While everyone claims that this system works for "any curriculum", I had a quick "it won't work with Charlotte Mason" mental response. Why? Because one of the main ideas is that it helps children to work independently. As a Charlotte Mason family we do indeed have independent work but the majority of the work is family work: reading aloud, narration, bible studies, music and picture studies, etc. I would not trade this time with my children for anything. I do not want my children set aside all day to do their work. In my way of thinking, most of the fun of a Charlotte Mason education is in the family time and group effort.
As I read more, I was impressed with the organization of it all. (As anyone who knows me knows-I LOVE organization!!) I noticed that many families adapt the system due to small spaces, finances, and other reasons. So why can't I adapt this to my Charlotte Mason homeschool?? The answer is that I can and I will.
Rather than have the majority of workboxes be "independent" speckled with a few "work with mom" boxes, I can reverse it. I'll have the intermittent "work independently" boxes containing grammar, copywork, dictation, math, etc. I may or may not use the schedule strip. We'll see. I'm thinking that I'll just use the cards and stick them in the drawer instead of a strip. I'm not decided just yet.
In summary, here are the reasons I am choosing to implement this into our schooling:
- Organized – will help keep things organized which will curb any loss of momentum that can occur from this OCD mother staring at a daunting mess!
- Saves time – Everything is laid out at the beginning of the day. No pulling things out one at a time as we come to the assignment! (not to mention realizing that the kids tossed things to the left and right as they went along, leaving a mess in their path which makes more cleaning time!)
- Flexibility – easy to adapt schedule. When interruption occurs, the children can simply do one of the "independent" assignments or games. Or if the day is interrupted in general.. you know exactly where you stopped and can resume again!
- Predictable and Motivating- My 6 year old, having no real sense of time, will no longer be "lost" as to when we'll be finished. She can plainly see which boxes are empty and which are left to be done! Although she loves schooling, she's an active child who would prefer to be climbing trees and exploring the woods than sitting inside being read a story. This system with it's "surprise" cards and ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel, will help her with the "are we there yet" syndrome.
And so we will be implementing the workbox system into our Charlotte Mason homeschool. I'll let you know in a week or two how that's working for us.
Do you use the workbox system? How has it helped? Any negative results? Have you been creative with it? Let me know with comments!
Happy Homeschooling!
Michelle
22 comments:
I had the same reaction when i first found the workbox system. I've done things a bit differently but am using it with a CM curriculum. You can always adapt to suit you. That's what i like!
I tried it for a while but it just seemed like more work for ME. Looking back though, I don't think I adapted it to our CM curricula and instead I tried to do what the system was set up for...which ended up being a ton of busy work and review that made our short lessons take forever.
Now that I have learned so much more about and feel so much more comfortable with doing CM, I can see trying the workboxes again someday but in a whole different way. I do like the sense of independance that it teaches them for things like copywork, etc. but like you, I really enjoy doing lessons together.
I'll be curious to see how it goes for you!
MasterpieceMom: Thanks for the comment. Good to know there are other Charlotte Mason workbox families!
Maria: It may be well worth your while to try it again. I will certainly post updates on this as I go along.
I use an adapted workbox system. One box has poetry copywork, logic puzzles, paper, and pencils. Another holds MEP math. A third holds math manipulatives. A fourth hold Grammarland and Winston Grammar. The fifth holds science manipulatives. I don't use the workbox system anymore but I love using the boxes to organize everything. I also really enjoy having an independent box the kids can start on if I get behind. I also learned a lot from reading the well-written book and recommend it to anyone.
Please write a detailed post about how you use it and made it work for you. I have been going back and forth, and feel it would be so much more work for me as well. I am really interested in a CM approach. Thanks
Hi Molly! I will definitely do that. I went shopping last night and spent a great deal of time deciding the "how" of the system. (The finances are always a consideration!) I did come up with a different sort of version. I'll be posting on it soon.
New to homeschooling and haven't looked into Charlotte Mason yet, but I definitely plan to! It sounds like a lovely way to educate and raise children. Thanks for the post on workboxes, too. I've always wondered how those might work with a CM lifestyle.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to it due to the fact that I have a large family and thought there was no way it could work for us. But, like you said, we tweaked it to fit us, and now have what I consider to be a lifesaver homeschooling tool!
Leah,
Thanks for sharing with us! It's great to see what others keep and what they toss.
Raven,
I'll be looking forward to seeing what you think of the CM method!
Amy,
So glad you found a way to make things work for your family! Sometimes it seems a never-ending series of tweaks, doesn't it?
I cannot wait to read about how you decide to implement this and mesh with the CM style...
Oh and lots of pics would be wonderful! (grin).
You have a great blog here - one thats earned a coveted spot on my feedpage!
Blessings,
Trace
Hello Trace!!!
I am honored to be on your feedpage. Thank you for the compliment. And yes, I will be posting pictures. I am awaiting delivery of a new camera! :-)
Michelle
I like the idea of "do with mom" boxes. A great adaptation.
Thanks Jimmie! I really didn't see that idea of them working independently all day sprinkled with a few minutes of my time as working with CM (nor did I like that idea!). But having the system reversed.. work with mom all day sprinkled with independent things.. that works!
Hi there,
We are using workboxes AND Charlotte Mason. I loved the idea of this from the beginning. I too love the CM philosophy of time together, but I also know that they will need to work independent of me when they get older. Using the workboxes has given us an organized way to make that happen. A little independent work sprinkled in with mommy stuff.
I will say I have tweaked it quite a bit to fit our needs. The first version was magazine holders, no schedule strip. The second was magazine holders, with schedule strip. The third, magazine holders and no schedule strip again. Now we are on a trial run of no magazine holders, boxes instead and a weekly schedule strip.
Let me say this...I know this sounds like a lot of changes in a short period of time, but my family knows I like efficiency and it just wasn't efficient enough for us the first 3 ways.
So, here we go. My problems with the system were that every day I was having to refill the workboxes with what they would need the next day. At first, this was fun and somewhat enjoyable. But as time passed I had to be realistic and the time just was not there if I wanted to spend more time with the kids.
Now I have 4 big boxes [we don't do school on Friday]. I have one big schedule strip [borrowed from someone else's blog] and I lay out the whole week. EAch box is filled with what they/we will need for the day and then they have a corresponding schedule strip book that holds the weekly schedule. All of it done ONCE a week.
I am realizing that the schedule strip is good to have because I can schedule my time with each of them. For my 3 year old pretty much everything is with him. For my 8 year old I schedule myself and her other stuff. For my 12 year old I schedule myself and I am planning on letting her setup the rest of what she needs to do. I will give her the tabs to put on her schedule and then at the beginning of her day she can move things into place.
Sorry so long but hopefully this will help someone.
Blessings,
Alicia
Alicia,
Tweak, tweak and re-tweak! You sound like me! Thanks for the info. So far, I've simply used storage drawers (one stack per child) and no schedule strip (mostly cuz I'm not creative and not sure I need it).
We shall see!!!
I found your blog through googling workboxes!! I like how you tweaked it 'family style' as that is how we do things too. At the time I feel pretty organized but I also know that there is always room for improvement. Right now we have shelves with our 'family schooling' books on them organized into "subject" areas. So one shelf is science, another geography, etc. and that works well. I'm not sure if I could do the boxes even though they seem tempting but we have a lot of kids. Two married, 3 graduated from our school, and 7 still schooling so I'm not sure how all the boxes would fly in my living room area!!
I love your blog and will be back to read more.
Blessings,
Tricia
Mommyx12, Thanks for the comment! Well we're always tweaking something. I'm starting to think my main keyword on this blog may be "tweak" LOL!
I have two children who are schooling and 3 adult children. 1 Grandbaby not schooling just yet.
My shelves are organized by subject too! I have Geography on one; math on one (actually, I have an entire shelf of algebra books too! LOL), etc.
Between my book cases are storage drawers on rollers. One drawer tower for supplies. The other is for arts-n-crafts materials.
The workbox thing didn't quite go the way I planned. As it is, I have a crate that I put all materials for "this week" in. This way, I do not have to put books in and out of the bookcases. On Friday, we put them all back where they belong and Sunday night, I start over.
Mommyx12, Thanks for the comment! Well we're always tweaking something. I'm starting to think my main keyword on this blog may be "tweak" LOL!
I have two children who are schooling and 3 adult children. 1 Grandbaby not schooling just yet.
My shelves are organized by subject too! I have Geography on one; math on one (actually, I have an entire shelf of algebra books too! LOL), etc.
Between my book cases are storage drawers on rollers. One drawer tower for supplies. The other is for arts-n-crafts materials.
The workbox thing didn't quite go the way I planned. As it is, I have a crate that I put all materials for "this week" in. This way, I do not have to put books in and out of the bookcases. On Friday, we put them all back where they belong and Sunday night, I start over.
Leah,
Thanks for sharing with us! It's great to see what others keep and what they toss.
Raven,
I'll be looking forward to seeing what you think of the CM method!
Amy,
So glad you found a way to make things work for your family! Sometimes it seems a never-ending series of tweaks, doesn't it?
I cannot wait to read about how you decide to implement this and mesh with the CM style...
Oh and lots of pics would be wonderful! (grin).
You have a great blog here - one thats earned a coveted spot on my feedpage!
Blessings,
Trace
I use an adapted workbox system. One box has poetry copywork, logic puzzles, paper, and pencils. Another holds MEP math. A third holds math manipulatives. A fourth hold Grammarland and Winston Grammar. The fifth holds science manipulatives. I don't use the workbox system anymore but I love using the boxes to organize everything. I also really enjoy having an independent box the kids can start on if I get behind. I also learned a lot from reading the well-written book and recommend it to anyone.
I found your blog through googling workboxes!! I like how you tweaked it 'family style' as that is how we do things too. At the time I feel pretty organized but I also know that there is always room for improvement. Right now we have shelves with our 'family schooling' books on them organized into "subject" areas. So one shelf is science, another geography, etc. and that works well. I'm not sure if I could do the boxes even though they seem tempting but we have a lot of kids. Two married, 3 graduated from our school, and 7 still schooling so I'm not sure how all the boxes would fly in my living room area!!
I love your blog and will be back to read more.
Blessings,
Tricia
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