Montessori Style Workbox System

 So I came up with a system using Sue Patrick's workbox system idea. It helps to make sure that every day they do an activity by themselves and also that it gives them something to do when I am busy or want a break. So the way I set it up is that they both have one daily activity. So on Monday they'll be doing at some point in the day Monday's activity. And they cannot choose another activity from a tomorrow but can choose one from yesterday, but only if they finished the today's activity. So on Wednesday they finish Wednesday activity then they can re do Tuesdays and/or Mondays.  This way I make sure they get a variety of activities. Saying that I am not totally strict. If they REALLY want another activity we can switch. It hasn't happened yet though. They always seem happy doing the activity of the day. They only get one activity per day.

I homeschool in Spanish as much as I can. So I used binder clips and tape to write the days of the week in Spanish and I placed one clip per space and one on the top ones for their names. I choose an activity that they can do on their own unless I know that that day we'll be home and we are not homeschooling.

Here is a close up of the activities we have. I print some things from Confessions of a Homeschooler and other resources that I find online. But mainly I use if for Practical Life activities, art, and math. 

What's on the trays this week:

Umi:

Monday: ice cube tray with cotton balls and a tweezer.

Tuesday: Number tracing printout from confession of a homeschooler (COAH)

Wednesday: Letter A dot-a-dot page (COAH)

Thursday: Pattern activity also form COAH

Friday: Math-U-See math

I am still working on setting up Little Princess workbox. I only have now paper cutting. She loves using scissors!

I use it for both of my children. Little Princes has her spot next to Umi's. You can see in the picture above . The rest if the spaces are for papers and dry erase boards. 

Montessori is about letting them do things by themselves by fostering their sense of independence, and self discipline. That makes children feel empowered. I think this workbox system does just that. They have activities that they can do by themselves when they want to without anybody telling them how and when. 

Do you use workbox system at home? Does it work for you? 

Homeschool Room

This is our playroom or homeschool room. As you may see it is small and a bit crowded for my liking but it is what we have now. I am happy to have a room I can dedicate for Umi's montessori and homeschooling materials and for him to play.

This is his desk. Inside he has some activities. Next to it it is the music instruments. Inside the blue dresser are musical instruments like maracas, shakers, recorder and more. The bottom drawer has tapes and a walkman where he can listen to music and stories I recorded for him. On top of this dresser is his drum and underneath the record player.

This is our shelf unit that my husband built. 

This is the language shelf. On the left we have the Spellable game. It is great since it is in

English and Spanish, the only down side is that it is in uppercase...Inside of the blue tin box we have 

rhyming words cards that I printed and laminated. Next to it the sandpaper letters. Then Brain Quest cards. They are for a 5-6 years old but Umi (3 years old) can do them easily. 

This is what we are using for math right now. I have the spindle box but it seems that he still needs to learn the correlation between the numbers and quantity.

We left this space for seasonal activities like in this case Easter. When there isn't a especial holiday

I use it for sensory, geography or practical life.

This is where I store things like paints, papers, etc. My project with this is to

cover the glass doors with pictures.

I have all the maps, control maps, and other materials that soon will come out of hiding but as far as today this is what we have on the shelves.

Storage for 3 Part Cards

This is how I store my 3-Part Cards and other cards I made.

I got this in Lakeshore. But if you go to Ikea you can get the same type of thing

for a quarter of the price!