Workboxes!!!!!!

Well it's been 2 years that I've been playing with the idea of workboxes. I've watched numerous Youtube videos, heard other mom's talk about theirs, and even tried a simpler version with folders, but I finally decided this was the year. I'm finally going to implement a workbox system in our homeschool. A lot is changing with Boo starting 1st grade. K was only about an hour a day, but now she will be having longer school days. Our schooling has been transitioning from 1 student and a tag along, to two students (but one with really light work), to two full time students doing separate curriculum! This is completely outside of my experience and a little overwhelming! What will I do when I have 3 in school! yikes! I'm praying that we can find some sort of system that works for us and that things will begin to flow more smoothly a few weeks into the school year. Workboxes sounded like a great idea for keeping everyone on track and all of our work organized. In other areas of my life I am very unorganized so I know that if I don't put in a real effort our school days could quickly turn into a frazzled disaster!

For those of you unfamiliar with workboxes. This is a whole system that was created by Sue Patrick that uses boxes or drawers to organize your homeschool materials, helps kids stay on task and become more independent. The idea was originally designed to help children with autism or ADHD stay focused, and better visualize their day. However, so many homeschoolers loved the idea that it became apparent that this a great system for all homeschoolers!

Sue's system is a bit more complex than ours. Hers consists of 12 boxes for each child, a schedule strip for each days work, centers set up for them to work at, a box for finished work, lots of removable labels, posters, charts. Everyone does workboxes a little differently though and uses whatever is best for their family.If you want to learn more about the original workbox system you can purchase her book or here is a link her site with a short video...Sue Patrick's Workbox System

I decided to keep ours simple..Here's what ours look like so far. As we get experience using them I'm sure we will change some things as we find out what works and what doesn't.

I've heard pros and cons for the different types of boxes. Most people use the rolling carts with removable trays, some even use shoe boxes and shelves. I like the colorful rolling carts, but have heard some complain about them not being very sturdy. I also don't like the idea of my kids being able to roll their carts around. I decided to go with more sturdy plastic Sterilite drawers that I found at Walmart. These are sold in sets of 3 12x12 drawers for around $12 and they are stackable so you can buy as many as you need and snap them together to build a tower. The only down side so far to these is that the drawers are a little bit harder to take in and out than the trays are.

Sis has 9 boxes (3 sets of 3) and Boo has 6 boxes.  Since I decided to keep ours as simple as possible,  we're not using the task cards, schedule strips, having the removable labels on our boxes, or a separate place for finished work. I decided it would be easiest to put more permanent labels on their drawers rather than being able to switch the subjects/drawers around. I taped simple handwritten labels to the insides of the drawers so that they show through the front. Sis's Spelling drawer will stay her spelling drawer all year and she'll know exactly where that drawer is located.

While we do have a small school room for our supplies and books. We don't actually do much "schooling" in there. School more often just happens where ever we are, dining room table, living room floor, couch, bed, backyard, etc...and we like it better that way. (off subject and a moment to rant..but) A few years back I loved the idea of having a school room in our home. It helps at times to have a quiet room for Sis especially when there are little ones running around and we need somewhere to keep all of our stuff.  However, I made up my mind a while back that I didn't want school to feel separate from the rest of our lives and if I wanted my kids to sit in a classroom all day I would send them to school! Ok back on track...Anyway,I decided to keep our workboxes in the dining room where we will have easy access and be able to see them all day.

This year for 4th grade Sis will be using Heart Of Dakota: Preparing Hearts for His Glory. I will label each of her drawers according to the subjects scheduled in her manual that we will be using..her drawers are: History (which will also include the Independent History section), Bible, Spelling, LA, Storytime, Weekly Activity&Project, Science, Math, and DIHOR (which is her literature/reading.)

Boo will be using MFW 1st grade:Learning God's Story. Her boxes will be labeled according to her curriculum: History, Reading/LA(this includes her bible), Handwriting, math, Science, and Read-aloud.

Once we find an order that works well for our subjects then I'll try to put our boxes in that order. I'm thinking Bible first and then try to schedule Boo's harder subjects while Sis is doing independent work. Basically this is how it will work. I will put the boxes in the order I expect them completed that way there's no need to number them, so they don't need to be told what we are doing next. When it's time to begin a new subject they will each go get their next box for the day and take it to where ever they are working (Sis likes to do a lot of her independent work in her room. Boo is usually in the living room floor or at the table) Their box will contain all the materials they will need to complete the subject even a sharpened pencil in each drawer. I will help each child with completing their box as instruction is needed.

We will probably take a small break in between each box for a snack or outside time, etc. When both kids have completed all their boxes for the day we're done!

I made red laminated circles with velcro sticky backs for the front of each box. All the boxes will start out with a red dot each morning. When the girls finish a box they will put their finished work inside the box on top and they will also remove the red dot from that box and place it inside the box. Now the box is marked "done." Then they will return their box to it's place in the cart. This way if we do decide to skip around boxes they will easily be able to tell which boxes are complete. They will also be able at glance to see how many boxes they have left to complete for the day. When all the red dots are gone, they know they're done! If there is a subject/box that we will not be using that day I will just leave the red dot off of that box that morning.

That's pretty much it! Pretty simple, yet I think it will help our days run more smoothly.