My absolute, ultimate, non-negotiable goal for Alex this semester is to help him become more independent with his schoolwork.  In Kindergarten, I tried workboxes.  I really liked them, but space and time limitations forced me to rethink this method.

I started out first grade with a work crate instead and an assignment chart on the front. 

This worked pretty well and Alex learned to look in the folders for the correct books and worksheets.  The chart was a bit too small though.  I could write in a page number with a dry erase marker, but not much else. I found myself interrupted by lots of questions for directions.

So now I am using an assignment notebook.  I have a ton of spiral notebooks lying around.  I just grabbed one of those and write the day’s assignments on a sheet every morning.  Yes, I could do this on the computer, but sometimes I find that sitting down in front of the screen adds twenty minutes to a five minute task.  Plus, he likes the colorful markers.

The big key to making this work toward independence is the Need Mom? column.  This has really cut down on the, “Mom, I’m done with math.  Now what?” that I was used to hearing every ten minutes.  Alex can just move right on to the next thing by skipping anything that he needs my help with if I am busy.  We usually tackle the remaining assignments during quiet time.  This has given me at least thirty minutes of uninterrupted school time to work with Ryan and entertain Cooper.

As he gets older, this system will evolve into weekly assignments and eventually he will take over this organizational part of his schooling.  I hope this gives some fresh ideas if you find that you like workboxes, but are having trouble managing your space limitations.

~Catie