Over the last few months, I’ve been sharing the details behind how I’m documenting our sons’ school years. In this post, I’m walking you through how I put together a layout for our younger son’s current school year. Read on for some actionable tips and ideas.

The great thing about pocket pages is you can document as you go. Since the school year started, I’ve been saving and tossing school work, and a few days ago I went through the kiddos’ files, snapped some pics of their school work so far, and put together a couple of layouts for the current year.

Documenting photos

In these pocket page albums, I’m taking a less-is-more approach to including memories. My goal is to have lots of school years documented in one album, so I’m trying to be really selective about which photos, memories, and memorabilia to include.

In this layout, I went with just a few “first day” photos – the morning breakfast, signs in the driveway, Owen next to his new cubby.

I also included one photo from a family birthday weekend in August since we had all of the cousins together.

I’ll also add one or two photos from each sport he plays this year, a Halloween photo, a holiday photo, and maybe a couple of end of year photos with his teacher and friends.

The bulk of the school year photos will end up in the family photo book. This album is really just a snapshot, so I only include a few memories to get a general picture of the year.

Documenting memories

I usually include just a little bit of journaling to fill in the gaps of my layouts. Journaling is so important to storytelling. It enables you to fill in the gaps, provide context for your photos, and add written details that don’t appear in the photos themselves.

Maybe you know what mattered last year, but several years down the road, I think I’ll be happy that I have just a few details jotted down in writing to remind me what mattered to us at the time.

I like using hand lettered elements, simple journaling cards, and a few memories typed up on plain white 3×4 cards.

Documenting school work

The other big piece of these layouts is the school work, of course.

Our younger son is in Pre-K, and there’s so much work coming home. How do you decide what to keep and what to toss?

I love the painted items, handwriting samples, and anything with fingerprints or handprints. I’ll tuck a few of the actual pieces into larger pockets for his 12×12 album, but most of it will be photographed and filed away or recycled.

I think the photos of school work really add to the album, and taking pictures (or scanning, if you prefer) means you can include a lot more.

You can read about my process for photographing school work here.

Here are some of my other posts in this school series:

How to organize, capture, and document kids’ school work

Simplifying the school years

How I’m documenting the school years with pocket pages

You can find me over on Instagram or on my blog, and please check out my free phone photography mini-workshop if you haven’t already.

XO,

Catherine

Paislee Press digital products used: School years no. 2, Back to school templates, Back to school journal cards, 4×6 photo templates vol. 1, 3×4 photo templates no. 3