Fun Fridays Workbox Idea

One of the boxes I am going to rotate into my 12 yo daughter's week is a "Beauty Break" box. This is one of those fun boxes for my daughter to look forward to. I created a Ticket for the box, and am collecting items to put in: nail polishes, nail decals, lip glosses and other cosmetics, beauty tips, etc. She loves this!




Although this is an idea for older girls, I think that it could probably be modified for the younger girlie girls with play make-up or nail stickers. The possibilities are endless!

Open-Ended Workbox Art Idea

When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

An "extra?" A "recipe?" Not in my world. Art should be expressive and personal but not optional or stilted. I dislike some of the popular "cake mix" art instruction curriculum, and my daughter despises them. Art is not an "extra," it is part of our core curriculum, and so I am always looking for ways to incorporate it in a hands-on way. Hands-on art is different from picture study, which is described in detail HERE.

To require or inspire? I have also found that the best assignments are ones that my daughter comes up with herself. While letting her take the lead in some ways, it is also important for her to be exposed to a myriad of types of art from various time periods. How can she know whether she enjoys something if she has never been exposed to it? I want to spread a bounty of beauty before her, while still allowing her to be free to accept or reject those works according to personal taste. The question is, "How?" For more on the "How?" questions, go HERE.

"Design an Art Lesson" Workbox

Here is one simple idea for an open-ended art assignment for children aged 11-12+ using those art prints, cards, or art games you have laying around.

*For youngers, I would simply do a picture study, and get them used to imitation and narration of favorite works first. Open-ended assignments may frustrate a younger child who is still in the concrete grammar stage. One idea is to put a picture in the box with a task card like, "Tell me the story of this picture," "Play the game with Mom or a sibling for 30 minutes," or "Recreate this painting in pencil, paint, or clay."


1) Put Art cards, art prints/calendar prints, or art games in the box. I happened to have this art card game called "Close Up" that I picked up at the National Gallery. I have tons of these laying around, but if you don't, check out the art postcards from Dover. Assuming they have a strong background in art, encourage them to THINK! to come up with an art lesson. For example, the lesson could emphasize art history, an artist, an element of art, a school of painting or feature a creative recreation that puts their own "spin" on the work. Let them Think! and even wrestle with this if they are aged 12 or so and up!



2) Add a task card: This is the trick: write an open-ended card for an older child, or concrete one for a younger. (Make sure you have a variety of quality art paper, art pens, paint, brushes, and pencils on hand!) Here is the Task Card I made for my rising 7th grader.



That is it! This is such a simple idea that I blushingly hesitate to even post it, but simplicity and unfussiness are a great thing.

How I Planned My Year Incorporating Workboxes

Many new homeschoolers ask how to plan out their year. There are many good ways to do this, but I will share what works for me.

I plan out my year of history, science, music and art in advance. I find having an overall plan makes things go smoothly. My dd is in 7th grade this fall, and we are new to workboxes. In my mind, it was important to keep goals for the year first and foremost, rather than just "filling workboxes." I don't care for needless busywork.

Here is how I planned the curriculum that I schedule in advance (for math and language arts, I just "do the next thing') HINT: to build in time for bunny trail, extending topics of interest, or for catching up, I plan for 30-32 weeks of content, but actually do school for 36-38 weeks. I find it best to plan t0 have "Flex" weeks.

1) Choose basic history curriculum (I chose Diana Waring's Ancient Civilization and the Bible and it includes a variety of subjects in a unit study format).
2) Choose history and science biographies for the year (1 per term - I use AmblesideOnline heavily).
3) Choose a history overview book (I chose Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World).
4) Choose a science overview book (I chose 'Chemical Interactions' by Prentice Hall).
5) Choose science enrichments (fun books, videos, kits, etc)
6) Choose a composer for each 12-week term. (I use AmblesideOnline).
7) Choose an art appreciation for the term (I chose the "Art in Ancient ________" series).
8) Choose one important, quality literature book per term (I use AmblesideOnline Year 6 heavily).
9) Choose independent devotional reading

From there, I scheduled each one of the above into 12-week terms. I use something similar to the pattern from AmblesideOnline "Books." http://amblesideonline.org/06bks.shtml
It is extremely helpful to me to envision what my year will look like so that I can gather materials and use time wisely. I also tweak as I go.

For workbox plannning, I broke down:

1) Core Subjects Done Daily
2) Core Subjects Done Twice Weekly
3) Subjects Done Once per week
4) Surprise Me! (Games, Beauty Break, Online Educational Games, Craft kits, Treat, Movie Tickets, Gift Card to go shopping with, Scrapbook items, etc)
5) Enrichments to rotate in (Baking, Cooking, Health, Dance DVD, sports skills, etc)

My boxes ended up looking like this:

• Box #1 - Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World alternated with Prentice Hall Chemical Interactions
• Box #2 - Math
• Box #3 - Literature
• Box #4 - Composer Study alternated with Phy-Ed, 10 Free Time Minutes Ticket
  
• Box #5 - Memory Work
• Box #6 - Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations and the Bible (cd's and student manual)
• Box #7 - Poem-A-Day, Lunch Ticket, Ticket for 30 Free Time Minutes
• Box #8 - Rotating Studies (one chosen each day) - Nature Study, Logic, Science Biography, or Art Appreciation
• Box #9 - Grammar and Spelling
• Box #10 - Devotional Reading (CLE Calls to Courage alternated with Adam and His Kin)
• Box #11 - SURPRISE ME - something fun and different each day
  
• Box # 12 - Enrichment - a Home-Ec, Art/Craft or Health-related task or activity such as baking a muffin recipe
  

For storage, I have a big bin with a bunch of manilla envelopes in it. I am using the bin to gather "SURPRISE ME!" items and "Enrichment" items so they are ready to go and full of variety. I use the same bin to store my teacher's manuals. It's been a blast pulling out all those fun items that have been unused on the shelf. It's also exciting to think of SURPRISE ME! items to bless my dd with. Miss M loves doing nails, for example, so I am going to gather some fun nail polish colors and nail stickers to rotate in. I made up a ticket for a "Beauty Break." Since she is older she has a lot of work, but having at least one fun box and one enrichment box is motivating to both of us.

For books or subjects that require a schedule, I make the schedule up for the term and leave it in the box. For other boxes, I have task cards. I am also experimenting with the idea of subject contracts as outlined in High School: A Home-Designed Form-U-La see how this would work for us. I am doing a Subject Contract with one subject this year, and I chose Science. I am including the Subject Contract, and Schedule with the science textbook as a trial run for to see if the contract system would be do-able for us.

As far as a weekly schedule, my dd will not have weekly checklist sheet. This is feeling pretty radical to me! : ) Her workboxes ARE her schedule and living checklist! She will complete boxes #1-12, and when they are completed, her day is done. Two boxes have tickets for "15 minute break" or "Take a lunch break when you are finished with this box."

To help me coordinate variety into my boxes, I am using Andrea's Workbox Planner. There is a picture of the filled out grid on my slideshow. This is merely for my own planning purposes, not for Miss M.

I like the idea of getting the planning and gathering phase done early, and then simply letting school take care of itself using the workboxes method. Teaching prep is either done early on the "front end" or later "in the trenches." I find lessons to be much more haphazard when done "in the trenches." Things go much more smoothly when I am prepared and organized, and I love how the workboxes organize all materials AND plans.

So there you go, a little about how I plan both my year and week with workboxes.

New for Fall: Workboxes

I love being organized and having a place for everything and everything in it's place. We have always used a written checklist and book baskets to keep our materials organized. It worked ok.

Then I heard about the Workbox idea to organize our homeschool day. This took me right back to my days as a Montessori teacher, with activities stored neatly and individually on trays. When a child chose an activity, they pulled the tray off the shelf, completed the activity, put the materials back on the tray, and returned it to it's shelf to rest neatly. This is the picture that jumped into my mind the minute I heard about Workboxes, and I knew that a modified version would work for me.

When my dd was younger, I pulled out individual daily work and put it in subject folders. As she got older, I pulled out work for the week and stapled it in packets, placing it in folders. For the past couple of years, she can manage work for six to twelve weeks at a time, so I plan and organize in larger increments. For 7th grade, my Workboxes will be filled with all materials, directions/contract, and books for a 12-week term. The Workboxes themselves will serve as her checklist this year! Work through all the boxes, and she is done for the day. Although most boxes will be filled for several weeks, I will have a couple of workboxes that will have different things rotated into them every day: Practical Life, Crafts, games, even computer time.

I keep changing my mind about the order of the boxes. Just last night I looked at some of Charlotte Mason's old PNEU schedules, and made some changes to the box order. Right now here is what I have:

• Box #1 - Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World alternated with Prentice Hall Chemical Interactions
• Box #2 - Math
• Box #3 - Literature
• Box #4 - Composer Study alternated with Phy-Ed, 10 Free Time Minutes
  
• Box #5 - Memory Work
• Box #6 - Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations and the Bible (cd's and student manual)
• Box #7 - Lunch, Chores List, 30 Free Time Minutes
• Box #8 - Rotating Studies (one chosen each day) - Nature Study, Logic, Science Biography, or Art Appreciation
• Box #9 - Grammar and Spelling
• Box #10 - Devotional Reading (CLE Calls to Courage alternated with Adam and His Kin)
• Box #11 - SURPRISE ME - something fun and different each day
  
• Box # 12 - Practical Life - a Home-Ec or Health-related task or activity