Pencil boxes, crayon boxes, boxes of tape, boxes of erasers, boxes of projects and so many more, boxes for this and boxes for that.
I have a whole box dedicated to writing, it has ruled paper, blank paper, shaped paper, markers, scissors, pens, tape, glue, stickers, rulers, and so much more in it. I set it up in hopes of stimulating creative thought to encourage my students to attempt a bit of writing. It has helped.
We have two “peace boxes” in the office, one dedicated to toddler toys and one to baby toys. That keeps them busy for a few minutes while I write these articles, do lesson plans or keep the early wakers from naptime, quiet until others are waking up.
I have a box for old newspapers, and a box for old magazines, and catalogs. These are good for craft time, creative writing, craft clean up, and so forth. Having them separated, helps to cut time when looking for something specific.
We have a math box. It is full of math manipulatives. Counters, balance, rulers, calculators, mathlink cubes, Base ten blocks, hundreds board, flash cards, and so forth. When someone needs something to help with a math concept they know to go grab the math box.
Our craft box contains, glue, paint, pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes, pom poms, brushes and so forth. I have a whole tub full of craft supplies and then there are areas throughout our home that have a few supplies too. For the most part if we need a craft supply we can find it fairly easily.
So for our actual homeschooling boxes, we have workboxes for each child or level of children. Our preschoolers share a box. Our workboxes are used for actual book work, math, phonics, spelling, handwriting etc. They must get through their workboxes before they can go to the fun boxes.
We also have Workboxes of family school stuff. This includes Bible, History, Science, and some language arts stuff. All the books, papers, and things needed for those subjects go into that box or a stack of plastic boxes.
Then for our afternoons, I have started putting together a fun box, full of educational games, puzzles, coloring pages, computer games, and craft ideas. I have something for each age level and child. They move through them and work together as needed. I include books that are to be read to the littles, and simple flashcards such as shapes, colors, letters and numbers. Our fun boxes help our children work together to build each other up. My olders will help the littles memorize Bible verses. They work on fun boxes after naptime, typically while I do our evening meal preparations.
Are you wondering why boxes? Boxes stack, they fit in a corner, under a bed or on the floor of a closet. They come in many sizes and are able to be nested when needed to conserve space. You can fit many boxes into bigger boxes. Boxes when empty can be used to build forts. You can get card board boxes free at many grocery stores. Tatordoodles has a great idea on how to use cereal boxes.
As you can see, I am a fan of boxes for homeschool. I also like plastic drawers, but I have many more boxes, because for the most part boxes are FREE.
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