New Workboxes

In homeschooling there is a system called "workboxing".  I am not a pro at this at all but basically the jist of it is that each subject is in it's own little tub.  It's a way for kids to see how much more they have to do and what they have to work with.  If you have more questions about how the workboxes can work, check out this page.  It's Sue Patrick's page and she invented the workbox system...pretty smart cookie :).

Last year the thing that I really didn't like was Emma's one question she seemed to ask all of the time:  "Are we done yet?"  It was like being on a really long car ride with her asking if we were almost there.  A long car ride...every.single.day.  Not so fun. 

So this year we are going to try workboxes.  I have high hopes so hopefully it will go well.  This system will help her visually see what is left.  No more having to ask Mommy.  I have "DONE" labels on the back of her tubs so when she is done with a subject she can flip it around and see which one's don't say done yet and which ones already do...hopefully evoking a feeling of accomplishment for her. 

Emma has 6 workboxes and Cal has 6 too.  We are pretty sure that we will be homeschooling him but I still want to check out how his attention span is doing and his ability to listen to me and stay on task.  This will be a way for me to put 6 activities together for him and then evaluate how he does.  I am not going to be giving him 6 worksheets or anything, but there will be fine motor skills, handwriting activities, and fun stuff.  Hopefully he thinks it's neat and will stick with us. 

I read Just Laine's website over the summer and fell in love with their workbox system.  Thankfully her and her husband put together a tutorial of how to build it.  You can find that on her site here.  It was so detailed and Maw-velous!  It even had instructions on how to have the sheet of wood cut at the store in the most efficient way...loved it!!!  What a Godsend their family is to us...we never could have done this without her blog.  So thank you so much Laine and husband!

The bins are from Ikea.  Ikea has this system where you can pick what bins you want and how much but their system was over $200.00!  So I bravely approached Nick with the plans from Laine's site.  I figured it would never get done.  Not because he's mean or lazy or anything, but because the guy is working ALL of the time!  And he is alway busy.  He has to compensate for a little wife staying home, yo.  So I figured this would be a back burner kind of project!  To my surprise it only took him two weeks!  And he built me another shelf system too (I'll show that to you some other time).  I am amazed at what a talented husband God gave me.  If Nick doesn't know how to do something, he figures it out.  It's just amazing.   He really has God given abilities and I am just so thankful for him. 

Anywho, here's a look at my new workbox system...eek!  Im so excited!

 This is the system...isn't it neat?  It's painted with Dutch Boy's "Clam Island" door and trim paint...all of the trim in our house is this color, well, because we are in love with it!

 Here are all of the labels.  I made these on word and it was pretty super easy.  I took them to United Art and Education to be laminated.  It was crazy cheap to get them laminated there.  Something like 25 cents per foot or something.  Seriously, if you have one of those around and need something laminated, go there.  I know lakeshore laminates too, but I'm not sure of their prices.  Those are the only educational stores around us...do you have others?

 Here's the front of one column of bins and the backs of others.  See?  They'll just flip them around when they are "done" and it will say "done".  Okay...done saying done :) 

 One of the other reasons I am so excited is that the workboxes are going to hold all of my junk.  It's just amazing to me how much stuff we have accumulated in the past year of schooling.  These are stored in...

This bin!  Ha!  Pretty self explanatory! 

When we bought bins we bought big bins for storage and little bins for the kids school work every day.  I am so happy that we did because I still have one empty big bin and already our classroom looks much more organized.  Granted all of the books are still around, but what the bins are good for are all of the things that just weren't uniform in shape...all of the math manipulatives, the english games, the supplies for science experiments, the art supplies that are uber expensive and aren't just for anytime.  Basically all of the stuff that was coming  out of their boxes and toppling all over the floor.  Now they all have their own little home in our home.

In the next day or two I'll take pictures and give you a little tour of our classroom.  And please let me know if you have any questions about the workboxes.  Or if you have any other educational stores around you in other parts of the country let me know!  I love these kinds of stores and would love to shop them online or the next time we are on vacation!  :)