The Workbox System
What is it?
The workbox system
is a pretty popular way for home schoolers to organize their
day. Here's the official site with various
products, but the gist of it that you basically fill up a
series of boxes (or bags) with one day's school work, and
the child works through each one. Most people have the
child work through the boxes in order, while others let
the child pick their own order. By taking the time to fill
the boxes the night ahead, you save time the next day by
not having to run around the house and gather up various
supplies or books needed for each activity- they're
already gathered. Also, the children can see how much work
they have to do and how much they've completed.
What
does it look like?
Here's
a workbox system with velcro numbers. As the child completes
their work from one box, they place the number on their
laminated card. This mom says she appreciates that the system
is on wheels to be rolled around the house as needed, since
they don't have a dedicated school room. She spends about 10
minutes a day filling the boxes and about 30-45 minutes each
Friday planning the next week's workboxes...
(originally
posted here)
Here's another
workbox system, set up in line for three children with the
workboxes to the left of each child's desk. This mom uses
Microsoft Excel for her weekly lesson planning/ box filling.
She says that implementing this system really cut down on
whining since the children know exactly when they're done
with their work. She even puts a snack in one box, about
half-way down, and a fun craft or game at the very end. She
also puts a "work with mom" sticker on the outside of boxes
that the child will need help with, and staggers those
activities between children.
(originally
posted here)
And here's an alternate variation that I like, and it's great
if you're low on space but already have some shelves to
spare... vertical boxes or magazine holders in a book
shelf... you can attach a clothespin when the box is done...
(originally
posted here and
here)
Two more alternate
variations are to use plastic storage drawers or hanging
pockets (the pockets aren't ideal since everything can't be
fit inside them, but are nice if you have no space). The mom
using the plastic storage drawers had three colors for her
three kids, and a fourth color for the subject they do as a
group, history.
(originally
posted here and
here)
That mom ended up changing her system so that they're only
using one set of workboxes for the work the kids do together,
and just uses a three-ring binder for each child for their
separate work, using a tab for each day.
She implemented the use of "waiting stations" which are what
a child can do while waiting for group time or waiting for
Mom.
(originally
posted here)
Here's
a peek inside a few workboxes...
Remember, each box
contains everything needed for one activity- books, paper,
scissors, glue... anything! That way the child can pick up
the box and get started right away.
(originally
posted here and
here and
here and
here)
It's
even handy for younger siblings...
If you
have little ones that need occupied while you're teaching
their older siblings, they can have their own work boxes too!
Most of my pre-school activities
would work
great in this system. Here are a few workbox examples for
the wee ones:
(originally
posted here)
Here are some
supplies that could be used to make your own workbox
system...
And
here are supplies for the variations of the workbox system I
mentioned (the plastic drawers I link to are for a six-pack-
18 drawers total- much cheaper than I've seen
elsewhere)
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