The "Workbox", that is !

Sue Patrick’s Workbox System User Guide

by Sue Patrick

The Old Schoolhouse Review “Crew” or TOS crew received this e-book to review, and as with all the products we received the e-book free to read and evaluate. Sue Patrick requested that we be willing to actually try out her system, and not just review the book. So, after glancing through the book to see what I would need, I loaded up the kids, and headed to the Walmart Super Center for supplies. Everything that I purchased to do the “system” for one child, totaled around $45.00, but you could do it for less, or you could spend more depending on your budget. I decided to try this out with my youngest first, since he is the least resistant to change!

Sue Patrick has written a very helpful “Manuel” for her system, but this guide includes many other tidbits of information and suggestions for your Homeschool. The author has a good grasp on the way we learn and provides much insight into ways to improve our Home Education Programs. For those of us who often feel we get "off track" with our independent learners, this is a system that can help us get back where we need to be. For those who are just starting out in their Homeschooling journey, this is a system that can help to smooth your way.

This book provides much more than a system that helps you to get more done (although it will do that). She frames her educational philosophy for you, which can help you to ‘flesh out’ your own educational ideas. Her “User Guide” is laid out in a very logical way that is easy to understand. She gives good step by step directions on ways to improve your child’s ability to be independent and to encourage them to be proactive in their learning.

Much of what she recommends that pertains to students with special needs can also be applied to learners with regular needs. I loved her emphasis on how we need to be sure that we are teaching our children “how to learn” and how to organize their work space so that they can be productive. The skills that they learn now, will serve them well in the future too!

Her website requires that you be a registered user (book owner) in order to access and download materials and forms that are not included in the e-book, but there are sample pages from the book available here: http://www.workboxsystem.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/booksamplesuepatricksworkboxsystem.pdf

The e-book that we received costs $19.00 and the print copy of the book is $19.95 (plus shipping). The author has a variety of packages that you can purchase, including one with personal consulting charges, and some with pre-made items and supplies that you will use if you do not want to make your own and if you use the system exactly as she recommends.

Now I will show you how we are using the system in our Homeschool J It is a little different from the way that she recommends and I am sure that if you decide to try her book and system, it will look a little different at your house too since all our families and children (and space issues!) are not the same.

Getting the Boxes Ready: I used clear plastic pockets so that I can change the numbers when I want to. You can also use velcro to attach the numbers to the boxes.

The Boxes on the Shelf:

The basket next to the shelf is where the items or books go when my 10 year old (aka the Guinea Pig) is finished with them. Some of the books, like the Math books, are going back into the boxes because we use them every day.

In the picture above, you can see that we have our cards and our schedule all together so he can see at a glance what needs to be done. This means that he can start his work whenever he is ready and go on to his next task without waiting for me to tell him what is next!

This enables me to help one of the other children with their work, or get a much needed task done while they are working independantly. I think that I am going to expand this to the other children now that we have discovered what a good system it really is for us. My oldest is hesitant to try it, but I really do think that it will apply well to a High Schooler!

Well, I will keep you posted and you will be able to see how it works for my High School Student on my "Mission Possible" Blog :  (http://cre8tivehome.wordpress.com/) where I will be blogging specifically about teaching High School at home!

Signing off for now - Merit K