With the Christmas holidays fast approaching

I am going to be taking a siesta for a bit-we're canning normal school stuff and working on baking goodies, reading good books about Christmas, and just doing nothing of great importance-mommy needs a major break and no one is into learning.  So after this week-we're done for a while....so that is why you won't see any new posts unless I get a wild hair on my head and go crazy creating something workbox related-but doubt it considering I am 90% not done with shopping and such...so....

Have a very Merry Christmas holiday and may the Lord reign in your hearts and bless you abundantly this season!

Yeah! BOUND Schedule books

OK, so UPS was a flop-they only do the comb-binding there. So went to Office Max. For about $3 each, had em bound. I did get the 1 1/4" ish ring size-I measured what the thickness was, when I had cards on both sides of the day charts, and it was about an inch-so I didn't want to have it all pinched by having too small of a ring-but now that I see it (too late to change it) I am thinking an inch size is perfect. Actually, the dude said they come in mm -so whatever is close to that. Anyhoo-this 3 or so week project is finally done! Whoop it up!

Had a good question about the schedule books

My TOS mate Lisa from the Berry Patch, at Freedom Academy (that is her HS blog) asked if I would then be scheduling out the full week, using the Schedule Books-and that would be a big YES!!!  With the daily schedule strips, I would be redoing 5 x per week, what could be done once a week.  That way too-I can see what we have going on thru-out the week, and will be able to pack the boxes (even tho this doesn't tell me what is going in-I still know how many boxes I wanted for that day) accordingly.  I tend to wing it too much, so this way I will be a bit more grounded.  Not that we are bound by that schedule, but it is a goal to try to meet.  On those days we simply cannot get to it all-if it is of major importance, then those box cards/activity cards will be moved to the spare spots or the "carry over" spots on the next day's grid.

Also, she wanted to know about binding.  I am going to the UPS store first, b/cuz it is just up the road-(want to scope out who would be doing it tho-and if I feel they understand and can accomplish it without ruining it-I will have it done there since it is like $3 or so bucks a piece)...but if I am uneasy about their skills (hey, ya know, this took a lot of time and some cashola to create  these beauties-have to be a bit protective of em), I will go to the Office Depot or is that Office Max? Well, whatever it is near the mall, to have it done.  Kinkos can do it too-just not one near close enough to our homestead go to. 

And to Lisa, and the other gals who have already commented-thanks!  I am pleased to be able to share this idea (altho not that is was mine originally-thanks to Ginger Snap Shots for that) in the Super-Sized version.  If it helps a fellow HSing momma plan the kiddos week out, and if it saves her time in the long run (that would be after the things are made, cut, laminated, Velcro'd, bound and such-LOL) then it is all worth it!  

Blessings!

Have some of the Schedule Book info up on Scribd

I have a lot of these cards and the schedule book up for downloading...but you will have to figure out the tabs for days of the week-as the ones up on Scribd are not marked for it. I waited until I had the 2 pages glued back to back to each other,  before cutting out the tab areas-it just makes it easier and that way you have it correct.


Also, as for the cover page-you are on your own there too (sorry). I used clip art to create the pic, then added the child's name on it below the pic. That will need to be trimmed to fit so that the cover doesn't hide the tabs on the side-I think I trimmed about 1/2 in total off of it. You will laminate back to back-so the cover and the calendar grid day for Monday will be together. I have downloaded the days of the week pages for the calendar side of the schedule book.  I also have a blank one there-so be sure you are copying off the right one-I figure the blank one can be downloaded if you want a Sat. or Sunday page too.  The days of the week tabs are now up as well-there is some extra hints/suggestions on it as well.

You can find all these on my Scribd page for What's in the Box?

What's in the Box? Scribd homepage

I don't have all the little cards there because some are very specific to our needs-again-you can easily make these using your MS Word application.  They are 1 3/4" X 1 3/4" boxes , I get 3 x4 down for the grids.

Well it is not bound yet-but wanted to post it! Our Schedule books.

I keep finding that I am getting distracted and not accomplishing what we need to each week-so when I saw Ginger Snap Shots article about her daily grids-my mind started churning. I wish I had seen this when I first started out-problem is that her grids are too small for the majority of the cards I have already printed/laminated/Velcro'd, so what was I to do? I cannot afford to start over-plus I wanted even more block spaces-so, I just super-sized it! Now, my goal is to on each Sat. (or maybe Friday afternoon), sit down and schedule out the week in these. I still won't have an exact list of what I am putting into the individual boxes-but I will know how many I need for the day and what other activities I want them to do. It should help me be more streamlined in my planning and packing.

Looks like a lot of work-and it is a bit of work for sure-but so worth it. Now that is done (well, outside of getting bound, which is going to happen this weekend), I am basically finished fussing with it-except when I need to create a few new cards. Which is no big deal, because that way it will stay relevant to what is going on in our lives. I forgot to take a pic of the "work on fix-it file" card, but that one is reserved for when they have papers that need to be re-done or corrected. That will go first, before any other boxes/activities, so that they can wrap up the previous day's boo-boos before moving on. This is mostly for my teen right now, but as the boy advances in grades, I am sure he'll need it too.

The boy's book-2 pages per day with 21 blocks for cards and one area for the date.  We stamped the card stock after we printed the grid outlines, using some stamps and ink I have from my SU Demo chick days.  I will be getting these spiral bound this weekend so that they are set to go for Monday.

The calendar is perpetual, so that I can simply change it out each week.  I made 31 day cards, one for each kid.  He wanted spirals-so I stamped them in colors that matched the paper colors.  It would be neat to make a set, one for each season or a variety-but that means more ink, paper, lamination sheets, Velcro and time.  So I am sticking with one set per kid for now.

Yet, another day's example.

I just cut off a section to create the tabs, which was kind of a pain-but I didn't want to mess up the grid system when I made them and figured it would just be easier to do it by hand.  I did type up the days of the week, cut them out and glued them down before laminating.

This is an example of how I can set up one of the days.  I simply will predetermine how many workboxes and additional activities I want him to do that day-then put the appropriate cards on it.  The Kinderbach and Mathletics are temps, because I am currently reviewing these programs-so I didn't laminate them, but rather just used some clear packing tape to strengthen them, then added a very small piece of velcro.   Having these cards on the schedule makes it so I can put a bigger variety of projects, necessary subjects and fun stuff in the actual workboxes.  I was losing the boxes to those type of activities that I really didn't want to, so I made cards that were for those "box draining" activities.  Now that we have been using the system for about a year-I am more confident and want to add more of the reg. school stuff in the boxes-so this solved that dilemma.

Now, everyone knows there are times when you simply cannot get to all the activities you had scheduled for the day-so I decided to put a lot of boxes per day to solve that problem.  The top 3 boxes are reserved for just such an occasion.  I can easily (by removing that card and putting in the next day's carry over section) move the prior day's unfinished business to the top of our next day's list .

My teen daughter's cover

Her Monday layout.

Thursday's.

Sample layout with cards.  The computer one can be used for any project/research or whatever she needs to do that day on the 'puter (this right now would be working on Tektoma-another review product), and the Mathletics is a few years too young for her, but I have her working on it as well, to give me some teen insider info about it.  Plus, it doesn't hurt her to do some review.  I have different lunch cards for her and her brother.  She wanted musical notes for her days, so again-stamped them to match her card stock colors.  She is not good with printed out "to do" lists, somehow, someway-she loses them or simply ignors them.  But she does well with visual schedules, so this is a great alternative to laying out her schedule in a way she will want to use. Her workboxes are a bit more complex, simply because she is doing high school level work, so she is only getting about 8 or so boxes a day-on average.  I also have cards for her HS group days, that I will put on those days she attends those classes, just to name a few.  I will have a few pics of storage ideas and actual cards I have made, in another post. 

Whew!  Hope you enjoyed taking a peek at my latest project.  I plan on adding a couple pics of what it looks like bound too-

Schedule book card ideas

I had a tackle box I bought at Kmart to hold some of my stampin supplies, so I emptied that, snapped off the two ends on one plastic divider strip (they come out easily) so I could have a bigger section for the calendar cards...it won't be too hard to keep them in order,  if I am careful...and there are enough sections here to hold two kids' worth of calendar, "do workbox #..." cards-one set per day/per kid (different color for each day), and the lunch cards. I think I paid less than $5 for the tackle box-but I have seen tons of different types of storage boxes like this, that would work great too. I wrote on it what was in it-plus it has a snap on top, which is very needful!

 

 

The lunch cards all fit into one section.

This beauty is what the boy made at one of the Home Depot Kid's Workshops.  It is suppose to be for nuts and bolts and such-but hey-why not use it for cards?  It has a sliding clear plastic top, and it holds the cards perfectly.  I have the boy's on the left, the teen's on the right, to keep them straight.

 

Oh goodie!  I see I did take a pic of it-well, here it is!

I made a bunch of cards for the computer games we have for him-and I did a couple for Starfall too.

 

Our girlie will be starting her driver's ed classes, so had to make these!

I made several of each card per kid.  That way if we are going on a field trip, both kids' books will have that card in it.  Or the library, HS group, walking, etc.

I will try to get some of these loaded to my scribd pages-but I have to go thru and make sure they are more generic-but really these are easy to create yourself.  I used our MS Word program, made grids of 3 across by 4 down per page at 1 3/4" X 1 3/4 ", then clicked the clip art section, chose what I thought would work, shrunk them to fit the spot and added instructions if necessary (you cannot put a lot down-so make it short and sweet), then copy/pasted it into as many blocks as I needed.  Then you simply save, print on card stock, cut em out, laminate them (tricky b/cuz you need to be sure they don't slide into the section b4 them and get laminated together-lost a library card that way)-and then cut again, Velcro 'em and whallah!  You are done!

I can get the big grid schedule pages up too, but there won't be the lines to guide the tabs.  I will have to go and measure out those and see if I can make a template or something-but to be honest-it is going to take me some time to do all of this.  I have a boat load of reviews coming due that I must pay attention to, it is inching up on Christmas and I really want to be done dealing with anything schooly by mid-Dec.  So it may take til next year.  The big grid sizes are 3x5 down of 2x2" and the other sheet (with the calendar) has a bigger box in the top for the calendar card, then 2 3x3 grid boxes of 2x2.    You will have to print those on card stock and decide if you want to stamp them-or as the boy pointed out-you could laminate and then let the kids sticker up the areas that are not in the grid space.  Or leave em blank.

So that is my major project news-hope you enjoyed reading about it. 

**Oh, and before someone asks-there is nothing wrong with a daily schedule strip, it was just becoming very time consuming to redo those every nite, this way I only set the days up one time per week (outside of any carry over cards).  I was able to trim down the cards I already had to fit the new schedule grids-so I was able to use those too.

Simple Workbox activity that saves me work and time

So I found these blend cards at Target, and decided to laminate them (since I figure I will be hsing forever: the kids say I am going to HS their future kiddos-not so sure, but I can pass them along) and decided the boy could cut them out.   He is still in the throws of learning to read, so these will give him some nice, colorful flashcards to practice blending better, and this little project is a great break from the 3 Rs that go into his workboxes!  My wrists have been stressed (causing carpal tunnel) and he likes to cut up stuff-so this is a win-win situation for sure.

I didn't come up with this stuff-but alas-something to tell ya about

Teach with Games is a great site for downloading free games to pop into your workboxes. There are lots to choose from and they look nice and professional as well. Be sure to visit this site, as I am sure you will find something you can use to help your student(s).

I came across this when I read my newsletter from Homeschool Freebie of the Day . If you are unaware of the HS Freebie site- it is a great place to get free eBooks, and materials that are also excellent for workboxing and homeschooling in general. Every week there is something new.  I just download them to a file and access them when I need to (because you can only get them for a short amount of time).  All you need to do is fill out the info to get on their mailing list, and you will be able to access the material.

2 great ways to help stuff your boxes ladies (and gents). HTH you out!

Me bad

I have been so busy that I literally have not been able to do something cute and worthy of posting for my workbox section.  OI.  Sorry about that ya all.  I will try to get something of substance up soon.  My creative juices have dried up and vanished as of late...but never fear-I can think of something -hopefully LOL! 

Til then, keep those great ideas flowing on your blogs b/cuz I have been visiting when I can, and boy do I get inspired. 

November's ASK SHERI question

OK, now this one (from my faithful askee from One More Equals Four) is a good question, and well, not so sure I have a good answer for it.  So, I am asking for my fellow bloggie pals for some assistance.  Please, if you have anything to offer up-leave a comment for all to read.

Here is her question:

In the past, I have traditionally graded papers as my kids have completed them and we immediately correct them. Today, our first day of all out "workboxing", the kids are turning in their papers in our basket. When I get to them, I am correcting them, but I am not sure how to deal with mistakes. By the time I have found the mistakes, the kids have moved on to another subject and I don't feel like I should break in to that subject, however, I have also promised them that when they are done, they are done. I hate to wait until tomorrow to correct the mistakes because I think the correction is good reinforcement and eliminates bad habits starting to form. What do you do?

My answer:

I have two different situations regarding the need for correcting papers-

First off, my second grader and I work on the more "challenging material" together, or within close proximity of each other-so I see any mistakes almost immediately.  We correct on the spot.   So I have yet to encounter the above issue.  

But for my teen-that is a whole 'nother situation.  I learned long ago [with my test subjects-kid 1 and kid 2] that they preferred to "correct" their work themselves.  Now since "cheating" is unheard of here-no need or reason to-I would hand the TG to them to go thru their work, and correct as necessary. This little Test Project of mine proved quite valuable-since they saw the correct method, within moments of finishing their assignment, and they were able to make the necessary changes immediately. It also saved me a lot of work!  On some things-I would go thru the work (such as tests or essays/research papers) but on the subjects that were more black and white-such as math-they could correct.  So I am continuing this method with kid3 and in the future-kid4.   Right now-my 10th grader has to turn in her science to the lady who teaches it at the HS group we partake in.  The same goes for the Film Analysis course, and the Finance 101 class.  So, I am off the hook there.  As for history, Home Ec and various other things we are doing-I do not necessarily have to "rush" or quickly correct-it simply isn't necessary.  I will just put it in a "correct this stuff" file for the next day-after the Bible lesson.  She knows she needs to go thru the notes I made and fix the boo-boos.  Easy as pie.

When and if I get to a situation where they need to have something correctly immediately, I guess I will simply ask the other student to hold off on what we are doing (if we are working on it together) or ask them to move to a box that they can work on alone-so I can go thru the material and hand it back for any corrections (meaning that that student will need to wait patiently whilst I do so-before they can move along to the next box).  

I am actually looking forward to reading what others do-as I am just a bit unsure myself what is the best method. So dear friends-do tell!


Thanks!