Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Get Organized! Using Workboxes for your Homeschool




We've been using workboxes in our homeschool for two years, and they've been extremely helpful in keeping me organized and helping us stay on task through the homeschool day. They have also been useful to promote independent learning with my first-grader this year (which enables me to spend more time with the three littler ones)!

I LOVE this system and I've received a few questions about it, so I wanted to share with you all how we use them in our homeschool. I'm a visual learner and I know there are more of you out there like me, but sometimes photos just aren't thorough enough for me. I benefit greatly from someone walking me through something and showing me how to do it or at least how they do it so I have a better idea of where to start. For this reason, I put together a video tutorial! Now, this is my first video ever, so please be gracious. It's far from perfect. :) However, if you bear with me, I hope you will have a better understanding of Sue Patrick's system and maybe even walk away with some ideas of how to make it work for your family. I broke it up into two videos so you wouldn't get too bored. ;)

In the first video, I share with you exactly what is "The Workbox System." It's mostly informational, but very important if you want to give workboxes a try. After I talk about Sue Patrick & her work a bit, I show you our workbox carts and introduce how they work.



In part two, I walk you through how I set up for each day the night before and get our workboxes ready to go!



Here are some links for things I mentioned in the videos (some are affiliate links):

Sue Patrick's Workbox System: A User's Guide
Ten Drawer Cart
Calendar Notebook
Elementary Daily Learning Notebook
Velcro dots
Task Cards
Subject TRIO

If you would like access to my own subject/activity cards, shoot me a comment and I'd be happy to share my link! I'm also happy to answer any questions you may have.

For more information on this system, or to order Sue Patrick's ebook, go here.


To look at my other homeschool posts, look here:
Our Curriculum, 2014-2015
Tour Our Homeschool Room
First Day of School, 2014-2015
Our Typical Homeschool Day


Have fun discovering this new way to organize your homeschool days!



Do you use workboxes in your homeschool? Have you modified them at all to fit your family? Share in the comments below!


6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this, Bethany! I found it really helpful. I never quite understood how this system works and didn't realize you're actually putting your teacher manuals into the workboxes as well. That makes so much sense. I may give this a try in a month or so once my homeschool room is back together. It seems like it would be a great organizational tool for myself and give the kids more independence as well. Thanks again, Bethany!

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  2. Hi Bethany, Thank you so much for creating your videos! They are so helpful! :) Can you please share the link for your subject/activity cards? It looks like they can be printed at home on 8 1/2 X 11 sized paper. Thank you! Blessings, Darlene

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  3. Thanks, Darlene! I'm glad you found the videos useful. I apologize for the long response time... The holidays really took over the last couple of months, so I've been offline A LOT. Here is my google doc for our homeschool task cards: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FM-UlhZ5BwAtsbrKTPFw8OeYGShXSCUHSCx2VKJ0SVM/edit?usp=sharing
    We don't currently use ALL of them, but I wanted to make sure I covered all my bases & included ones I thought we might use in the near future too. (Cuz, let's face it, cutting out little squares, laminating, and cutting out more little squares is tedious work!) I hope they are helpful to you as well.

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  4. Hello! Thank you so much for the very helpful videos! Do you think worboxes could work for a pre-schooler? Also, do you still have the link for the princess cards? I think my girls would love them!
    Thanks again , and God bless you!
    Maria:)

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    1. Hi, Maria. I absolutely think workboxes can work for pre school! What kinds of things are you wanting to do with your little one?
      If you need ideas or practical uses for that age group, Carisa over at 1+1+1=1 has some GREAT thoughts! Check out this post: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2010/03/behind-scenes-preschool-workboxes/.
      If you email me at beth.glosser@gmail.com, I can send you a PDF with princess cards. ;) Permissions and copyrights (probably) prohibit me from sharing licensed characters on my blog...

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