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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 26 2009 at 2:34pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
I had the same question, that is why I did not go out and buy the shoe boxes and rack as Sue suggests in her book. I used what I already had on hand which is why each of my 3 kids has a different form of workboxes. Is there a way you can try it out and see if it's a fit for you? I used plastic shoe boxes on a wooden shelf for one child, four Sterilite "3 drawer thingies" for the second child, and my 3rd child is actually using a small, hardware drawer thing with 12 drawers. I didn't spend a dime, but we are getting the flavor of the system. For next year, I am going to go with the "drawer thingies" because they actually work the best for my kids and have a "tidy" appearance which helps.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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JuliaT
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| Posted: May 26 2009 at 5:31pm | IP Logged
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Molly, I, too, had the same concerns that is why I didn't go with the boxes and the shoe racks. I thought that if I couldn't keep it up, I didn't want to waste all that money. Instead, I use one plastic box for each child and fill each box with 10 ziploc bags. I figured if this was going to be a bust, I could still use the boxes and bags for other things.
I am really good at initially keeping things going but once routine sets in, I tend to lose interest. It is a struggle for me to keep going with these boxes, but I do it because my kids love it and it has made our learning time calm and peaceful. This is my incentive to keep on plugging along.
Blessings
Julia
mom of 3 (9,8,6)
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teachingmyown
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I definitely can't do the 12 boxes per child! That would be 60 boxes, plus I am sure the 3 yr old would want in on the action! 
I think I have a hard time thinking in such detail and coming up with 12 different things per kid each day. But I definitely see us actually getting things done, especially all the extras that I buy and never use. Does this lend itself more to a workbooky type of schooling though? I guess I see me filling it with various workbooks for subjects along with things like art games or BrainQuest.
I probably just need to get the book and then try some version this summer before we get back into the full routine.
Thanks ladies.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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CandaceC
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| Posted: May 26 2009 at 8:47pm | IP Logged
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Molly, it's definitely NOT workbooky! At least not for us! WE don't use a lot of workbooks. Though I do add in Explode the Code for my middle daughter and a Kumon cut/paste for my son.
I also wanted to encourage you...you sound just like my friend Ami (who started Homeschool Share) when she was describing the workboxes and how they were working for her. I don't think she'd mind me saying that she considers herself very ADD and here and there and everywhere. She was feeling TOO unorganized with her schooling...because of her personality.
And now she is one that is raving about workboxes more than just about anyone I know.
Here is one of her posts talking about her personality and workboxes.
Now, I'm not trying to convince you that you need them. I just thought of Ami as you were describing yourself. I really think they could work for you.
Ami's workbox post
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
His Mercy Is New
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krystab
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| Posted: May 26 2009 at 10:58pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
Just want to second that it is not workbooky unless you make it so. It will work with any curriculum or methods. We have a lot of projects and literature in ours. It is so nice for the children to have everything they need for the project ahead of time too. No more wanting on Mom to hunt down the materials during school time!
I too thought I could never get 12 boxes filled a day, but it really hasn't been a problem at all.
If I were you I would try it with one of your children and see how it works. The one that gives you the most grief over doing school, dwadles or daydreams a lot, or is constantly asking when are we done. That was my ADD 7yo and his attitude has totally changed about school.
I think you will find that soon you are filling those boxes really quick and the time it takes to fill saves so much time during the school day that you will have more time. Not to mention the peace it brings.
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Krysta
Mom to 6 little blessings
DD-00', DS-02', DS-04', DS-07', DD-09', DD-12'
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krystab
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| Posted: May 26 2009 at 11:06pm | IP Logged
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pattonhouse6 wrote:
I have already set up the full-year notebook (FYN) system for each child. The two systems work very well together.
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I used the FYN system this year too! I am just going to move my notebooks to file folders. I think it will be quicker to pull stuff out of the file folder than out of the notebooks.....we will see. I am thinking I will arrange by subject rather than week. Still deciding for sure. We just ended up changing some stuff over the year and I now have pages in our notebooks we don't use and stuff elsewhere that I have to add it. Might be easier to change gears if the folders are by subjects.
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Krysta
Mom to 6 little blessings
DD-00', DS-02', DS-04', DS-07', DD-09', DD-12'
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pattonhouse6
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| Posted: May 27 2009 at 7:42am | IP Logged
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krystab wrote:
pattonhouse6 wrote:
I have already set up the full-year notebook (FYN) system for each child. The two systems work very well together.
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I used the FYN system this year too! I am just going to move my notebooks to file folders. I think it will be quicker to pull stuff out of the file folder than out of the notebooks.....we will see. I am thinking I will arrange by subject rather than week. Still deciding for sure. We just ended up changing some stuff over the year and I now have pages in our notebooks we don't use and stuff elsewhere that I have to add it. Might be easier to change gears if the folders are by subjects. |
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I shifted gears some this year, too. The rearranging was a bit of a hassle, but I like the system so much that the time spent was so worth it. I had not though of doing the FYN into file folders. That might be even better, since our workboxes are already hanging files. Going off to chew on that for a while. Thanks!
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Karen
+AMDG+
...wife to Dave ('92) and mom to Katie ('95), Missy ('96), DJ ('02), Janie ('04) and Ricky ('08)
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Babs
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I have been using Dawn's folder system this year and it has been so helpful to me that I am going to incorporate the FYN with Dawn's system and the workbox system.
I am currently using two sets of folders, one dated set for each week of the year. In these folders I put anything which is date specific: saint prayer cards, Catholic Mosaic info, anything for a feast day or holiday, seasonal recipes, doctor appt. info, field trip info, etc. Every week I take the information out of that week's folder and I rewrite the date for the week next year (one day earlier), refile it, and as we go through the week anything for next year like the saint prayer cards gets refiled after we use it.
The second set of folders are 36 folders labeled week 1 through 36. I don't like these dated because we don't always do each school week on schedule and it bothers me if I look at the folder and it says we should have done it two weeks ago. These folders are the ones I have been using to divide up our 36 weeks of work into. I just purchased the FYN yesterday and I am so happy with it. I think it will really help me to use the system I am currently using in a more productive way and really fine tune it.
We began the workboxes this spring after reading about it on FIAR and they have been working well for us. I have two boys left at home so I am using 2 of the white 6 drawer rolling carts with clear drawers for each boy, so 12 drawers each. They take up very little room and can easily be rolled around for use or to put away. Because they are drawers they look neat all of the time and we have not had anything that would not fit so far. I also got 2 carts with the intention of putting the materials in that we do together each day, including saint info, Catholic Mosaic, family read-a-louds, history, Serendipity Lively Language Lessons, and all of the fun things we never get to because I don't have it set out in a way I can find it when I need it. I have not started using this part but will begin using these drawers when we begin our new year. I am really looking forward to implementing this part of the system because these are the parts that would really benefit from better organization on my part.
I am in no way naturally organized but I have learned so much from the wonderful ladies on this forum and I pray for you all each day. Thanks to everyone for sharing your wisdom.
God Bless,
Barb
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pattonhouse6
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| Posted: May 27 2009 at 10:43am | IP Logged
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Barb --
It sounds like you have things pretty well organized to me. The only component that I'm missing is Dawn's folder system. I think that would have all my bases covered nicely. Where can I read more about it? Is it Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight? I vaguely remember looking at it before, but at the time I remember being overwhelmed and not at a place where it was helpful to think about...maybe now it's time.
Thanks!
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Karen
+AMDG+
...wife to Dave ('92) and mom to Katie ('95), Missy ('96), DJ ('02), Janie ('04) and Ricky ('08)
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Natalia
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Karen,
The info on Dawn's system is here The link is to the general category.You might have to do some clicking around.
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Natalia
http://pannuestrodecadadia.blogspot.com
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Babs
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Karen,
It is from Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight, my all time favorite. She is a wealth of information and inspiration in so many areas. This link is for all of her posts related to her File crate system, so you may want to scroll down where she first explains it.
Barb
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Babs
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Sorry, Natalia posted while I was trying and trying to link. I needed a child to assist!
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saigemom
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| Posted: May 27 2009 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
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The workboxes are NOT just workbooky (unless you want them to be). I put in math games, sections of lapbooking, last week my oldest made a loaf of bread for one of his drawers, alone reading time with mom, I could go on and on  LOVING workboxes here 
We are only using 7 drawers. I found a sterilite scrapbook drawer thing at Target. It has 7 12x12 clear drawers. The kids and I watercolor painted 7 circles that we #d and put a velcro dot half on. We also painted 2 extra circles and boxed them in with marker. One says at work, the other says all done. We made a head for each of them and they put the head on the at work space when they are working and move it to all done when they're done.
Each drawer has 1/2 a velcro dot. Then we have 7 numbers that we punched out with a heart puncher I have from creative memories. We "laminated" those with tape. The # hearts start out on the drawer and move to the circle chart with the matching # when they are finished with the drawer. Our drawers are clear. I agree with the reasons she gave in her book, so while I don't have open shoe boxes I did make them clear. My kids also leave the drawer in their spot. The move the # hearts for teh visual.
I highly recommend the book as it does a better job explaining the hows and whys. Also, when you buy the book you get access to other freebies. The typing program you can print out is wonderful.
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Becky Parker
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saigemom wrote:
We are only using 7 drawers. I found a sterilite scrapbook drawer thing at Target. It has 7 12x12 clear drawers. The kids and I watercolor painted 7 circles that we #d and put a velcro dot half on. We also painted 2 extra circles and boxed them in with marker. One says at work, the other says all done. We made a head for each of them and they put the head on the at work space when they are working and move it to all done when they're done.
Each drawer has 1/2 a velcro dot. Then we have 7 numbers that we punched out with a heart puncher I have from creative memories. We "laminated" those with tape. The # hearts start out on the drawer and move to the circle chart with the matching # when they are finished with the drawer. Our drawers are clear. I agree with the reasons she gave in her book, so while I don't have open shoe boxes I did make them clear. My kids also leave the drawer in their spot. The move the # hearts for teh visual.
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Cute idea! We like the drawers that stay in their spot too. The shoeboxes seem to clutter our classroom and it's already cluttered enough. I just did little square numbers attached with velcro. In the drawer, with the work materials, is a smiley face. When they complete the work they replace the number with the smiley face. It seems very effective and all those smiley faces looking at you at the end of the day is fun!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Kathryn
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I think I'm as excited as everyone else about these workboxes!!! I'll be new to HS in the Fall and these sound like they will be a GREAT idea. I have a question relating to the time frame of getting work done. Is it expected that each box take approx. 10-20 min depending on the child's level etc.? My 2 big kids rotate kitchen duty each day and I thought I would make a box each day about starting to get things ready for lunch around 11ish. But is it just going to be trial and error to see that they finish their work before getting to the "lunch" box. What happens when kids go thru the boxes waay faster or waay slower than expected? Again, is that just trial and error?
I did order the book so some of this may be in there.
Thanks!
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Homeschool Workboxes....
