Friday, September 4, 2015

Using Workboxes to Organize Your Curriculum



I discovered workboxes many years ago.  I even belonged to the Workbox Yahoo group! Initially, I used them in the exact way the creator indicated.  But after a while it didn't fit our family. The concept was brilliant, especially for a visual, right brain child.  To see the bins disappear does create a sense of accomplishment as one reaches the goal of completing all assignments for the day.  We decided that our workboxes would work best as a tool to keep us organized.  In this video, I show how we use them.  We have many new families in our homeschool group this year and in addition to choosing curriculum, figuring out how to keep it all organized without losing one's sanity can be a daunting task.  I hope this video helps.  Another one of the many benefits of workboxes is that it allows you to store anything related to the lesson at hand in one place, whether it's supplies, a related library book or an art project. Workboxes also make it easy for a child to have some autonomy in choosing work because he knows exactly where it's kept.  For my right brain learner, who likes to delay the start of the day as much as possible, announcing "you pick," is a way to jump start our day.   Workboxes - I couldn't homeschool without them!

Confessions of a Homeschooler blog also has a great video tutorial of how to use workboxes.  You can see it here.

Here is a great interview with Sue Patrick, the creator of the Workbox concept.  Click here.

Happy Homeschool organizing!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks. I have too many resources out and this helped me see that. Yikes I'm overwhelmed looking at it all.

    Thanks.

    The Repentant Workbox User

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  2. Hey! Love this video. You are always helping and encouraging new homeschool families. I remember when I met you in 2009, and I was new to homeschooling, you told me about the Workbox System. I immediately went out and bought the shoeboxes, shoe rack, and Sue Patrick's book. It definitely was a help to this new overwhelmed homeschooling mama. I have never homeschooled without it and I don't know if I could. I have since tweaked it just like you have. And when I slack, it shows up in our routine and I have to step it up. Whenever I meet new homeschool families, I always recommend it and encourage them to read the book to see the original system and then tweak it in a way that fits their family.

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  3. We love workboxes and started our homeschool off using them. I do our schedule on Excel Spreadsheets and match up #'s with drawer subjects. It works for us and even my high schooler loves it.

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