Workboxes

Honestly, we're not DOING too much today. Everyone in the house (except for ME) is sick with 'the crud.' Even the baby is sick.

But I am a somewhat evil mom, so there is SOME school going on, albeit more relaxed. One way I decided to support the relaxing today but still get something accomplished is by going ahead and using a set of workboxes for sicko Sly afterall. So, I simply pulled out the books or papers he'd be assigned today on his chart and dropped them in one set of the boxes. It's taken a little prodding and redirecting (he'd rather be watching the Sci-Fi channel or reading the sequel to Hatchet), but he's slowly but surely picking up assignments and working his way through them.

Here's a picture of the still incomplete box system. Jman's boxes are on the left rack and Sly's are on the right. That pile of stuff on the far right are some of the 'extras' I plan on incorporating into the box system on occasion. There's another pile of stuff on the opposite wall (not pictured) and in 'the cave' (a storage room in the house).

As I understand it, you're supposed to also have a visual schedule with velcro numbers to supplement the rack of boxes. Rather than moving velcro numbers around, and/or creating a stack of completed boxes next to the racks, I'm thinking I'll opt for green "to do" signs on one side of a box and red 'done' signs on the other side. In the mornings, all the green 'to do' signs will be facing outwards. When the box is finished, it can be turned around with the 'done' side showing. Presto--seems much simpler and still effective to me. We'll give it a whirl and see how it goes.

My understanding is that the official workbox system also supplies 'Work with Mom' cards where necessary (either an assignment the kid can't or shouldn't do alone, or if the kid is simply stuck and needs help). I'm not adding those in at this time. I plan on everything for Jman being 'work with mom,' and Sly should have enough sense to know when to ask for help and when not to.

Another suggestion is to provide cards that have times on them for applicable activities. I suppose one could use clock times if they were supposed to do certain boxes at certain times of day. We're more flexible than that, though. However, I do see that having time limit cards (or time requirement cards) could be appropriate for open-ended activities, such as drawing or studying flash cards or anything without a clear 'ending point.' Again, not something I foresee adding anytime soon, though I'm sure we will be doing plenty of tweaks and modifications as we try this system out for the boys.