New System

Hello and Happy Monday!
So I just wanted to share with you my new little system. I love workboxes and believe in  the system, but we really had to seriously tweek it in order for it to work for us. James was getting very frustrated with all the little velcro circles, and no matter what I did it seemed like we never finished all the boxes in one day...never!  So we changed it up a bit.
Now I use this basket to corral all of our workbooks and text books that we are currently using. I also place chapter books and seasonal books that we are reading, like the Easter one in the picture.  The workbooks in the basket are the ones that I bought AFTER I ripped out the pages of my previous workbooks. They are in order and they all have tabs on them so I know exactly where we are. No page flipping. The tabs are removable, so when we are finished for the day, I move the tab for the next day.
When we finish a subject, I move the book to the back of the basket.

I also have these file folder "binders". They have six pockets in each book. The red one is Rachel's and the Yellow one is James. Every Sunday I fill each pocket with work for the day. We usually have four or five pocket full of work to do. The work I still in there is from the workbooks I had ripped out the pages from. Those workbook pages are filed and waiting for me to pull them out. So the kids work on those pages, while I teach a lesson to one of the other children. It keeps them busy so I can teach.  

This is what Rachel's pocket looks like, it's ready to go with all her work in it. (there are two days pictured)

When we are finished the day, the kids file their completed work into their binder. 

I use the binders to show our facilitator the work that we have been doing. 

Now the kids hate doing worksheets. So there are lots of games and such that we play. But when we do that sort of stuff, it makes me nervous because then I feel like we aren't completing as much as we should be, because I don't have worksheets to file! 

So I started keeping a journal of our accomplishments. I used to keep a planner, that I would write up on Sunday for the week, but I found that I was always crossing off way more than I was checking off on my planner, so I decided that a journal would be better. 

It keeps me accountable, and it also keeps a record for me to show to our facilitator. I also jot down little notes on concepts or areas that the children need extra practice in, or extra help with. That way I can keep track of their progress, and accomplishments. It's fun to go back through and see how far we have come. :o) 

Here it is:

The sheets are from DonnaYoung.com (the best homeschool printables on the web!)

I keep the sheets in this orange duotang, and at the end of the week I file the three sheets. There is one sheet per child per week. 

I think that's about it for today. 

The kids did well today, we worked really hard and made a lot of progress. 

I'm also really starting to see the benefits of game playing. Even rolling the dice, is so beneficial for math skills. How come I didn't know that 15 years ago when my first daughter was born, I just thought kids learned in school, and that it was the teachers job to teach, and the parents job to love and care for their children.