Workboxes!

Remember workboxes? If you are new to Workboxes, check out this first post here and then some others here and here.

Have I mentioned that life has been supersonic around here? Like seriously moving at the speed of sound (or light, whatever floats your boat!) Ya know, having a baby and moving at the same month kind of does that too you. I feel a bit hamsterish who is caught in the wheel but it has been good.

For weeks, my kids have been begging, I mean really pleading me to set up the workboxes. The shelving was becoming some kind of storage system that it was not intended to be. Today my daughter took care of it herself! She informed me that she would be setting up the workboxes for both her and her brother. OK then!



So after about 30 minutes Kylie declared school ON. Can I tell you she had some great things in there for both her and her brother! They diligently worked on school for 2 hours and knocked out all of their subjects with no complaint. I forgot how good workboxing was! So much easier with a baby since they have control of their day. Remember that V8 commercial back in the day? Well, I was knocking myself upside the head for not having the workboxes going all along. Ahhhhhh....

Here is proof that the day went well!




If you have great ideas in what to put in the workboxes, leave me a comment! I would love to hear how workboxes work in your home!

School is out but workboxes are still IN!

Workboxes have just felt great for us as a family. The kids enjoy it, I enjoy it and even my dh has gotten in on the action. We will definately go on with them next year.

But it is summer and I have these workboxes in my kitchen/dining area. What to do? Use them of course!

Throughout the day I am sure you have heard your kids say "I'm bored!" My answer is "go grab a box!" Now I won't use the strips, or make them go in order, it will just be a fun area to see some activites they can do throughout the day. Maybe a can of playdoh, or a dot-to-dot. Simple activites that they can do on their own.

I will most likely rotate them out just as I would during the year to provide some interesting and fun things to do.

So have fun with your workboxes today!

Day in the Life

Yes... I know... more workboxes! LOL This has been day 4 of our workbox system and can I tell you that it really works?? I just wanted to show you a few pictures of how we have made this system work for us. To the left you see how we start our day.


Then we work down a few boxes...




Snack time!



This is how we place our boxes (both kids plunk their boxes down in this tub.) They know that books go to the side. They had the drill down on day 1!




And what a wonderful sense of accomplishment we ALL have after their day is done when we see an empty rack. Ahhhhh...

Oh, and BTW, I timed myself at filling them back up. Total time 17 mintues and 23 seconds. That is from the bin, to the racks ready for the next day. Not too bad if I do say so myself! ;)

Day One! So far, so good!

Today went really well! The kids had a blast wondering what was next and it kept their attention to move from one box to another without having for me to set things up for them. Huge plus!

Here is a neat peek into our morning.


We were done by 12:30 and had a nice lunch outside. I feel so accomplished and so do my kids! They were really proud of all they had done. It is 2:30pm and their boxes are already filled for tomorrow - it only took a few minutes to switch out boxes and put them back in. I think I can do this!

Workboxes!

*** DISCLAIMER ***
This method of school will be begun on Monday 3/9/09. In no way am I saying I will stick with this for any period of time! I am just excited to show what I have done so far. I am a real person who starts and stops things all the time but I *think* this will be a great fit for me and my children! Now read on...




Leslie over at Joyful Mother of 6 shared a wonderful system that has revolutionized her homeschool! The more she shared, the more a spark of intrest grew inside of me. More fun? More learning? More opportunities to do the things you *want* to do but don't? I was in.

Sue Patrick has 2 children and set up a method of workboxes to use since her kids have been 18 months! Brilliant so I ordered the book and the starter kit and it arrived in a few days.



Off to Target I went for my boxes and racks. What started out as just a system for my daughter, blossomed into two systems for both of my children. Now I live in a tiny townhouse where I have a small living room, kitchen with a 4 person dining area. At first I thought that the racks would take up too much room but it was a lot more compact than I had thought of. I think they will reside in front of that window which is right in back of my dining table where the kids do school. It is central in my home and they are portable enough that if I want to move them for company, I can just scoot them in my bedroom walk-in closet.




I am going to make a small index card box full of fun ideas that I would love to use in my homeschool but rarely don't because either I don't have time, am unprepared, or just forget about (stuffed in a closet etc.)My goal is to rotate the cards every day as I use them in the boxes.

Stay tuned for my list of cards!