Workboxes

After hearing everyone rave about how implementing a workbox system had revolutionized their homeschool, I decided to try it out. I bought Sue Patrick's book, got my bins and shelves, numbered the bins, and dove in. I have to say that so far I like it. We get a lot done, and without a lot of grumbling. Not everything I put in the bins is academic. For example, todays bins for Honeybee (dd almost 6) went something like this:

1--Brush Teeth (we tend to forget about morning brushing)
2--Play "Perpetual Motion" on violin.
3--Tapestry of Grace--we're working on Year 1 Week 1 (about Egypt) and today we made a salt dough map.
4--Do 25 Jumping Jacks
5--Botany (using Apologia's exploring creation book) We read an notebooked a little, then set up our rootview garden and planted some seeds.
6--Practice "I Am a Child of God" on Piano (we're working on the second measure of the right hand)
7--Math; we used Popsicle sticks to demonstrate place value--we counted out a set of stick, bundling every set of 10 with a rubber band. At the end we placed the bundles of ten on a paper divided by a line, left half labled 10's, right half 1's. We had 2 groups of ten and 4 ones--24.
8--We made mini books to go along with history (Tapestry of Grace) showing the flora and fauna of Egypt.
9--Astronomy--we read about using stars to mark seasons and for navigation. I had Honeybee dictate a short narration which I wrote in our Astronomy notebook.
10--Craft time. Honeybee sewed a small felt heart from a kit (prepunched holes and a plastic ball-tipped needle).
11--Memory Work--we started a poem called "Kind at Home". I wrote it in Honeybee's memory work notebook.
12--Game time--we played Mancala, which is a new game for the kids.

12 Looks like a lot of boxes, but in general each item only took a few minutes. Grasshopper (ds4) had bins as well, but many of them mirrored Honeybee's and we did them together. He did do his own violin practice (very brief) and we read a little book I am making for him.