Work Boxes

With many of us preparing for our new school year I know that a major concern is organization. Workboxes have been all the rave in the homeschooling community for quite some time and for good reason. It is a great organizational/accountability tool. As go most things with us homeschoolers there are many ways that workboxes have been "tweaked"-albiet all are great ideas not all work for every family.

About a year ago I posted about how we used workboxes in our home. I thought that since it was "that time of year again" I would repost what I wrote about workboxes in our home. Now, this is just another idea in an ever growing pool of workbox ideas but hopefully more of you will find our ideas useful.

Although we didn't stick with workboxing all year last year I do plan to do better at it this year but we are definetly going to stick to the plan laid out here.

As I often do I was scanning blogs of other homeschooling moms and came across this idea that struck me as a must try!! Yes, I am guilty of trying out too many things and not sticking with them but...well...ok so I really have no excuse!! That's just me.

So anyway...the idea I saw was awesome so I'll explain it here and let you decide if this is one more idea you want to try or not! :) So this is what you need:

A clear plastic tote like the kind that you can put the hanging folders in. I purcahsed two from Wal-Mart (blue box) and two from Target (green box). I sent hubby on an errand for one more box from Target but he came home with two instead that's why we have so many. But can you really have too many containers? My son has already claimed the extra one for his toys!! Wal-Mart's were $4 and Target's were $5. The only difference is that Target's are a little cuter. I know, it's a plastic box, but it really is cuter!!

Okay, back to the list. You'll need cardstock in any color you'd like or maybe in your child's favorite color. Clear laminate, less than $6 at Wal-Mart. I did purchase the more expensive kind of laminate because the cheaper one is always kind of cloudy and that bothers me. Velcro (I purchased the dots, less than $3 for a box of 20) and some numbers. I printed mine off the computer but you can use whatever you have. Next you will need something to put each assignment in. I already had some hanging folders so it was easier for me to use hanging folders but you can use whatever you want or have on hand. I've seen someone use those big yellow mailing envelopes. I'll try to put the link up here so that you can see how others fashioned this for their own families. You will also need scissors, an empty cereal box, glue and paper clips.

You will need to get on a word prossesing program and make up a simple table of 3 rows of 4 so that you will end up with something like this:

You can adjust your grid according to the number of assignments that your child may have. I made mine with "room to grow!" Print it out, laminate it and place a velcro dot in the middle of each of the squares.

Then using clipart from the same program print out the numbers 1-12. Make them fun if you can. Print them onto either regular paper or cardstock. I printed mine onto regular paper and then glued them onto cereal boxes that I have saved. I have plenty of cardstock but it's expensive so I use it sparingly!! You can then cover those with clear laminate and place a sticky velcro dot on the back. You will end up with something like this:
Next tape the grid that you made onto the front of the plastic tote. Now like I said before I used the hanging folders because I already had them but you can use large envelopes, plastic ziplock bags with a piece of cardstock or cereal box added inside to help the bag stand up. You could even use manilla folders if you like. Be creative!! Put those inside your box and now your box will look like this:

What I've done to save on velcro dots is to take my number cards and paper clip each of them to a hanging folder. Like this:

Inside each of the folders I place one of my daughters assignments for the day. For example in number one I placed her reading book because that's what we do first thing in the morning.

Once she reads to me she returns the book to the folder because she'll need it the following day and removes the number card from the folder and places it on the appropriate grid on the front of the box like this:

She then reaches in the next folder for her next assignment. That's it!!! Done!! Easy huh?! At the end of the school day hopefully her box will look like this:

When I explained this to her she was so excited and really does like using the box. My daughter is what Debra Bell labels as a routine learner. She needs structure and routine. She thrives best in situations where she knows what to expect and what is expected of her. Well, unfortunatley she has a Mama that isn't very good at doing things consistently but this is helpful in keeping us both on track. This is also helpful because she can see how much work she has left to do so I don't hear (hopefully), "Are we almost done yet?" I like that I'm even able to schedule in "fun" things for her that I otherwise wouldn't be organized enough to do.

Now if you're like me and have more than one child you can work it so that if you're working with one child on their first assignment then the first assignment for your other child could be something that they can do on their own. I was even organized enough to give my younger daughter a learning puzzle and a finger painting assignment. YAY!!

So, go ahead and think about whether or not this would work in your life. I know that for us any thing to help organize a little more is always a breath of fresh air. This is a relatively inexpensive project as well so maybe that will help you decide.;) If you decide to do this please let me know how it goes. Or if you have other ideas to make this even more awesome please let me know!!!

PS!!
Here is a picture of a game I made that I put into a ziplock baggie. You can see how you can utilize this method for your box instead of the hanging folders if you'd like. The added cereal box or cardstock allows the bag to stand upright a little better. If you look in the above picture you can see how the baggie is set inside the hanging folder but it might be okay without a hanging folder to sit in.

Well, that's it! Now hurry along and get your items together and plan a workbox making evening. I hope that this blesses you~

Lovin' Learnin'