The Summer Plan

I bought the materials for The Workbox System in the spring. I tried it for a few days to see how I liked it before next year. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please take the time to google "workbox system" or "workboxes" because there is simply too much out there to link to. Here is the really short explanation: it is basically an organizational system that aids whatever curriculum you use and encourages independence on the part of the student. There is much more to it, but that's the short answer.

I think I've visited every single blog that shares about workboxes and I got so many great ideas from them. I did purchase Sue Patrick's e-book and there is no doubt---it is a great organizational system. But a few days after we tried it, I just had the feeling that something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something nagged at me. I finally figured out what it was--I didn't WANT to be that organized.

Now let me explain. I have been learning about the benefits of organization around here and that is another reason I am excited to organize our homeschool day a bit more. But not THAT much.

See, I LIKE spontaneity. I like the kids to get to pick the order they get to do things sometimes. Will they pick all the fun things first and be stuck with all the hard work at the end? Probably. What a great lesson though! Yes, they need to learn to follow instructions, so MOST days they will probably follow the system in order. Maybe Fridays will be "you pick the order" days.

To be fair, Mrs. Patrick developed this system for her son, who is autistic. There are definitely kids, and families, who need that structure. But I don't want to give up the freedom that homeschool affords to become slaves to a schedule, you know?

There was something else though. Twelve boxes are WAY too many for our school day! The system suggests 12 workboxes for each student. When we tried that in the spring, the day seemed to go on forever! If we can finish school in a few hours, then I want to! I considered using the workboxes for just extra work for the kids to go to when they were waiting on me or to use as an assignment every now and then.

In the end, I decided that 6 boxes per child were plenty. Here are our boxes:

You can barely see the green number stickers on them. Sweetheart's are on top and Little Bit's are on the bottom. I had affixed the downloaded numbers, printed on blue card stock, to the shoe boxes already. But when I saw these I decided to spruce things up a bit. Great inspiration. I haven't ripped off all the old tags yet, as you can see.

Here are our boards where the numbers go when they complete the box.

(Their names are in the green sticker letters as well.) These were just made from scrapbook paper, good, thick laminating from an office supply store, and velcro.

When the board is full--you're done with school. I love that. It's my new motto. We just have so many subjects that we do together and curriculum that requires me to work with them--6 boxes work well for now.

Hmm. I talked a lot and never got to our summer plan so........to be continued! :)

P.S. The shelf was $15 from Target's laundry section and the shoeboxes were $1 each, also from Target. Some folks have done it cheaper. Google the blogs peoeple--there is a wealth of info out there!