Things nobody tells you before having kids: all of those school papers they bring home...they're like another full time job. You can't keep everything, but the kids catch you every dang time you try to stick them in File 13.
After school, the girls show me everything, and I make two piles: one to keep, one to trash (secretly, later, it accidentally falls into the trash can, I don't know how that happened).
Here is what I save:
*Anything with their picture on it
*Anything with hand/foot prints
*Creative writing
*Letters and notes to them from teachers
*Letters and notes they wrote to a family member
*First paintings, drawings, writings, etc.
*Some art project
Eventually, these masterpieces make it into a scrapbook. My mom made me one of these, and I knew I wanted to pass something like it on to my girls too.
I definitely do not keep on top of this project, so I have a spot in my laundry room to store all of the schoolwork in waiting. (One basket for each girl.) In January and June, I pull everything out of the baskets and glue them into their books.
I purchased mine from Amazon (Pioneer Scrapbook). They come with PLENTY of pages, and they are very sturdy. There are no page protectors, but that's what I like about them. It makes them a lot more interactive, because I have folded large crafts down and made some cards/letters pop out.