Workboxes are Working for Us

I wanted to drop an update on the workboxes in our homeschool. They are working for us! Here is how we have tweaked the idea for now:

Each night I fill BigGirl's boxes with her work for the next day. Today the boxes were:
1. Spelling - she had a list I jotted down and her dry erase board with markers to practice the words a few times.
2. Health/Science - a note to get mommy for a lesson on the food pyramid. PyramidPal taught her all about the things on the pyramid, we talked about food groups and details of the pyramid, and she colored and labeled her own pyramid.
3. Cursive - a dry erase book of cursive letters with a note to do all the lowercase letters.
4. Writing - today was editing day for her rhyming poems she wrote last poetry lesson. She fixed spelling and punctuation, used the dictionary to find a few words, and complained about the fact that the english language doesn't follow the rules! (The word "could" should really be spelled cood according to her).
5. Pioneers Unit Study - the book Little House in the Big Woods with a note to gather the family and pop popcorn for a snack while we read a few chapters.
6. Moving West Notebook - some worksheets/papercrafts to do related to pioneers

When our schedule has homeschool time (1 hour increments now!) she starts with the first box and works away. She can do a lot of it independently, sees what work there is to do, and likes to be "in charge" of her morning. When the hour is up we break for some fun and playtime (there are some workboxes just filled with play activities and crafts to choose from or she can go do anything she wants until the next homeschool hour.

For the next 3 younger kids I have a set of boxes filled with activities and a few worksheets that they can choose from in any order. Today AcrobatBoy and TagalongGirl each chose to do some worksheets (tracing alphabet, a number page, shapes and patterns), one of them used the balance and pattern blocks for weighing while the other made pictures with the pattern blocks, both colored, one played with some cards, both used magnifying glasses to explore the house, and you get the idea....It is WONDEFUL! They can have an activity ready when they are ready and so learning happens.

Some things in their boxes for tomorrow - sidewalk chalk, puzzles, file folder games, more worksheets, a microscope with some slides, and a note to watch a signing time dvd. BigGirl has workboxes for math, art, grammar, unit study, piano, spelling, and notebook. It will be a good day because even if I'm exhausted from another night up with a newborn my older kids can work independent of mom. I don't need too many brain cells working at once! Which is probably a good thing...