Week One - Work Boxes

Monday:
- Read Aloud to Mommy (Little House Series - keeping with the pioneer theme this month)
- Writing activity (a worksheet where he answers questions about him)
- Miquon Math (2 or 3 sections from where we last left off)
- Oral recitation of the days and months
- Cutting with scissors
- Board game
- Making houses with architecture stamps

Tuesday:
- Read Aloud (Little House)
- Writing copywork (silly poetry)
- Singapore math lesson
- Working on address and phone numbers
- Cutting with scissors
- Colouring worksheet (geometric shapes)

Wednesday:
- Read Aloud (Little House)
- Writing activity (tbd)
- Miquon Math
- Spelling work with Dolch list 1, worksheet & puzzle
- Science read about Mercury and paint the first planet- styrofoam ball
- History, talk with mom about Pioneer village experience, look at books
- Weather Video (documentary)

Thursday:
- Read Aloud (Little House)
- Writing copywork
- Singapore math lesson
- Grammar Lesson
- Read poetry with Mom
- Geography, lesson on difference between country, province, city
- Computer time, email 2 people

Friday:
- Read Aloud (Little House)
- Writing activity (write a poem)
- Math worksheets
- Spelling work with Dolch list 2, worksheet & puzzle
- Science, work on weather instruments
- Social Sciences worksheets
- jigsaw puzzle

3 Hours of Prep Time Later...

...and I have completed my first week agenda for those work-boxes! Well, a little of that time was also consumed with organizing the weekly schedule. I am a scatterbrain at heart. I grew up making lists because lists are the only way I can attain the level of organizational perfection I strive for. To me that is as relaxing as a nice bottle of Italian Pinot. When our cell plan ends in a few months Rob and I are getting IPhones and he tells me I can put my schedule on Google Calendars and it will update my calendar on the phone, which will always be with me...but I digress.

So, instead of trying to figure out what to do with the boxes the night before (which I am convinced would fall apart within days), I have a binder which holds all the information I will need to muddle through. Each week has a schedule, a blank sheet with seven boxes for 5 days where I can jot down what I plan, and a blank meal plan sheet. Why the meal planning? Well, I have a pretty thorough meal planning system. Keeping it in my binder makes it easier to remember that Tuesday is lunch in the car on the way to X activity and Thursday is pick up take-out food night because X ends at 6pm. Really, without all these detailed lists, my life as I know it would fall apart. People may laugh but I can honestly say that since the kids have been born I have been freakishly prepared and on schedule. In all the trips we've ever taken I can think of two times when I forgot something, like a toothbrush or night time pull-ups. I need to overcompensate for my bipolar/ADD/mildly OCD brain. Again, I digress...

I figured out how much time I have each morning sans Miss Iz and have a list of things I would like to accomplish with Alex while he is alert and *not* distracted. I also have a list of reminders for other activities that can be thrown into one of the boxes. Monday and Tuesday are shorter work days because some homeschool activities will eat into our alone time. Wednesday through Friday are the good days where we have more time to do what we want. I have a few master templates at the back of my binder to remind me what the goals will be. For the next while we will be focusing more time on writing skills and adding regularly scheduled lessons for history and geography. There are a few science projects that will take up fair chunks of our time too.

I think I will post the Week 1 agenda separately. Maybe I'll do it weekly. We'll see,

My Take on *Those* Work-Boxes

I have spent about a month thinking about the work-box system. I've browsed a ton of sites. I've made lists about subjects to cover and what types of activities I could put in the boxes. Mostly, I have been trying to figure out how to make that system work for me.

To start with, I love the idea but didn't like many aspects of implementation. I took my favourite ideas from a few other homeschoolers using the system and made up the rest to suit us. The numbered system, for example, seemed too regimented for us. I know Alex would just look through the drawers and do which ever one he wanted to do first. We are also very visual and I wanted pictures to tell Alex what he was up to that day.

So, first I had my list of subjects and activities. Items like math, science, history, geography and social sciences were a priority. Also included were items piano practice, art, construction & building and reading. I came up with 20 categories. I also made 3 work with mom cards and 2 need assistance cards.

After deciding what categories to use, I headed over to the Discovery Education Clip Art website. I found corresponding images to my subjects, printed them to size in black and white, then coloured them with the kids' pencil crayons. I purchased some self laminating sheets, multi-coloured bristol board, velcro strips and ring clips then went to work.

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I am using a bin with seven drawers because (1) that's what I already have, (2) it takes up less floor space (which is at a premium) and (3) no one is tempted to throw unrelated things into the open bins as we (meaning me) are apt to do. There are, however, eight spaces on the completed sheet. I made an extra one for piano practice. It didn't need a drawer because his books are on the instrument but I will add an extra velco sticky above the top drawer to remind him that that is on the list too.



There are two velcro pieces to each drawer. The ones on the left will hold the activity/subject tags. The ones on the right will be used for the work with mom tags or left available for Alex to affix the need assistance card, should that come up.




I will keep the subject tags in a box for my evening preparations. Attached to the side of the drawers will be Alex's laminated sheets to affix the completed tags as he works through the bins.



We haven't put it into practice yet, so I know it will evolve along the way, but the idea is that Alex will need to complete all the drawers before the end of the day. This will give him some control over what he does and when and it gives me more control over what he is doing (academically). If a drawer remains unfinished then it will roll over to the next day. On busy days, the work load will be lighter. We may or may not implement some rules like three drawers before Lego or five drawers before Wii. We'll see.

I am excited. I feel more organized but not so much so that it feels like unsustainable micromanaging. Alex is excited too. He is already bugging me to start filling them up. This is good. It will keep us both on our toes.

Blink and summer is almost over!

I don't know if the speedy passage of time is a good thing or a bad thing?! For one, I've accomplished very little in regards to house cleaning. It seems that something always takes priority over, well, anything to do with washing windows or cleaning out cupboards. Shocking, I know.

I do love Fall, and we have a big milestone coming up. I will have two kids in school. Or rather, the one in school and the other will be homeschooling for grade 1. Grade 1! These kids grow up way too fast.

So, Izzy is as good to go as she can be. Finally potty trained. Can write her name, knows her alphabet, has an healthy obsession with books, etc... Alex needs some extra guidance this year. We have turned that corner where he would probably turn on the Wii before reading a book so I will have to help steer him towards more scholarly pursuits as the new school year comes around.

If you are a homeschooler and browse homeschool websites you are probably familiar with the latest craze - work boxes. I think it was started by a woman named Sue Patrick - or at least she is the first one to market the system. Since then, there have been many versions out there posted on various blogs and chat sites. The idea is that each child (in my case, Alex) would be set up with a number of work boxes. Some people use shoe boxes on a rack, magazine holders on a shelf or drawers from plastic bins. Each day you put in work, activities and games in different boxes. The kids work through the box and then you are done for the day. I like this idea but I am trying to think of the simplest way to implement it. I know that anything that takes too much effort will die off in a few weeks.

I was thinking about what I could do with such a system. There would be daily requirements such as piano practice and math lessons. I could mark off the pages I want done with sticky notes. It would force me to plan more concrete activities on a daily basis. Plus, whenever he gets in the 'I'm bored, tell me what to do' mood, I can just say - have you completed what is in the drawers? I love it in theory. The problem is putting it into practice without overdoing it. I have a bad habit of over complicating things in life.