I Heart Workboxes!!!

It's almost Valentine's Day and I.Am.In.Love. :) Not just with my husband, but with the new system we started this week.....the WORKBOX SYSTEM! I have been reading and researching for a while now and have found that this system is one that many homeschoolers use and love. If you'd like to read more about Sue Patrick's Workbox system, you can visit her website or buy her book (I have not read her book, but I've read MANY different people's blogs and their takes on workboxes). If you'd like to see someone else's preschool workbox system at work, read this Behind the Scenes post. And no, I'm not making any $$$ off of giving these people credit...I have just found SO much *free* information out there and different people do it different ways. We have definitely found what works for us, for right now anyway!

I also started the Raising Rock Stars Preschool program with the girls (focusing on Little bear) this week. We begin each school day (Mon-Thurs) by going over the verse, life applications, and song...then reviewing the number, letter, and word for the week....reading a few books that go along with the week's verse, then we move into the kitchen to do WORKBOXES! You can read more about the RRSP program, created by Carissa at 1+1+1=1 here.

Here is our RRSP board:

I found these drawers on sale at Joann's and they are WONDERFUL!!! I went back and forth on whether to get the double set or the single 10 drawer set...and I'm so glad I went this route so that each girl has her own side. We are using Princess Numbers I downloaded from the Confessions of a Homeschooler blog :) So many people have so many great resources out there for FREE!

We aren't using all the boxes currently. Little Bear usually has 4-6 focused learning boxes (containing activities that have a definite end) and 3 star boxes (open ended toys). She has to finish her focused boxes in order and places her numbers on a number strip I made for her as she completes each box. When she's done with all of them, she can choose from the star boxes and play for however long she wants. Her focused boxes change daily, but the star boxes stay the same for the whole week.
Tiny starts off with 4 boxes at the beginning of the week, each filled with mostly open ended activities and she is allowed to play with each one however long she wants and does not have to go in order. As the week goes on, I usually add something to keep her interested. They both get SO excited each morning to see what is in their boxes. Here is a look at one of Tiny's favorites from this week:

Coloring the Bible verse for the week:

Tongs and puff balls:

Counting with unifex cubes:

Then she switched over to counting with magnets:

Magnets and Ladybug L sheet (found on Confessions of a Homeschooler blog):

One of this week's star boxes, magnetic letters:

Lauri Number Play puzzles (they both LOVE these):

Dot painting the letter Ll:

Dot painting Ladybug:

Cutting the Bible Verse:

Letter L Hunt (found at Confessions of a Homeschooler):

Counting Conversation Hearts (I put Valentine suckers in each of their Valentine themed boxes):

Finding Matching Hearts:

I was really concerned about how Tiny would do with the workboxes since she is so "involved," let's just say. She always wants to do EVERYTHING her big sister is doing so I figured she would just be "bugging" Little Bear and I the whole time we worked on the boxes. I am happy to say I was WRONG! She is thrilled to have her own set of workboxes and she usually sits on the floor and stays involved with her activities :) It makes this Mama's heart VERY happy to see my girls learning and having so much fun doing it!

What I love the most (besides the fact that they are learning!) is that this system keeps me organized and makes me use the fun stuff I have hiding away in my school closet, rather than *save* it all for another day! It does take time to plan and get things out and ready, but so far this has been much easier than any other method of organization I have used. I have found it very helpful to have a running list of all of the focused learning toys/activities and open ended toys we have in this house....then I can just look at my lists when I'm planning. I use a similar planning sheet to Carissa's plans at 1+1+1=1 (why recreate the wheel, right!?). I have been working on getting things ready to start for about 2 months now...and it feels GREAT to have actually started this week, even better to know the girls LOVE it as much as I do :)