By March most homeschooling families have more paper than shelf. The instinct is to keep all of it, because throwing away a child's work feels like throwing away the year.
It is not. A representative sample proves a year far better than a complete archive, and it is the version you might actually be able to find something in.
What to do with what
Dated work showing progress
- What to do
- Keep
- Why
- Two points in a year is the most persuasive evidence there is
Standardised test results
- What to do
- Keep permanently
- Why
- Slow to replace and sometimes needed years later
Evaluator reports
- What to do
- Keep permanently
- Why
- Proof the year was reviewed and accepted
Your own log
- What to do
- Keep permanently
- Why
- The only record that ties everything together
Large projects and models
- What to do
- Photograph, then recycle
- Why
- They prove nothing in a box in a loft
Daily worksheets and drills
- What to do
- Keep a handful, recycle the rest
- Why
- Fifty identical sheets say nothing fifty times
Curriculum you have finished with
- What to do
- Sell or pass on
- Why
- Worth real money to another family
| Item | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dated work showing progress | Keep | Two points in a year is the most persuasive evidence there is |
| Standardised test results | Keep permanently | Slow to replace and sometimes needed years later |
| Evaluator reports | Keep permanently | Proof the year was reviewed and accepted |
| Your own log | Keep permanently | The only record that ties everything together |
| Large projects and models | Photograph, then recycle | They prove nothing in a box in a loft |
| Daily worksheets and drills | Keep a handful, recycle the rest | Fifty identical sheets say nothing fifty times |
| Curriculum you have finished with | Sell or pass on | Worth real money to another family |
Photograph the things that cannot be filed
Models, posters, science experiments, anything three dimensional. A dated photograph is genuinely better evidence than the object, because it can go in a portfolio and the object cannot.
It also solves the thing nobody says out loud, which is that the object was going to be thrown away in eighteen months anyway, quietly, when nobody was looking.
Keep a spread, not a highlight reel
Three pieces from across the year beats twelve from one strong two week stretch. Keep something ordinary alongside something good, and keep at least one thing that was difficult.
A file of only polished work reads as curated, and it hides the thing that is actually impressive, which is the distance travelled between October and March.
Check your state before discarding anything
A few states have specific retention expectations, and portfolio states in particular may want material available for a set period after the year ends.
The overall position is in record keeping requirements by state.
The sentimental pile is allowed
Keep the first story they wrote and the drawing that made you laugh. That is a different pile with a different purpose, and it should not be confused with the compliance one.
Mixing them is what produces a box nobody can search, containing both a legal record and a birthday card.