I knew when I saw these that I could create something out of them...

but what? I bought them anyhoo, hoping my creative juices would flow eventually. It did today. I wanted to do something relating to the states and when I saw the 5 mailboxes and the letters-I decided to make a "work" where the child places the correct state under the correct region. I used the regions listed in the book, The Little Man in the Map, by Andrew Martonyi. I reviewed this book for the TOS Review Crew last year, you can read my opinion on it here.



You can use any good book which covers the states and their regions, but I really like this one. There are also a few different ways to split it up the states, but since I only had 5 mailboxes, I needed to put it into that many divisions (thankfully, the LMintheM book did just that). So I now have a fun activity to pop into the workbox, now and again, when we start our 50 states study this fall.



I found the items at the Dollar Tree in the teacher section. You will have to scope your local stores. I didn't see these but 2 weeks ago, and a couple days ago, I did. Hopefully, you will be able to find these too-otherwise, I am sure you can use MS Word images to create something similar.

You need:

2 packs of the room decor: letters (25 per pack)
1 pack of the large Room Decor with the mailboxes and boy/girl stamps
laminate sheets
markers (at least 2 colors)

I listed the full name of the state in blue, the abbreviation in red at the bottom (so the child sees the full spelling and learns the proper 2 letters used for mailing and such). I also put a "self check" on the back of the letters (MW for Midwestern states, for example). That way the child reads the book, learns the regions and then tries to place the proper letters under each mailbox heading. When done, they can flip them over to see if they match. Obviously, if they do not-they made an error.



This is what the final layout looks like when done correctly (the mailboxes can go in any order or from left to right, in proper order you'd see on the map)


The child checks the mailbox door for the region's abbreviation to check the back of the letter.

This will go into our state project collection I am gathering and creating this summer. Oh, since I only have a little boy who will be doing this, I wrote on the boy stamp picture. But if you have girls using it too, then by all means make write the same thing on it, and laminate it as well-that way the child can choose to put the header that matches their gender.

Toddler Time

This would be a good toddler activity: I have some of those fake fruits from JoAnns (now they are not intended for kids under 3, but it is what I had around the homestead...so you could easily replace the fruit idea with some plastic eggs or foods from the toy section) and then I had saved 2 egg carton holder parts (the clear ones are from Eggland's Best-I think the brown ones, anyhoo I ended up with 2 because it was the one where the holder folded over itself and surprise-I ended up having two containers-which has proven to be perfect...but the reg. egg carton will work) to put them in (they fit rather nicely-the lemons/limes). My nephew loves this activity...altho I do have to watch him closely...the fruit things are kinda fragile in that they could crush kinda easily (and I want them to remain nice cuz they are a part of my decor)...but he loves to put them into the container, take them out, put them into another container and so on....kept him busy this morn for over 20 mins! That is whoop it up moment! He also decided to rummage thru the tupperware cabinet to find more things to put them in-isn't it amazing how quickly those toddlers (and babies) find that cabinet in your kitchen? I don't even bother organizing it anymore (haven't for many years) because one of the babies will find and destroy it in about 5 seconds....LOL

To make a long post a wee bit shorter-putting some of these items (whether fake fruit or toys) into a workbox with a few holders would be a great activity to keep the toddler busy whilst you worked nearby on something with an older child. Plus, this is great for practicing their small hand movements/motor skills.

Thinking Outside the Box Meme -summer stuff

This week's question has to do with what we are doing for summer...schooling all year or what...so here is my Reader's Digest answer:

we are on break until late July (we have been off 2 weeks and it feels good) but are participating in the library's summer reading program and the Splish program thru TOS. We are busy reorganizing our play area, being entertained by the Mallards who show up quite frequently in our yard (named George and Gracie), exploring the areas around here and looking for critters (altho it has been difficult due to the cooler weather [no pollywogs yet] and the rain) and just hanging. We are off to the DC area for almost 2 weeks mid-July, so we'll be doing some major historical exploration and art museums. When we return-it will be back to about 4-6 boxes (mainly continuing the reading/spelling and basic math) until mid-Aug. when we start at full capacity. We cannot really do any school breaks anymore-too much info lost, I am on the TOS review crew, so we have those items to try out, and I like to take a good stretch of time off, during the Christmas season, and early spring. SO to make a long story even longer-we are not really doing the boxes right now-I am working on all sorts of games/folders for them and we're just taking a breather.

Here is one project I just wrapped up (outside of getting velcro dots on the cards)to use when we start our weather center/study in August. We'll be doing the lapbook for The Bravest of Us All (I submitted it to HSS so it should be posted soon) and general weather experiments, books and weather watching. This will be his daily activity to record what is happening outside. I chose to laminate it to cardstock, put a couple of the pocket envies (dollar store find) for the pieces, and then tape it together to fold up all nice and spiffy like. I found this activity for $2.50 on Homeschooling with Index Cards (weather center). I messed up a bit and had to cut/retape, so I am missing one strip of record keeping sections-but it was something we could do without-so anyhoo...there you have it. That is a great site by the way. Cheap to buy and easy to print. There are a lot of freebies in the notebooking and freebies section too.










Now starting next week, I have this meme until August-so please stop back here each Monday for a new topic to discuss. I look forward to hosting this! Have a great week! To link back to Gabby's blog for this week's question-go to The Work of Childhood.

Thought I would show a workbox activity to ya

I found this puppy on the site, for free (of course, you need to print and [recommend] laminate it) under the David's Sheep Number Words file folder. I actually found this thru the main site, File Folder Fun [thanks to my pal at Learning By Living]. There are a lot of really cute file folder games to create there. Since my son is a bit late on the reading skills, I have held off on teaching the spelling of the numbers...so this will work perfectly this summer and fall. I can also make the numbers up to twenty if need be (as it only goes to 15)...

I just laminated them onto 2 pieces of card stock...put dots at the bottom corners so he knows that is to match (now he does know his number order quite well, so this isn't really a problem, but wanted that there for any future users)



and then on the opposite side, there are the remaining numbers.



I also laminated the sheepsies to keep them all nice and pretty. I store it in a ziplock bag. So now I have a fun and teaching math activity for the workboxes. If I wanted to stick with a theme, I could do these, a craft relating to sheep, a story about sheep (I think I have one about Sheep in a Jeep) and maybe a DVD or something about em. I could have easily used this to tie this into the A New Coat for Anna Lapbook (the one I made is on Homeschool Share to download, it can be found under the free lapbooks page)as well. There you have it-a wooly way to learn the spelling of numbers.

So I was looking for wall hangings that could serve as a workbox for those with tight spaces

My, this is what I found Library Pocket Charts

So if I am reading this right-you get a pocket chart that has 12x12 pockets (12 of em on it, no less! Wow!) with little pockets in front of that-can we say a place for extra notes and the number cards. This looks to be durable too. I see K12schoolsupplies.net (first site listed) has them for the best price for $29.19 each. This would be a good way for those who have limited space to still do the workboxes and have it hold larger items.

Hope this find helps some of you out.

Those "Troublesome Trolley" blends

visit The Work of Childhood for more ideas for the workbox.

This is a simple activity to help those visual learners:



CH, SH and TH...3 sounds that throw my boy whilst he is trying to read. For whatever reason, he just forgets they are meant to be said as a blend. I have to do three different visual hints for him as he reads this...SH is obvious, as I bring my finger to my lips and say "Shhh", CH is showing my thumb hit my finger, and TH is over-stressing my tongue hitting my teeth (as he had no front teeth while we were working on the TH sounds in reading, so he ends up saying "fff" instead...so I have to over-stress the tongue hitting the teeth in order to get him to say TH...but..that is isn't enough...so I had to come up with something...this was my solution. Just used my MS Word...now I still need to print an additional blank card for the pictures to go on cuz the 10 cannot fit without squishing them. But it gives you the idea of how it works...basically, they place the picture under the sound it makes, and when done, have you or an older sibling check it to be sure it is correct. I know for my son, that all though this is WAY easy on the difficulty scale, it is giving him a bunch of visuals...so when he sees the them in a word-his mind may instantly go to this work to remind him to blend the sounds. We'll see. Anyhoo, I just store it in a Ziplock. If you'd like the file, you can leave a comment with your email addy and I will send it along (I will not publish it, but just get your e-addy and then delete it-so you don't have to worry about having your email addy out on the web).

Little craft project for the week

This was packed with the goodies needed to paint the little wood truck we found at Wally-World (IE: Wal-Mart). Please note the "piggy bank" number card. These are from the Money Center set I submitted to HSS. I think they're kinda cute and I am using them because we are still working on the money center-kinda like adding "matching shoes" to your outfit.


They also had little buses, trains, cars and such. I found this in the section with the unfinished wood stuff and craft paints.


His finished product. We also do the Home Depot Kids Workshops-so he gets loads of practice building and painting. Usually they host those on the first Saturday of every month from 9-12. We have quite a collection of projects the kids have built. I guess this now requires me to take a pic of em all! LOL

This week's Meme

This week, let’s interview our kiddos! I know all across the blog world, you can find ALL kinds of moms ranting and raving about the wonders of the work box system! So, let’s hear what the KIDS have to say?!

**I interviewed my 7 1/2 yold son-here are his responses:


(he isn't mad, the sun was in his eyes and I made him take off the sunglasses for the pic..bad mom I guess...LOL)

1. What is your favorite thing about the workboxes? "I can see all the stuff that I am going to do, and it easy to get to."

2. What is your LEAST favorite thing about them?
"I like it all." So apparently, he has no "least" fav part-Yeah!

3. Do you think the workboxes are helping you become a better student?
"Yes" (Daddy said he definitely thinks so)

4. If you could change one thing about the workboxes, what would it be?
"More candy in them, I do a lot of work, I do deserve something."

5. What is your favorite activity that you didn’t really get to do much before you started the workboxes?
"the centers"

Anything else you want to add?
"The workboxes are really fun and I like them."

Visit The Work of Childhood to join this meme and see other's responses

What is in the box today

The mumbo jumbo of the Frog Lapbook stuff...almost done-should have it put together by Friday.



The Money Center notice plus the paper he is to work on (which is actually in the center area) and the money is for his Piggy Bank project (this will continue until that pig is full...which is going to take a long time-so we'll just pop one of the containers with change in now and again).


Puzzle with time card (I actually need to make some bigger time cards to attach the wee ones to...another project in the works)


Now sadly, he already completed this box and dad and the boy found not a one! It is just so chilly those buggers must be hiding but good. Hopefully, I can pop this back in next week and we'll be able to catch at least one to observe. Last year at this time we found tons and the frogs were croaking up a storm-sadly, it has been rather quiet in the ponds of late.

That is just some of the boxes today. Oh, and I finally laminated the piggy bank number cards I made for the Money Center Activity folder I submitted to Homeschool Share. Hopefully, they will have those up soon. But anyhoo-I don't have a pic of it today...maybe this week.

Thinking outside the box meme

Sponsored this month by The Work of Childhood (previously known as Cheeky Monkey Preschool) at The Work of Childhood, please stop by and leave a ditty with you answers to these workbox questions.


Alright, here are my answers to this week's questions for the meme:

How many boxes do you fill? 11

Do you expect your children to go in order? Yes but have skipped on around on occasion because I just couldn't be there to work with him when he hit a particular box.

Do you use the schedule strips? no

How long does it take you to fill the boxes? 15 or so mins. depending on how brain dead I am, or if I am actually functioning at full capacity

Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items? Yes but it usually is the morning (he gets up later than me) or late afternoon when "school time" is done-not night.

Do you have some boxes repeat each day so there is less filling/refilling? No, each day is a new experience-altho the biggest box is reserved for big projects which can carry over for several days

What do your kids do with the empty boxes? He piles them up in the number one spot

Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids? I have him dump all non-consumable supplies/books into our Dump Box, then the worksheets and papers that have been completed, go into our Finished Work box-I put the stuff away. Altho, he will help me put stuff away if I ask.

Anything else you want to add? There is more and more info out there with great ideas on what to put into these beauties, ideas for centers and links to sites with downloads. Check out Homeschool Share-they will have a whole new section just for workbox helps, the yahoo groups and fellow bloggers-with all of us adding our ideas, we'll have a wealth of info to keep the workbox system flowing and non-stagnant.


Right now I am only using this system for my soon to be 8 year old. I will figure out a more "mature" system for my high schooler-not sure what holding system it will be yet-or to what extent we'll have her using it....needed to tweak it out for the boy first.....good thing it is almost summer, I need that down time to figure it out.