t. I don’t want to rob them of that chance to have role models and be challenged by adults other than my husband and me.

How I handle the first day

So that’s why the end of next week, I will put on my excited face, take photos and walk them into school with a grin. I want to give them the world. I want them to learn and grow and continue to make the world a better place in bigger and bigger ways.

I will pray for a sunny day so my sunglasses can hide my watery eyes. I will wave and give hugs and wish them the very best of days. And I will mean every part of it, even as I continue to let them go more and more each year.

They are my heart. They are my babies. And I will miss them when they head back to school, but I also know that’s what is best for them. What’s best for them is what I want most.

Covering them in prayer

I also know I am not leaving them alone. I will cover them in prayer for the new school year. I pray they make and grow friends who are both good to the and good for them. I pray they learn and grow. I pray that they are surrounded by adults who care about them. I pray they are able to navigate friendship issues and handle any stress that comes their way.

I pray that they remember they are never alone and God is always with them. I pray that they proceed with the confidence that comes from being loved so completely by their parents and by God. I pray that they are kind to those around them. I pray that they make good choices and stand up for what they know to be right, even if it isn’t popular.

And, of course, I always pray that God protects them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually everywhere they are.

It’s easier to send them off when I know they aren’t going alone. It’s easier when I know they are covered in prayer. I will still miss them. But I know back to school is good for them.

I am so proud of the people they are continuing to grow into. Sending them back to school is bittersweet like so many things in parenthood. I will miss them and am overwhelmed by how much they are growing up, but I also can’t wait to see what the year has in store, what they’ll learn and more of who they are outside of being my babies.

Mom guilt intensifies when summer break rolls around!

This summer, my kids are 6 and 9. It’s also the first summer I’ve had very much work to do in nearly a decade. With my youngest starting kindergarten last school year, I decided to accept more freelance writing and editing projects like I did full-time before I had children.

All of this combines to me working to find a good balance this summer break between getting work and responsibilities done and hanging out with my kids.

For some reason, parents of my generation tend to feel responsible for entertaining our children. That sounds silly and most of us would say that isn’t a bit true, because we don’t really intend it to be that way. Yet, here we are saddled with mom guilt.

Feeling the guilt

Even though I don’t feel like it’s my job to entertain my children, I feel guilty when I don’t. It isn’t my job to be their playmate or to make sure that they have something to keep them busy or engaged all the time. We are very intentional, in fact, about keeping our schedule from getting too busy so that our kids can have downtime on their own.

So feeling mom guilt for saying no to playing with my children because I have work to do, chores to do or maybe just don’t feel like playing at the moment seems crazy. But, it happens to me and I’d guess it happens to most moms.

Because the flip side is that we know our babies are growing up. My kids are different this summer than they were last summer. I know that all too soon they won’t want me to play with them. Much sooner than I want, they won’t even want toys to play with any longer. So I don’t want to miss a moment.

Perspective on what they really need

Yet, isn’t it important for my kids to see that the world doesn’t revolve around them and that I don’t revolve around them? It is. I know it is. I know my own parents didn’t spend their summers playing with and entertaining me every single moment.

My dad was busy working long days. My mom was home with us on summer break, and she still had household chores and such to do. I remember spending hours playing school or Barbies or even library in my bedroom. I remember making up dance routines. I remember having really good summers!

There were certainly times that my parents played with me and did things with me. They were (and still are!) good parents. But I don’t know that they felt obligated to make sure I was entertained.

Figuring out the balance

And that’s the balance I’m trying to sort out. How do I make their childhood special and memorable without making my life all about theirs? How do I make sure the see what good work ethic looks like? How do I not miss a moment? How do I enjoy them and not make them feel like a burden or distraction to my work?

It’s a tricky balance. Honestly, I’ve been praying about it since the kids were in the last couple of weeks of school. Because I don’t want to get through their childhoods and regret that I didn’t spend more time with them.

This summer I am going to be intentional about making my kids figure out what to do with their own time a couple of hours each day while I work from home. But I am also going to show them that they are a priority and take time to do fun things with them.

I am going to be there. We are going to make memories in the small moments. I don’t know what they will think when they’re grown up. I hope they can look back and say they had good summers. I am almost positive they aren’t going to look back and say, “I wish my mom entertained me more.”

All they want and need is my love. And that is the easy part. My love is something they will always have completely every moment of every day. That doesn’t require a bit of mom guilt!

6 ideas to help children learn to live generously

Happy Giving Tuesday! I love the reminder to continue giving, especially during a season that can be consumed with so many distractions and even downright greed.

Giving as a family is incredibly important. We have made it a priority in our family and try to involve our kids as much as possible. However, when I talked to them about it just this morning, they didn’t realize everything we do. They knew some of it, but not all of it. And they hadn’t thought about how some of what we do is giving without spending money. We need to be even more intentional about showing and talking with them about giving and what we’re doing.

I’ve heard people say that children need to be taught how to give, because it goes against our human nature. That’s true to an extent. Just try asking a toddler to share his favorite toy with you! But, I’ve also seen the innocence of my kids when we see someone holding a sign asking for work or food on the roadside. They’d ask why the person was there and why didn’t we help him or her? In their little minds, if someone needs help, you give it. That’s the attitude we have tried to encourage and build on.

I think we all want to teach our kids how to give and how to look out for others. We’ve found a few ways to do that as a family. And we’ll continue working on it and talking about it even more. We have done our best to involve our kids as much as possible.

1. Help kids start a fund for giving.

When our children turned 5, they started getting a weekly allowance based on their ages (a dollar per year). We use an envelope system with them. They have an envelope for saving, spending and giving. For example, at 5, the money is divided each week as $3 for saving, $1 for spending and $1 for giving. And then we talk about how they want to spend their giving money every month or two as it accumulates.

When we first did this with our daughter, I assumed she’d want to just give her money in the offering at church. But when we asked her, she wanted to do something more tangible. So as we talked about it with her, we decided to buy food for a local food pantry. 

Since then, that has taken off. We have matched her money to buy food and so have my parents. And then she had a chance to help distribute food from a food pantry out of a local church. She decided then that we needed to do more. So we talked with our pastor and asked church members to bring in food that we take to the pantry. That’s been three years ago, and we are still involved with that same food pantry. It all started with a few dollars in a giving envelope.

2. Find tangible ways to give.

For us, the food pantry has been a very tangible way to give that has continued. Our kids love going to the store, finding good deals and figuring out things like how many cans of food we can buy with the money they have or how many rolls of toilet paper we can get. We have done our best to ask each time we take items to the food pantry about what the pantry needs most, because we also want to be actually helpful.

(For the record, our food pantry requests toiletries the most throughout the year, because these things are in high demand since they’re not covered by food stamps. During the holiday season, they need holiday dinner type food and cash to buy turkeys or hams.)

Our son has enjoyed working with and helping get things for the food pantry, but he’s had some other ideas as well. We try to encourage them however they’re thinking of giving. Sometimes our kids have thought of giving money to a family member who needed something. Other times they have wanted to give it to church or for a special offering. And still other times they want to give it to a different charity.

Locally, for example, we have an organization that collects money to provide Christmas to families who can’t afford it otherwise. Our church works with this charity (its founder attends our church, in fact) and so does the kids’ school. They love being able to be involved with that, too.

3. Make giving fun.

It doesn’t take much to make most giving fun. For example, my kids find it fun to even be involved in the process of deciding what to buy for the food pantry. Last time around my son used his money to buy a box of Honey Nut Cheerios. It wasn’t what we were there for that day. That day we were focusing on canned foods and toiletries, but it was his money and I’m sure that box of cereal went to good use. Usually on trips to the grocery store, they aren’t involved with the decisions of what to buy since I’m in charge of that. So having a chance to pick things out is fun for them.

Their school does a great job of making giving fun this time of year, especially. For that local Christmas charity, the kids could bring in money to vote for which team of teachers would win a silly race. They could also spend $1 to send a note with a piece of candy to a classmate. My kids each got a kick out of sneaking to the office to do this for each other. 

4. Remind them why they’re giving.

Everyone likes a bit of encouragement and cheering on. Should we give to get credit and accolades? Nope. But, kids do need to be encouraged and reminded of why they are giving. We try to talk about all the families who will be helped through the food pantry or other programs. We talk about what it would be like to come home from school and not be able to find any food in the pantry for a snack or wonder if there would be anything to eat for dinner. And we remind them that their giving is helping some families avoid that reality.

5. Volunteer together.

Just like I was telling my kids this morning, there are also ways to give that don’t involve spending money. In fact, spending your time is just as important. This is an area where we need to work more on our kiddos. They don’t always see the things we do as giving of our time. And that’s OK, but I want to encourage them to do the same. 

While they have helped with the food pantry, there are other volunteer opportunities around the community that they can be involved with as well. We have struggled to do organized volunteer activities the last few years as I’ve had some more intense health issues than usual, but we’ve still found ways. For a year and a half, I taught a children’s Sunday School class and my own kids loved to help me prepare and test out crafts for me.

I also reminded them that giving to others can even be as simple as seeing a friend or family member who needs help with something and jumping right in to assist. Opportunities to give to others abound around us if we just open our eyes to see them.

6. Be an example for them.

Last week, my husband was gone the entire week. He missed having Thanksgiving with us. We missed him tremendously, but we also supported him being gone. He began working with Team Rubicon a couple of months ago as a volunteer. Team Rubicon is a non-profit organization of volunteers that sends people to areas of disaster to help aid in cleaning up and rebuilding. Once he got his FEMA certification, he was ready to go help.

So two Saturdays ago my husband left for Florida to help clean up from the devastation of Hurricane Michael. Before he left, we had a family discussion about it over dinner and let the kids ask questions. They were curious what he’d be doing, but they were also curious why he was doing it.

He told them that he felt like if there was something he could do then he should do it. He also said sometimes you have to let yourself be the answer to someone’s prayer. While giving money is good and helpful, sometimes you need to literally be God’s hands and feet. I don’t think there is any better answer than that as to why to give.

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