A Day in the Life of a Workbox

This is going to be a pretty quick and visual post. This is just a sampling of some of a day in the life of our workboxes. The first set of photos is for my 8 year old.

Box #1 - Bible Copywork/Journaling


Box #2 - Review worksheet - yes, I know...twaddle



Box #3 - super cool Flip Over Math (I usually give her a couple of pages at a time)


Box #4 - I read her Grammar Land hence the "Work with Mom" tag. This was one of Homeschool Freebie of the Day's little jewels. You gotta love that site.


Box #5 This is Me Journal with prompts (that I printed off the computer, cut into strips, and put in a recycled plastic jar).


Box #6 - Spelling Power - another Work with Mom item


Box #7 - Times Tales - Yes, ANOTHER Work With Mom (trust me we usually don't have more than about 2/day)


Box #8 - A book for her to read silently/independently.


Box #9 - Write 2 Letters to 2 different people.





On to 6 year old's boxes...

Box #1 - Bible Copywork/Journaling


Box #2 - 10 minutes worth of Brain Quest deck


Box #3 - This is Me Journal entry


Box #4 - Math (Money) worksheets


Box #5 Food Logic...mmmm...eat your answers


Box #6 - Silent/Independent Reading


Box #7 - Sketch about what you just read


Box #8 - Spelling manipulative with bathtub letters


Box #9 - Letter writing time


Whew! And we're done! This works for us!

What do you do when you have the stomach flu...

...and the rest of your family is at the grandparents having an Easter egg hunt and lunch? You put together a book list, of course then update your blog with it.
Elementary Book List

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

I got these titles from a wonderful little book called The Book Tree by Elizabeth McCallum & Jane Scott. It is a Christian reference for Children's literature. It has four different categories, one for preschool, elementary, middle, and high school levels. I simply went through the elementary level and marked the ones that I really liked. I strayed away from too much magical, whimsical, and mythical books of which there were quite a few surprisingly listed.

Speaking of books, we are STILL reading Boy of the Pyramids. I don't know why it has taken us so long to get through this one because it really is a good and interesting book. Miss Priss is also simultaneously reading the Little House books and we are almost to the end of the series. My little reluctant reader has really taken off and now she doesn't even want her Daddy or me to read them to her which in a way makes me a little bit sad...be careful what you wish for... Anyway, back to Boy of the Pyramids. I decided to turn that little book into a fun little hands-on math time for the gals. I simply gave them the lucite pyramid shape (you can see it to the left in the last photo) and helped them a little to start construction and this is what they did.


Did you know a pyramid's bottom was in the shape of a square? I hadn't ever really thought about that and Little Bit said she thought it should only have 3 sides since it was like a triangle. I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts if I asked her today she'd tell me the bottom is square shaped.

We also had our monthly homeschool group meeting this past week. Above all else the kids' favorite thing to do there is play the Yes/No/Maybe game. They love it. We could play it all day. You simply make 3 signs labeled "Yes", "No", and "Maybe". Put them on the floor in the room (the further away from each other the better) and simply make statements like, "I am wearing blue jeans", "I have a little sister", etc. and they have to run from one sign to the other depending on whether or not it is true for them. Its a nice little mixer even for adults. You can give the adults some time to talk with one another while "mixing up" the room. But for kids, it's best to keep them moving - and on task - we've found.





This game won out even over decorating cookies...hmmm...wonder HOW on earth I could ever have gotten a stomach bug?



For a little "Civics" lesson, we threw actual tea into our river here at a local Tea Party/Fair Tax rally. Miss Priss has been asking a lot of questions about it and I don't think she still fully understands it all. Do any of you have any good recommendations for books or resources on elementary civics? I found a couple of titles in The Book Tree and I also found this very interesting youtube. But I still feel like it is a little deep for an 8 year old and wasn't really answering some of the questions she had. Anyway, are YOU going to a tea party on Wednesday?


Do you own a copy of The Fair Tax? I HIGHLY recommend reading it. It simply validates everything I ever felt and knew with some VERY interesting history about taxes in this country. Did you know that before the 20th century Americans didn't really pay a federal income tax?!? Just remember one thing about taxes: WITHHOLDING is the devil!!!!

Free $25 Staples Gift Card

I just got an email from Staples offering a free $25 gift card.

*FREE $25 Staples® Gift Cards will be issued — one for you AND one for your school — when a new school signs up to participate in the Staples® SchoolKidzsm program. Schools must be new to the Staples SchoolKidz program and sign up by June 30, 2009. Only one $25 Staples Gift Card will be issued per parent household. Only the first three parents associated with each new participating school are eligible to receive a $25 Staples Gift Card. Each new participating school is eligible to receive a maximum of three $25 Staples Gift Cards. Staples Gift Cards will be issued by July 31, 2009. Staples reserves the right to modify this promotion at any time. Excludes Alaska and Hawaii. Staples Gift Cards term and conditions apply. See card or Staples.com for details.



When I entered, I simply put "Our School Name - Homeschool". I don't know if they'll honor homeschoolers but I think it's worth filling out their form and wait to see whether or not "That WAS easy".

Because I'm TOO cheap...

...to buy this to track our number of school days:


So I made this, instead. I think it superior in so many ways, if I do say so myself.




Coffee stirrers (cut in half, mind you), rubber bands, 3 jelly jars, and some folded pieces of cardstock (oh yes, a recycled almond container for the extras). I go back and forth but I think our family will fare ok during any economic recession we might have to endure. Because I don't see a thing in the world odd, unusual or miserly about this...even during an economic boom. I've been known to get out a spatula and get EVERY LAST smidgen of lotion out of a bottle, gall darn it. (I know if you're reading this that you're chuckling at this, Colleen.) I digress..

Since I shared the "days in school tally jars" I thought I'd also share some more of our daily calendar activities.

One child is responsible for changing the "yesterday", "today", and "tomorrow" tabs. They're so easy to make (and cheap...eh excuse me, inexpensive)...again, just folded cardstock. Simply hang them over the calendar date. Oh yes...remember the plasti-tak? That's what's holding up the calendar numbers.


I eventually want to print and laminate this board instead of using the dry erase board. Anywhooo.... I usually let the other child write this information on the board and let them alternate these tasks every day. Want to know how I keep up with whose day is who's? Simple, I just look at the handwriting on the board from the day before. I started out writing this information in myself and having them copy it on those silly sheets (pre-workbox days) then I thought, "what am I doing? Let THEM own it!"

The ordinal monthly number information comes from this book that I've mentioned before.



After we're done with calendar stuff we do a daily devotional and their journal is always in the first drawer of their workboxes. We use this Carson-Delossa book that I really like.



I have the child that didn't write on the white board or rather the child that simply changed the calendar tabs (yes it's tit-for-tat in our house) find and read the bible verse in the actual Bible. I think that's important rather than just to read it from the devotional book and as my friend Jenn says - they're learning math skills while loooking up verses. I couldn't resist posting all of these pix. I just love the little story they collectively tell.







Then I write the verse on the white board and usually try to incorporate a little further journaling/drawing activity to go along with the devotional or verse read.



So that's it...our daily grind. Not so bad, I don't think.

These are a few of my favorite things

Here are more images of our workboxes in action. This is Lil'Bit's third drawer of the day. She opened the box and found everything right there for her.


She worked the page. Yes, by golly, that sheet's laminated and yes I am a "professional" homeschooler! And thanks to Ruth Beechick I can now happily ignore that little red line under the word homeschooler. ;0) For more details scroll down to the Weekly Language Tip, here. This is a great newsletter if you don't already get it.


She cleaned up
She replaced the items (sometimes she'll even put them back where they came from instead of back in the drawer which makes Mommy really happy). Then she took the #3 tag off of the drawer and placed it on her "grid". One drawer down....


By the way, I love this wonderful stuff. I use it for lots of things. It is much better than the blue stuff in my opinion.
It comes off of the walls much better - not pulling the paint off - yet still holding well. Here it is holding up coins to represent the number date. That's some more of Marcy Cook's ideas. I use her Primary Today Is the Day for Numbers at this link. This book lists number facts for each day of the school year plus all the ways to show each date with United States coins (e.g., 5 is the number of Great Lakes for March 5th, 12 is the number of Reindeer for December 12th, etc..) Later in the month it seems like we simply use money more often to represent the number date. I don't always follow her list, if you can believe that. Sometimes I make up my own to fit our situation or use another item/representation that I think would be more meaningful to my girls. I can't tell you how much this visual has helped me, too. If I am writing a check I pretty much always know the date because of this little mnenomic device.


And one other thing I use Plasti-Tak for is to attach the The "Work With Mom" tag because that varies each day from drawer-to-drawer and it seems a little overkill to have 2 velcro buttons on EVERY drawer.


This is drawer #6 - some physical activity for the day.




And after 15 minutes of working on this she got it. She hasn't been able to do it until today (the first time in her workbox).

This is what she found in the next drawer. We love these little journals. This was one of the best birthday gifts we've ever received. I love those gifts that keep on giving. And the workbox system ensures that we regularly keep with it.

Finally - her last drawer - more Marcy Cook math Color it On the 30s chart slips. We love these!


Also, I couldn't live without a timer. We use them for practically everything. I even send them sometimes to play at the neighbor's house with this one around their neck. Anyway, I keep them all in one drawer so there's one always handy.


That's all for now. I always enjoy others' ideas so I just thought I'd share some of my favorite things today. Workboxes, plasti-tak, Marcy Cook, This Is Me Journals, and timers...good stuff.