My Kids

Here is a new informal picture of all my kids. It's not so often these days that they are all together.

In the back row are Lucas, Ellie and Sam
Then John Paul and Megan
In front is Kateri, Maximilian and Tim

Summer Daybook

For Today

Outside my Window Beautiful flowers, birds in the trees

I am Thinking Of Sam interviewing at P&G; of organizing the school year for the fall

From the Learning Rooms On our summer schedule of 3 math lessons a week, religion lessons as usual and one art class a week

I am thankful for a great husband, great kids, a steady job for Mark

From the kitchen Cold grilled chicken on a great salad with whole wheat rolls

I am wearing black workout shorts and a pink workout top

I am reading All of a Kind Family to Kateri and Max

I am hoping That Grace's birthmarks are nothing to worry about

I am creating my own workbox system

I am hearing baseball conversation between the boys

Around the house lots of baby stuff, high chairs, swings, toys - lots of babysitting of grandkids this week.

One of my favorite things playing with my grandkids

Workboxing

Recently I discovered an interesting concept for organizing a homeschooling day. It is called Workboxes. A homeschooling mom named Sue Patrick developed this system of visually organizing the schoolwork into individual clear boxes with one subject per box. Therefore both the mother and the child can see exactly what needs to be done to finish school that day. She adapted this from another system in order to help her son organize his day. He has autism and needed additional help.

I am planning on using this system with some adaptations this school year. I would say that Sue Patrick's website doesn't explain the system well, but there are many blogs that do. Here are a few that I find the most helpful:

http://fortunatelyforyoubooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/sue-patricks-workbox-system.html

http://heartofthematteronline.com/thinking-inside-the-box/

The types of things that can go into workboxes are numerous. One can schedule music pratices, art lessons, math, hsitory, science, exercise, etc. Each box is labeled with a velcroed number that is removed and placed on a corresponding chart when the contents are completed. Mrs. Patrick has her son, who is autistic, totally remove the box from the shelf and place it in a large bin. This gives additional visual clues of how much work is left to be done. There are other cards that indicate that a particular box should be done with mom or that the student needs help. Her son also "checks in" to school each day with another card. On the other hand, the mother has a visual clue to show her that she needs to prepare for the next day by loading the boxes. Boy do I need that cue!

From what I understand, this system works for preschoolers to high schoolers; from those with limited budgets and space to those with more generous resources. Browsing all the blogs on this subject, I was surprised to see all the adaptations.

I think you could start with without buying Sue Patrick's book. I did purchase it and I intend on using my own variation. I have starting purchasing Sterilite drawer units that stack. They will be more space saving than the wire shelf/plastic shoebox idea. A more space saving idea is to have a manila envelope system or even envelopes with just the lesson assignment hanging on the wall. Look for more posts on this idea. I will post pictures soon.