The first Day of Work Boxes

I must say it went a little smoother than I thought it would considering i got a little frazzled thinking of how to do the combo stuff last night!!! It did just dawn on me that we will only be doing the bare minimum this summer - just to catch up - so I won't have to worry too much about that right now but it will come into play in the fall. This sytem is going to mean i have to be on my toes and organized about what we are doing each day and it will be more work than I was doing but I think it will be worth it in the end run!! Even if we just use it this summer to establish a routine for ourselves it will be worth it!
I have been prepping the boys for a couple days about the boxes and how they will work so they were ready this morning when I said it was time for school. The boxes didn't eliminate the complaining and the negotiating but they did give the boys an end in sight and a motivation to get done!! I was pleased with how well they did with them - they just got their box - did the work and then put the number on the schedule so they knew when they were done! Now - Ben did complain during phonics and Stephen negotitated his way out of doing ALL the math sheet but all in all it was a good start considering our school year has been so sporadic!!

We started off by doing Bible together. I have abunch of different devotional books and since we will be studying the bible in history I picked one that was about animals! It is called Glow in the Dark Fish and we loved it! It really sparked some cool conversations! Todays was about how God created patterns in his creation and how this is evidence of our creator's work! We also learned about Fibornacci numbers - that was cool! I can't wait to see what tomorrow's is about!!

Stephen had his Bible reader in his Box #1 so he grabbed his box and headed to the couch - not a peep out of him until he was done! Stephen is all about doing everything on the couch during school so that is where he curls up and gets to work!! Stephen has not wanted to read or have anything to do with until a few months ago and ever since he decided he was ready he has taken off and is just moving right along! I am so glad I didn't push him and that I was able to let him set the pace and do it in his time - it has made such a difference for him!! That was probably the best advice that I ever got when we first started homeschooling!! he loves the Bible so he was especially happy when I brought home an easy reader Bible - anything to get him to read!!!



Ben needed a little bit more direction but once he got going he was gone!!! He loves school so he was okay until I pulled out this new phonics program(Alpha-Phonics) that was recommended to us by a friend - never hurts to try!! We have been using Explode the Code and will now use both of them together.


Do NOT let this cute little face fool you - he cried and fussed all morning long and he is NOT doing the work that mommy put in his baskets!! He got thru #2 and that was after he cried and fussed for quite awhile because I would not put on Indiana Jones for him until after school. He loves Indiana Jones - it is just too cute to hear him playing Indiana Jones!!! Please know that I did not make him do any work or boxes - he could do whatever he wanted - he chose to cry and fuss right next to us all morning long!! This lasted for a few minutes and then he was off again.....




Aren't they cute??? This is the first time they have ever worked side by side without bothering each other!! It was a good day and we will be using these boxes for as long as they are successful!! The main problem today was that Box #3 was a book I was reading to both of them so Ben had to wait around for Stephen to finish his math to get to #3. Ben went ahead and did #4 while he waited but next time I will put all together stuff at the end or at the beginning so as not to make them each have to wait around for the other one!
We did play a game together at the end which they enjoyed and seems like a good way to end the day!!!



We don't have school on Tuesdays becasue daddy is home so I will have all day tomorrow to play around with the boxes and some ideas for weds morning school!!! Actually we will do school Tuesday night since we are playing catch up but the boys will be okay with that because they will have had all day to play with Daddy and new stuff in their boxes!!