Posted in Workboxes
It is amazing what a new system will do for your day. Ami posted about Sue Patrick's Workbox System on the HSS forums. After looking around Sue's website and purchasing/reading her book, I had to try it for myself. WOW! I have always considered myself a fairly organized and structured person. But, sometimes I am too structured. I have a hard time following rabbit trails in our school day, because it "isn't on my schedule". I find myself looking at things online and in books and thinking about how fun The Princess or The Wild One would think "it" is, but I don't follow through with it because "there isn't enough time". Well, now there is!! We started this system yesterday (yep, only used it once and already singing its praises).
The concept is that you have 12 numbered boxes for each child. Each box holds an assignment or activity for that child. If the assignment/activity requires help/instruction from mom (math, spelling, etc) then the box is tagged with a "work with mom" card. (see pics below) Believe it or not, I now find time in my day for the fun stuff I couldn't fit in before. One huge thing this system does for me is that it virtually eliminates "wait" time. I don't have to send someone to "find something quiet to do" while I finish working with the other child. Now, I can stagger the instruction lessons, and they work independently the rest of the time.
Here's what our days look like now. I've posted a sample schedule below.
We start school at 9:00 with me reading from the Bible and reviewing our memory verses. Then we do our science (MW) or Geography (TR) lesson together. After that, we break for snack. After snack, they start their boxes. They work through their boxes until noon when we break for lunch. After lunch, I read from our read-aloud book before the kids go back to their boxes to work until they are finished.
The Princess (K):
- Add date to wall calendar and complete math journal
- Structured reading with Mom (this has our reading book for the week – Baby in a Basket – and the minit books we will complete today to go with it)
- Journal – If I had a hot air balloon, I would go…(She has to write that sentence starter, finish the sentence, and draw a picture.)
- Math workbook page and flash cards with mom
- Free Reading (She chooses a book/books to read for 15 minutes. She then narrates one story/chapter to me.)
- Phonics sort – matching picture cards to the correct short vowel sound
- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – read book on her own, stamp “s” in a “S is for Star” minit book, glue pics into a “Who did she see sleeping” minit book
- Spelling with mom
- Spin a Shape game
- Gingerbread Man to read aloud to Mom
- Shamrock matching game
- Shamrock tracing page for fine motor practice
The Wild One (5th grade)
- Correct math lesson from yesterday. Set timer for 5 minutes and complete timed test.
- Free reading for 30 minutes
- Math Test
- Spelling with Mom
- Typing for 10 minutes
- Mad Libs x2 (printed and in his box)
- Grammar lesson
- Dice math – roll 2 dice and combine numbers to form two 2-digit numbers which he will then multiply
- Writing Strands lesson
- Structured Reading – Stone Fox
- Track your musher (updates his Iditarod musher’s statistics on his record sheet and does the math involved – how long has he rested in total, how many more miles to go, etc)
- Mexico word search (our country this week for Geography)
The word searches, sorting games, etc are things I would have had a hard time fitting in my day before this system. Because I can add a few fun learning activities in their boxes throughout the day, I don't hear "what do I do now".
This is The Princess working this morning. You can see our boxes under the window. The boxes stacked to the right of the rack are ones she has already worked through. She can see her work load diminish as the day goes on.
This is a close-up of the numbered box. The tag above the number "4" lets her know to come get me for the lesson.
Here is a post-it with lesson instructions on it. She shouldn't have to ask me "what do I do?".
The clock tag lets her know to set the timer for a determined amount of time (here it's 15 minutes). When the timer beeps, this activity/assignment is over.
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