Workboxes Part 2

Workboxes have been the latest craze in the homeschooling world. Last year I gave it a little try using only one box per child. They used it as a base to check out when they had "independent time". I had fair results.
This year I began the year slowly...and now have a nice system of workboxes going for the 10 year old, the 7 year old and the 5 year old. They are mostly extensions of the projects they do during the week. It allows them to choose what they want to do (which follows their Montessori years well). It also gives me a quick look at what they have finished. There are times during the day that I need to be able to have the three other busy while I work with one. These have been very helpful in that case.
Each child had five drawers in our plastic (!) system. I put a small piece of velcro on each drawer and attached a small art work (some homemade, some famous)

Inside each drawer I personalize their work. Here is the 10year olds review of a poem she memorized last week. It was a chance for me to check penmanship and spelling! Sticky notes tell the child what work they should complete. This one reads "write down the poem you memorized last week". After she finished this work, she left the work in the drawer and removed the art "I'm finished marker" from the front of the drawer.

Here is a glimpse of what I used for the 7 year old this past week. Her math lesson used a geo board for a warm-up. I put it in as a review the day after her lesson. This was the finished product waiting for me.

My rotation system includes:
Math game/activity/review every day
Copywork three days a week
Art activity one day a week
Science experiment one day a week
Silent reading and then narrate to me when finished
a game
recipe for making lunch (each child has a day they make lunch)



I keep a basket on the top of the cabinet to collect their art work "I'm finished markers" and also a timer. Sometimes I only want them to work for 15 minutes on a project. Using this system I have been able to finish school every day before lunch! This is so helpful for us to feel free to play out of doors and have activities outside the house.