Monday, October 15, 2012

Workboxes

I can't remember if I did a post a while back on our workbox system or not....probably bc that's how my life is right now.  I can't even tell you what I ate for breakfast...but that's besides the point.  The point is that it is workboxes and the whole system that surrounds it is what has saved my homeschooling days.  I found out about them last fall and I will be forever grateful.  My kids love them.  It makes organizing school for more than 1 child (fairly) easy and the kids know exactly what is expected of them each day.

Here's how it works.

Each kid has their own set of 10 drawers.  In each drawer I put a different activity/worksheet/project, etc.  There are numbers labeled on the outside of their drawer.  They start at the top and once they are done with whatever is in their drawer, they take their number from that drawer (its velcroed on) and place it on their chart.  They, then, move onto the next!  The famous line around here is "Ready, Set, To your workboxes!"

They like this concept so much that I have came up with a brilliant idea!!!...I've included their chores right into their workboxes!  I sneak a job or 2 into their drawers, and they complete it just as they would any other task.  This limits the amount of complaining about doing chores I hear and also makes for everything around the house that needs to be done (school and cleaning) done at the end of the workboxes!  I even included a "clean up your work area" card for their last drawer to remember to tidy up their spot before leaving the room.  It works great.

Here are a few pictures...
T, C, & B's workbox charts on the wall.  After the 4th drawer is completed, I have a "15 min break & potty time" square on their chart so once they get to that, they know what to do.  I also keep a box with their own crayons, pencil, glue, glue stick, dry erase marker, and scissors next to them for easy access.


The boys' drawers.  Ariella's is along the other wall.

Sample drawers...


"clean bathroom"--love this one! :)

The only thing that doesn't work so great is when I forget to load the workboxes so in the morning things aren't ready....oops.

1 comment:

Sara said...

I hear ya on forgetting to put things out the night before. It doesn't make for a very good day around here either and I only have one kid to set up :) I just prepped for the rest of the week today. I have one of those expandable file folders with a tab for each day (you could have a folder for each kid) and I put in any blackline masters, handwriting paper, direction pages, or notes for each day. It takes some time, but I can do it when I'm not already mentally drained and scrambling. And I find it takes less time when I'm already going through my curriculum and supplies to pull for the week. I haven't done work boxes, although I should do some sort of variation. I think it would help my guy from feeling so overwhelmed when he can only see one task at a time. And I like that they are responsible for their own materials. I need to do something like that! We need to get rid of all the "stuff" in our kitchen. It's fun to see your new school room coming together!