Every year there seems to be some new bandwagon of some sort to jump on. Some years it’s a new curriculum that’s all the talk. Other years it’s a new reference or resource book. This year it’s the Workbox System by Sue Patrick which is both a “specialized and structured” teaching system compatible with the curriculum of your choosing and an organizatonal system designed to integrate that curriculum into a manageable schedule.

I’m usually not very quick to jump on the latest/greatest bandwagon these days having carelessly been there done that many times early in our homeschool adventure. However, I did hop on this one because I had already been planning to figure out a better/different way to organize our school materials and because my tried & true (with the girls) spreadsheet wasn’t working so well for the boys. The Workbox System is working better for them because unlike a spreadsheet the workboxes provide a visual expectation and tangible schedule which makes the discipline of seeing their work through to completion more easily attainable. The spreadsheets are just too vague for the boys even with all the color coding, notes in the margins, lengths of time, etc.

Click HERE to read the first fourteen pages of the The Workbox User’s Guide and click HERE to watch a short video about the system. A google search for Workbox systems will come up with a ton of blogs and websites showing how people have implemented the system. I’ve also found a few yahoo groups dedicated to Workbox users. There you’ll find lots of templates, resources, and ideas.

In the first two chapters of the Workbox System User’s Guide e-book, I found myself agreeing with most of Mrs. Patrick’s philosophy which she spells out in her ode to the benefits of homeschooling chapter and also agreed with much of what she said in the chapter dealing with how we teach and train. In particular, I agree with her assessment of homeschooling being the “ultimate family opportunity.”

I also agree (somewhat) with her thoughts on developing character in your children when she says, “When they (the children) are fully secure and rooted in your family’s values,they will be more capable of handling the unstructured world of public education—in college.” However, I disagree somewhat with this statement because only a parent can determine when a child will be able to handle public education and at what level. In our family, that time came during the high school years for our oldest daughter and by that time she was able to recognize public school would take too much time away from developing the areas in which God was leading and guiding her so she chose to continue homeschooling. It’s too soon to tell at what age our other kids will be able to or would have been able to handle (past tense because since sometimes that’s not known without hindsight) the things that will come at them in the public education system. We will probably take advantage of the college Connections program at some point in time with the kids still at home. However, there’s too much at stake to send them before I know they’re ready to withstand the philosophies, world views, and pressures which will come at them in the public education setting so I don’t know exactly when that will be.

Mrs. Patrick also states, “When your homeschool is logical and creative—meaning your children are learning in a way (individually) that makes sense to them, school is effective and fun. When your homeschool is fun,the whole day is self perpetuating. You love to homeschool, the kids love, or at least like, to learn. The school hours go by quickly and no one feels that school is what we do until we can do something better. School is what we do! And fun is what we have while we are doing school.” That’s a little too much “fun” for me (LOL). Of course, I want the kids to enjoy learning, but the first part of our day is spent powering through the basics so we can get on to the (better) things which are geared to each child’s individual gifting and there’s just not a whole lot of fun in drilling the basics, imo, no matter how you do it! It’s just something that has to be done – much like cooking, cleaning, and running errands.

I completely agree with her statement that, “I believe it is our job to train up our children. Our children should become smart, sequential, forward thinking, self-driven, independent people….. Some of our children will never blossom into the individual who “loves to learn.” But at least they will have learned how to learn. Learning how to learn is one of the most important things we can teach our children.” One of the things I most enjoy about homeschooling is giving the kids ample opportunity to figure things out for themselves – a basic skill I’ve seen lacking many times over in the workplace!

Chapter Three and beyond launches into a description of the Workbox System which includes both the physical structure of the system and her educational philosophy. I’ll delve into a review of both below.

The Physical Structure Mrs. Patrick recommends includes:

1. A Box System:

She recommends shoebox type setup using clear boxes stored on a shoe rack. I searched many blogs to see how others were implementing the system and found several who were using plastic Rubbermaid drawers which was a better option for us for several reasons the most important being I didn’t have to purchase anything since I already had two sets of these drawers and because they fit better in the space I have. Here’s what ours look like:

It took several tries before getting the laminating figured out. I didn’t know office supply stores have various types of laminating systems. It’s definitely better to use the hottest ones because the cooler ones come apart easily. Above, you’ll notice I decided to cut the velcro pieces in half instead of using a whole piece. No sense in wasting velcro (ok.. so I’m cheap)!!

Mrs. Patrick uses several different types of cards including “work with mom” or “center activity”, etc., I didn’t want to mess with creating all those different types of cards because I know me and I would have gotten hung up on the creative process of setting up the system and we still wouldn’t have a system to this day (LOL)! Some people even use recess or bathroom break cards which was a little much for me. So, anyway. Instead of having specific math or music or xyz cards I chose to use various colored numbers.

For the most part, the boys each have a set color which is theirs, but I also have white ones which I’m going to use for out of the ordinary things such as something new they’ll have to wait for me to help them with, something that requires a time when the school room is quiet, will make noise and needs to wait until the others don’t need the room quiet, or myriad other exceptions to the norm. I don’t even bother writing anything on the regular numbers because we do the basics in mostly the same order each day. Recently, I’ve also started to think about using another color for things which are only done once a week and I’m thinking about putting them all at the bottom row so I can easily see that they are removed by the end of the week. Here is what our grid sheet looks like at the beginning of a day.

I ran into some issues in the Philosophy section of Mrs. Patrick’s book so this is probably a good time to mention how I’ve deviated from her plan.

First. She has a number on the workbox and a number on the schedule strip. The schedule strip number is moved to the workbox number after the task in that workbox is completed. I thought that was too redundant so I only have one set of numbers which remain on the grid shown above until the work is completed and then it is moved to the drawer. That way I only have to look at one thing (the grid) to see where the boys are at with their work.

Second. She suggests the workboxes be placed at the left of the desk moving them to the desk while the child is working on the contents and then piling them to the right of the desk after they are finished with that box. She states the reason for this being to emphasize the left to right sequence for reading. I suppose that might be necessary for some kids, but it isn’t for my kids and besides that I don’t have room to the left of both of the boys desks. So, Josh’s set of drawers is to the right of his desk and Nathan’s set is to the left of his desk.

Third. I have serious issues (LOL) with piling the boxes up on the floor because it creates a visual mess that I can’t deal with very well. I prefer everything in its place as much as possible. So, I have the kids put the contents of their drawer back in the drawer when they are done. Moving the number from their schedule to the box after that box’s contents have been completed is visual encouragement enough for all of us (LOL) and it doesn’t leave me with a pile of stuff to go through and put away later. I also have the kids bring their work to me as soon as they’re finished before moving on to the next thing instead of leaving me with a bunch more work at the end of the day. This works better with my philosophy of not allowing too much time to go by before correcting wrong processes. For example, I find it’s much easier to fix a misunderstood math problem when caught early on in the process as opposed to me catching it at the end of the day when grading papers and not being able to address it until the next math lesson.

Fourth. Regarding Mrs. Patrick’s thoughts on independence. She states, “I find that there is way too much talking going on in homeschools.” And, her answer to this “problem” is to have an “I need help card” which the child is to use sparingly because when they run out of those cards they run out. I’m not buying into this idea because first I want to foster in my kids the importance of communication and I LOVE it when they are free to share those “ah ha” moments with the rest of us! I don’t want to squelch that excitement and I don’t want the kids to feel like they have to “schedule” time to talk to me. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t encourage inappropriately interrupting at random but I also don’t want to give them a sense of me only being available when it’s convenient for me. She also uses “I’m ready to work cards” and “quite please” cards. I just didn’t see a need for that much public school type structure in our home. And, I certainly don’t want to do anything to hinder open communication.

Fifth. The mixing up of harder and easier subjects or least favorite and more favorite activities just doesn’t work here. Also, she states in a different part of the book that it is “never ok” to skip over a workbox nor leave one unfinished. I disagree. Because we never know how God is going to lead and direct our day, in our home we MUST get our basics finished before moving on to other more fun things because we may be called upon to serve a friend in need, help dad with his work, or who knows what else, etc. I understand what Mrs. Patrick is saying about mixing up more pleasant things with less desireable things and being disciplined to finish your work, but we’ve always worked with the mindset that first we work and then we play and we always leave room for God to redirect our day as He sees fit. So, I have our harder and less desirable things all scheduled at the beginning of our day and we go about our day come what may.

Sixth. She states there are three main “life skill foundations” to be built upon in each homeschool. They are typing, sequencing, and discipline. I agree these are all foundations in one form or another, but somehow I don’t see typing on the same level as discipline. I consider typing a life skill and discipline a character quality, both things to be taught and honed but certainly not to be lumped together in the same category of importance. So, my list of foundations to be built upon obviously looks different than hers and yours will most likely look different as well.

Seventh. She makes some pretty strong statements about workboxes and high schoolers. I’m curious whether or not she has homeschooled a high schooler. I’ve searched her website, but can’t seem to find the current ages of her children. We are not using workboxes for our high schooler daughter.

Eighth. Just a general observation. There seems to be a lot of BUSY work involved in some of the work box activities and I prefer a more Charlotte Mason style approach.

I think the above covers the main areas where I have deviated from her plan or disagree with her philosophy. On a more positive note, she also offers several chapters with great ideas for various types of learning centers, unit studies, posters, charts, spelling test papers, science speculation sheets, curriculum grid planning sheets, and more. Most of those things don’t pertain to me or I won’t use them so I won’t take time to review them here. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot more to her book than just the implementation of the physical Workbox System.

While I was making our Workbox numbers and grids, I made a couple of extra sets for a friend of ours! Here are all of the sets…..

If you’re using the Workbox System, I’d sure love to dialog with you about how it’s going. If you’re not using the Workbox System, feel free to ask questions. I’m happy to share what we’re doing even though it’s significantly different than Mrs. Patrick’s original system. I’m glad I was introduced to the concept because the parts of her system I’m using are working very well for us!