First Day With Workboxes - A MAJOR Success!

We survived!! Honestly, we did more than just survive, we really enjoyed our first day back to school! The boys both LOVED using the Workbox System and I did, too! Our day wasn't as smooth as it eventually will be, but things will fall into place as we all get used to doing things in this new and exciting way, I am confident of that!
Our day started with a special breakfast of cinnamon twists with icing (usually we have cereal or oatmeal). We all enjoyed them, especially Joey!

While they were waiting for me to clean up after breakfast, I found the boys perusing a book: Ripley's Believe it or Not - Encyclopedia of the Bizarre.

I LOVE that they got out a book instead of turning on the TV. I think it had a major influence on the fact that it was not difficult to get them to come to the table to start lessons. I had them use their "Clock-In" cards to start the day.

We started our school day with Morning Group time. We said our pledges, prayed, sang a Bible song (Trust and Obey), and had our Bible lesson together.
After that was done, they started their workboxes! Here are a few pictures of them working throughout the day...
 




Obviously, all these pictures were taken while the boys were doing independent activities, which we normally would not have a lot of, but the workboxes are definitely helping with that. I put "Work With Mom" cards with each of their math and reading assignments, as well as with Drew's All About Spelling Lesson and Isaiah's Phonics. We got to do a lot of things today that we normally just don't have time for! We did centers (which had 2 File Folder games for each boy), journaling, and computer time. As a special treat, I made a code and wrote each of them Super Secret Coded Messages to decipher and read. I greatly underestimated how much they would enjoy them! Drew specifically opened his workbox and said, "Yes! I LOVE these!". I wrote to each of them that I hoped their first day back to school was fun and that I was proud of them for doing their workboxes so well!
The highlight of MY day had to be when Drew was journaling. I put an index card in the box with instructions to write about the first day of school. I included some questions to get them thinking: Do you like using workboxes? and What was your favorite part of the day? My 9 year old son, the one who constantly tells me that he HATES school wrote this:
He told me workboxes are fun and he didn't whine or complain ONCE the entire day! The funny thing is we did WAY more work than we typically have in the past. We started at 11am (later than I had wanted but there's always tomorrow) and worked until 1:30, then took an hour lunch break and were done by 4:15. That's less than 4 hours of school time!
I am so very glad that I decided to try the Workbox System. It seems like a really good fit for our family, and I know it's going to get even better with time. I highly recommend it to anyone who homeschools.
I need to start dinner before Joey wakes from his nap, so off I go!

Blessings,

Cassie :)