Workboxes Evolution

I first attempted a form of workboxes way back in the spring of 2009 and it was a quick crash and burn. It was a single bin with file folders and it kept falling over and didn't motivate my then K'er at all.

I attempted it differently, and more fully, in the summer of the following year, and I am glad to say that while parts of the system I detailed in that post have gone by the wayside (like the whole workfolder system), the heart of that system is still in use now 3 years later.

In this post a year later, summer of 2011, I detailed the slight changes that happened to our system over the first year of use.

Today I'll give you the run down of how our workboxes have functioned day in and day out for most days over the last two years.

First, I am no longer doing workboxes, workfolders, or any thing of that sort with my teens. I simply email them a pdf schedule with 5 days worth of assignments in every subject and they work off of that. They do use a large bin (like the ones pictured below, but deeper) with file folders in it to store finished work. Books they are using either go on the school book shelf or on their own book shelf in their room (or, more honestly, on the floor next to their beds). My elementary students, 5th, 3rd, and 1st grades as of today, are the ones still using workboxes.

Here is what our school bins (as we refer to them at home) look like. They are 6.2 quart flat stacking bins with locking lids measuring 15" long by 11" wide by 3.25" high or, more simply put, big enough so that even the largest workbook lies flat. Sadly it seems the only ones available currently are no longer colorless but are all over aqua. Ugh. Sterilite now has a slightly different clip box that would serve the same purpose that you can get at Target for the same price as the visually shocking agua ones. Google "workboxes" to see the million different types of containers other people use.





Since my husband put in built-in cabinets and shelves for me last summer, our school bins have lived in a cupboard, out of sight when we aren't actively doing school. I used colored duct tape to "label" both handles of each bin with the student's color so everyone can tell at a glance whose bin is whose.

At the beginning of a school day, the bins are removed from the cupboard and moved across the room or under the table or wherever the kid wants their stack to be for the day, except not in major walkways or strewn over 10 linear feet of floor space (because sometimes I just have to be a mean mommy, sigh). Then they work through their school a bin at a time, putting each bin back in the cupboard as that subject is completed. They are free to choose the order of their bins for the most part, although I occasionally intervene and require them to do a troubling subject earlier in the day. When all the bins are back in the cupboard they are done with school. We tried, briefly, to do the whole take-a-number-off-and-put-it-on-a-grid thing but it seemed purposeless when moving the entire bin from the stack to the cupboard was a much more climatic visual of finished work.

I do not put "fun" things in our workboxes. I tried it at the very beginning of our workboxes adventures, but it was a pain for both me and the kids. I keep an almost obscene amount of art and craft supplies, educational toys, games, DVDs, science projects, lapbooking stuff, historical projects, nature study objects, and more on hand and I freely encourage the kids to use them as they want (with permission, mostly so they aren't pulling stuff out before putting other stuff away). With all that fun stuff of their choosing, what was fun about something mom chose? Day after day there were asking, "Do I have to do this?" Um, no that painting project I spent 10 minutes putting together yesterday afternoon so that you would have something "fun" in your workboxes isn't really "school", and if you aren't going to have fun doing it why bother. Yeah, I gave up on choosing fun things for them pretty quick and just went back to encouraging them to pick whatever fun stuff they wanted. That works better for all of us.

I will add that I did fill a couple bins with fun but quiet and independent activities for my preschooler, when I still had a preschooler. It gave her something to do and kept her busy and (mostly) quiet for a while as I did school with her brothers. I did things like ready-made tea parties, games like Mighty Mind and Activities in a Bag, play dough (homemade, of course), sand letter cards, Tot Tray ideas, and many other things. Surprisingly, I didn't have to switch out the things in her bins daily in order to keep her entertained. Even though she had the shortest attention span of any of my kids (and still does, but that's a whole other blog post, sigh), she still would play with the same couple bins for up to a week before growing bored of them.

For a while I put shared subjects, like Sonlight Read Alouds and Science, in one child's bin and when he got to it he knew we had to all do it together. However, for the last year or more I have had kept shared subjects on the school shelf and we just know that we have to do them as well. Since we do the shared subjects all at once, either first thing when we start school (9:00 ish) or first thing after lunch, it's just easier for them not to be in the bins.

I do not set up our workboxes every day. I just don't. Many subjects, like Math and Handwriting, are workbook based and we simply do the next thing each day. Post-It Note Flags, in each child's color of course, are ideal for keeping our place in each workbook. It would be more work, more mess, and more likely to cause lost papers if I cut the workbooks apart to put in just one day's work. Of course, some subjects are done on loose papers, like Sonlight's Language Arts Activity Sheets and copywork work assignments, but I put blank lined paper and Activity Sheets in that bin for up to a month at a time. I rarely need to mess with more than one or two workbox contents each week, let alone messing with every workbox for every child every day. A system that required that just wouldn't last two days in my house.

I see our workbox system continuing pretty much as-is for years yet. They provide a visual list of what needs to be done each day so that both the student and I can see at a glance what is left. They also provide school storage and organization along with portability. Workboxes are a huge and very successful part of our homeschool.

Workboxes Update

Last August I wrote about the workbox system I was implementing, and I promised to write a follow-up post in January or so. Well, June is more than a little late, but here is the follow-up on our workbox system.

The reason for this follow-up post is simple; many people blog about their wonderful workbox system they are just starting to use, but you don't hear much about what people have been doing for the long term. I, myself, have spent hours putting together a system that didn't last two weeks before, so I think it's important to let people know what has worked for us in the long term.

I am happy to say that we are still using workboxes. 

 

We have changed things from how we started, however. The biggest change is my two oldest kids. My 8th grader didn't start this school year with workboxes of any sort, but rather I was just giving him an assignment checklist. My 6th grader was using a workfolder system (see the August post I linked to in the first paragraph above). Neither of these held up to the test of time, mostly because they required regular updating from me. The workfolder system especially was an epic fail, as it took 10+ minutes daily of my time in order for it to work. 10 minutes isn't much, I suppose, but they were 10 unnecessary minutes and as such they all too often were spent elsewhere.

Even the way the little kids use their workboxes has changed slightly. The whole "take off the numbered square and put it on this grid" thing is gone. First, neither the kids nor I needed that movement of numbers to feel like the work was done. Completing a bin and putting it back is more than enough visually to get the idea across. Second, I have always allowed my kids at least some choice in the order they do their subjects, but me setting up the numbering took all choice away from them. 

Anyway, here is the description of how workboxes work in our homeschool now. We've been doing it this way for months (more months than we did it the other way) and I don't see it changing except I'm thinking of putting their colors on the ends so I can see more easily at a glance whose bin is whose.

Each kid has one bin per subject, more or less. My 8th grader has one bin per hour, as I require an hour from him a day for most subjects, but Spanish and Grammar only take up an hour together total. At the beginning of the school day everyone moves their bins away from their spot under the bookshelves and as they go through their school work they put the bins back one at a time. When they have gone through all their bins they are done for the day. They get to choose what order they want to do their work (I do override their choice as needed, but it isn't often) and that diminishing stack of bins is a great motivator. Many of the subjects don't require set up at all, as they are just "do the next thing" subjects like handwriting, math, and spelling. For history and science for the older kids I either give them a print out check list with lessons that will last them months at a time, or I refer them to the Sonlight Instructor's Guide to look up the assignment on their own. For the younger kids I put some IG pages in the bin with the books for me to use. The only bin, out of all five kids, that requires daily set up is the bin that holds my K'er's page from All About Reading Level Pre-1's Letters and Sounds Activity Book as it needs different craft supplies daily (I promise to do a review of AAR soon, it's WONDERFUL). Well, I've trained my guy that setting up for the next day is part of finishing up for today, so this bin is ready for the next day by the time he puts it away. Plus, that makes him excited for the next day too.

Anyway, that's our system in a nutshell. If you have any questions, ask and I'll give more detail.

What's in the Workbox

This is my 2nd grader's Read Aloud workbox for this week. Every thing I read aloud to him, and my K'er, goes into one bin with this week's Core Instructor's Guide page. If I felt I needed the guide pages for the books I would add them to the bin as well, but since this is only Core 1 and I've done this Core before I didn't bother with the guides.

This is my K'er's Math workbox for the day. He wants to do lots of pages in Singapore Earlybird book A each day, but he isn't really getting the concepts fully. So, as needed, I am making up additional hands-on Math for him. Today he has to count out the amount of beads written on each Post-It note. Not exactly related, but I used green Post-Its because his color is green. Yes, I do color code my kids.

This is a tea party in a bin for my preschooler. Her workboxes are all about keeping her occupied and happy while I work with my school aged children. Well, tea parties make her very happy indeed and I can't think of a single other activity that will keep her busy for more time. This is all she needs for herself and her two pandas, because (at least according to her) pandas like tea parties too.

This is my 6th grader's last pocket in her workfolder for today. She is working on a quilted notebook cover. We are both loving how using this version of the workbox system is getting her to more electives more regularly.

School Room Week + Workboxes

It's week 2, School Room Week, of the NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop over on Heart of the Matter. 

We don't have a dedicated school room, but school definitely dominates our family room. Check it out. As usual, click on any photo to see it full size.

This photo was taken from in front of our kitchen sink, over looking the bar counter, the dining room table, and then into the family room where school takes place. Notice the cattails in the foreground from an earlier blog post, and behind them you can barely see an ugly but comfy yellow chair, and off to the right between the wooden chair and the computer desk is a comfy but ugly green love seat. The shelves and desk are pretty ugly too. Hmmm, I sense a theme there.

We do have prettier dreams, however. We are making plans, counting costs, and saving up to put in built in cabinets and shelves along that large west wall of the family room. This is about what we plan. We'll replace the ugly but comfy seats with pretty but comfy seats too.


While I'm at it here, I'll spend the rest of this post talking about our version of the workbox system. Don't know what workboxes are? Well, Squidoo has the best overview that I know of.

 I opted to use Sterilite 6.2 quart flat bins instead of plastic shoe boxes, because the idea of folding workbooks to fit in smaller bins just bothers me. The bins I chose allow even extra large books to lay flat. Otherwise my system for my three younger kids is pretty much the same as explained on the above Squidoo page. For my preschooler, the bins with pink numbers, "school" is just a mix of games, puzzles, and other activities that keep her happy while I work with the others. When I first started out with these about three weeks ago I was changing out her things daily, but now I have found she is just as happy if I keep the same items for a full week.

Here is a peek into my 2nd grader's #1 bin. The underside of the lid has the workbox schedule grid for the velcro numbers to go as he finishes each bin. Also, in this bin is where his pencil, crayons, and other school supplies live, and right on top ready for Monday morning is a cardstock page with clip art of a child making her bed and it reads "clean your room". He has to clean his room for the #1 bin to be done and so he can go on with the rest of his school day. My K'er and preschooler have similar #1 bins.

Some people new to workboxes wonder how subjects that are done together with more than one child are dealt with. For example, if I am reading one History book to two or more children what do I do with it? Well, the biggest benefit of the workboxes in our homeschool is the accountability required of me, so it is important to me that all school is in the boxes. So, I just put the do-together items in one child's box and when we get to it the other child (or other children, as the case may be) take a break from their boxes and come along too. Again, we are only about three weeks into this workbox system, but it is working very, very well so far. I'll post a workbox update come January or February, as I am often curious how people's systems work in the long term.

Lastly, I'll show you my 6th grader's workfolder system, which has a similar premise but is a bit different in execution. I take no credit for the idea; I pretty much copied, almost exactly, the idea from this blog post from Homeschool Creations. For me, this is the perfect solution for kids (and moms) that could benefit from the general workbox idea, but that feel they are too old for a dozen or so boxes. Also, it is quite compact, so it would be a great small space workbox solution as well. 

I found this comb bound plastic eight pocket folder at Wal-Mart on a low shelf in the school supply section, and bought two of them so that I could undo the comb binding and add four of the pockets from one into the other to have a single workfolder with twelve pockets (and another folder with four pockets that I am using for the Biology mini co-op I am hosting). The first pocket holds the schedule grid, plus has "clean your room" and "gather school supplies" as tasks to complete to call it finished. For items that won't fit easily into the pocket, such as the novel King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry that she is reading this week, I just use a Post-It note and a velcro square that says the subject (some, like this "Reading" one I got from Homeschool Creations' printables and others, like the "Clean your room." one above I made myself). 

Using this workfolder has been a huge success so far this school year, all three weeks of it, and I have great hopes that it will continue to be an asset. It keeps her moving forward steadily in all subject areas, keeps me more accountable to keep on top of her work daily, and keeps both of us more motivated to make sure some "fun" things are scheduled in there too. In the next couple days she'll get a chance to do an online video Art Club and work on her quilting project. In just three weeks she has already done more art, hobbies, and extracurriculars (typing at this moment) than she did for all of last year, and all while still getting all her other subjects done too. Scheduling her "fun" stuff in this way doesn't make it less fun, but rather makes it like a reward for working hard.


UPDATE: See this blog post to read how my workbox system is working almost a year later.

Homeschool Arts and Crafts, for Mama

I've been busy creating things for our homeschool, and these are the results.

Over on the Sonlight forums there has been a lengthy discussion of the Workbox System of assigning homeschool work. At first I was resistant to the idea, as it would take up a lot of space (all the more so considering I have 5 kids) until I saw this woman's adaptation to the system to fit in pockets in a single plastic bin. Well, I gathered items I already had on hand and made one up for my Kindergartner. I didn't have any cool pre-glued velcro dots on hand, so I just cut squares of the regular velcro I had and hot glued them on.

All the sample photos and descriptions I found of the Workbox System had 12 boxes, pockets, or envelopes per day per child. I made up 12 for my son, but only for future use. I only filled 8 pockets today and put the 4 away. I require that he complete the first 6, and the last 2 are fun or lighter activities that he can do if he wants. Today's pockets were:

1. The Family Time Bible story book and his Sunday School memory verse.
   
2. Handwriting Without Tears workbook (half a page).
3. A Sonlight Core P4/5 book, Things People Do. While I only put one book in a pocket it is the reminder that it is time to read a few books to him.
4. His sand letter cards (see below).
   
5. A Miquon Math Orange book page.
6. A Draw Write Now book and a couple sheets of drawing paper. He usually draws a single animal or something each day and doesn't do the writing.
7. (he didn't get to this today) Developing the Early Learner book 2 workbook. He calls this his "fun" workbook.
8. (he didn't do this either) Mighty Minds game.

Sunday I made sand letter cards for my Kindergartner as well, based on Heather's blog post about the cards she made. The biggest difference in my letter cards over Heather's is that instead of using red sand to make the starting point dot I used a dot of red paint. I had red paint on hand and it was much easier than doing the whole sand process twice. Anyway, I am now making the sand letter cards a daily part of his school, to make learning letter sounds a more multi-sensory process. He traces the letter while I say and he repeats the sounds, involving visual (seeing the letter), auditory (hearing me say the sound and then repeating it himself), and tactile (feeling the shape of the letter as he traces it with his finger).