Workboxes are all the rage among homeschoolers. I think they are fantastic but Don vetoed having multiple shoe racks with plastic bins floating around the house. So I came up with my own version. It is having serious problems as the shoe racks are too heavy and it keeps falling over. Looking for a way to use these without spending big bucks.I am filling boxes for 6 children and two preschoolers and two file folder systems for highschool
I have a "plan" I work off. Math always goes in the same slot, Bible always goes in the same slot etc. I set up a schedule and we just do the same thing everyday in the same order. Not terribly creative I know. So I have Bible, Math, SS (which may vary- sometimes work with mom, sometimes a learning center, sometimes just a book but it is always in the same slot.
box #1 My worbox schedule has been Bible first - everyone has Bible first. The teens have a personal study to do, my middle age kids a Precept Bible study to do and then my littles do Bible with mom. I float around and answer questions after I read to my little ones - they color a related page.
Box #2 - Math for two of my children, I work with Kindergartener and preschoolers on My Father's World - this usually takes an hour because we do projects too, and the big kids work on science, writing or reading, language arts, history etc.
Box #3 - English for two of my children, math for two others, high schoolers rotate through science, math, writing, language arts, history kind of stuff, my preschoolers get puzzles in box 3 sometimes the same one for a week if I can't get my self together
Box #4 - My late elementary kids have workbooks in this slot ie. vocabulary, explode the code, grammar etc. My preschoolers get a coloring page that had to do with that days topic. Crayons needed already in the box. My kindergartener has his very own workbooks. Again my high schoolers have a schedule they follow so no two kids need the computer at the same time. I float around making sure everyone knows what they are doing.
Box #5 - History with the elementary kids. We do this on Mondays and Thursdays. - they are supposed to be to box 5 by 11 am. If they get done earlier then they get to play. My kindergarten and preschooler get a snack in box 5 and a direction to play with a certain toy - if I am less than creative the same toy suggestions stays in there for weeks at a time. ie. gears, blocks, tea party etc. This is just a laminated card with instructions written in vis a vis. One day I would like to take actual pictures and plop them in the bins but hey by that time they won't need them.
We eat lunch
Box # 6 for elementary kids is science which we only do on Wednesdays and Fridays. It still gets to sit in the box so I am not losing the book and trying to switch out stuff. My big kids are still cycling through their stuff and my preschoolers are happy to have some time off from all their hard work so they usually watch a TV show or play some more. I would like to eventually have more for the littles to do but for now this is a great start.
Boxes 7 - 10 for the elementary crowd are usually math drill, spelling lists etc. Or empty. On some Fridays the elementary crowd has a recipe and their job is to collect ingredients while mom works with the teens. The recipe usually pertains to whatever geographical area we are working on. Now I help my teens with anything they need guidance in. ie. checking papers, explaining math, assigning work etc.
I have it planned out ahead of time in my lesson plans. I spend all summer working on lesson plans through Christmas, we take a huge Christmas break and I try to get as much planning for the rest of the year as I can. The difference between now and before is that before I was hunting for stuff while trying to simultaneously do the activity/subject. Now it is already to go. It is a pay me now or pay me later type thing. We are more productive if mom is together than searching or looking for subjects.
I use a loose version of the MOTH system for school subjects and just fill my slots in my boxes accordingly. This helps so I am not trying to teach three new math lessons simultaneously or have three kids wanting to use the computer at the same time. While we do centers for the older ones it is more for the purpose of "drill", review and things they need a quiet spot for.
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