Hi everyone! I wanted to share a video tutorial on how we use the workbox system in our homeschool. I get a TON of questions regarding our setup, how I organize the boxes, and what we put in them. So I thought a video would be a fun way to explain our setup.
Hope you enjoy it! Without further ado…here is our Workbox System Video… “live”…so to speak…
So that’s our current homeschooling workbox system, I hope you enjoyed the video! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!
Here are some links for products mentioned in this video:
- Workbox System Website
- My Workbox Printables
- 10 Drawer Rolling Carts
- Ikea Vika Alex Drawer units
- Letter of the Week Preschool Curriculum
- Grapevine Studies
- Classical Literature Units
- All About Spelling
- BJU Press English
- Abeka Letters & Sounds 1 and Language 1
- Math U See
- A Reason for Handwriting
- Abeka History & Science
- Classical Literature Units
- World’s Greatest Composers Vol 1
- Piano is Easy (We’re starting with Teach Yourself Piano Step by Step)
Here are some more links you might enjoy!
- Our Schoolroom 2012-2013
- Our School Room Ikea Desks
- Our Curriculum 2012-2013
- The Workbox System
- What’s in the Box Wednesday (A series showing what we have in our workboxes!)
I was wondering, how long does it typically take your oldest to get through all ten of her workboxes? I am really enjoying your videos. I hope you continue to do them. By the way, I like your owl shirt! Where did you get it?
It was great! Thanks for the ideas you presented in your video
I love this system! I’ve been using it for a year now and it makes things sooo much easier to organize. Thank you!
Great video Erica! Gives me a whole new aspect on what our day could look like. JoAnn’s, here we come!
My Walmart carries the drawer carts for $35! I haven’t had any issues with them, except I didn’t have the screws tight enough when I first put them together. Once I tightened the screws they have been great!
I also bought mine at Walmart at the same price and that was back in Sep. It wasn’t the sale price either
Everyone if you have a Walmart I would check there first 
I got mine at Walmart too, very affordable!
I bought mine at Shopko (last year when they were on sale) for $19.99!!! That is by far the best price I have ever seen….had to get three!
I got the same at Sams club for $24.95, reg. price!!( This month)
I just got our workbox cart, same as yours Erica, for 29.97 Walmart- ship to store for free! Great deal!
Love the videos.
Thank you for all the amazing post about organization this week. It has helped me reevaluate our homeschool organization. What works and what doesn’t work for us
You inspired me to do workboxes and we started them this month! My children LOVE them. They even complain on days (like today) when we aren’t “doing school” because my husband has some vacation time we are taking. I was able to get the cart at Walmart for $29. Workboxes have made things “flow” in our house! You always have great ideas and worksheets! Thank you! Here’s a look at an example of what my 1st grader and pre-k-er get in their workboxes. http://fromthemrs.blogspot.com/2013/01/workboxes.html
Thank you so much for the video! I started the workbox system at the beginning of the year based on your blog and I could never really figure out how you made it work, but this helped so much!
I have a huge problem with the drawers falling through on the storage cart. I might have just gotten two bogus carts, but they barely hold anything without collapsing through. It’s kind of annoying, but like you said, I like having 10 different drawers to put things in. My personal desk is the IKEA one your children use, and I LOVE those drawers, but I can see how it would be hard to do the workbox system in the same format.
Question: What boxes are you using for your MUS blocks? Those are perfect! We use MUS and the blocks are taking over my life.
Thanks so much!
Becki,
I was wondering the same thing about the boxes for Math U See, those boxes are great!
Thank you for explaining so detailed the work boxes! I have only one homeschooled child and he has moderate autism and I usually have to adapt all the teaching and I love all the great ideas that you give in your blog for teaching. Love, love, love all your printables thanks again!
We are just at the beginning of our homeschooling adventure. I love the idea of workboxes. They just look like a great way to get organized and stay on schedule. My daughter will start kindergarten in August. When did you start using your workboxes? Would they work with a Kindergartener?
Oh, and I love the video you put together. It’s nice to visually see how someone does things.
You can get the rolling workbox carts at wal-mart for $30.
Do you like yours?
Hello Erica and everyone,
Just wondering where you got that box to keep your math u see blocks. That would help a ton…if anyone else knows please reply…Thanks a bunch. Thanks for the video Erica.
I would love to know this too!
I was wondering the same thing!!
Me too. And the organizers in general. Also, where do you find the circle velcro stuff that you put on the outside of the drawers? I am so organizationally challenged, but your ideas are very helpful. Now to just find where to find the stuff I need!
I have seen these velcro circles at the craft stores & even Walmart. The usually have glue on them as well! I am doing two sets of boxes now & will be adding one for our 4 year old so it may be better to invest in the kind that comes in a roll & you cut it yourself. I like the adhesive on the backs!!
We found out about this system from your blog. We do it the same way you do and it has helped me so incredibly much!!! It drastically cuts down on the time I used to spend in between each subject. Thank you for sharing your version of this. It works so great for us and has made our homeschool day go so smoothly!!
Got my rolling cart at Sam’s for $25.00
I loved this video and am going to try workboxes for my 3 kiddos! I think it will really help some of the struggles we are having. Thanks so much!!!
Sam’s Club online: $29.72
GREAT video! Thanks for putting together a wonderful visual. Question…for the Calendar Notebooks, do all of your children work independently or do you still have some sort of a “calendar/circle” time? Thanks! I would also like to see a “workboxes in action” video.
Thanks for posting! I let my kids choose the order – I tell them as long as they get everything done, I don’t care what order they do their work. I think it gives them more of a feeling of independence. It works well for our family.
My kids are in 9th, 7th, and PreK4. I’ve just started teaching the older kids at home again this month after 3.5 years in a hybrid program. Organization is vital for us and your blog has been a blessing for our homeschool. I’ve found so many great ideas from your blog (in addition to the LOTW and K4 curriculums I’ve been using with our 4 year old).
I thought I would share about the 10-drawer carts I found earlier this month. Michael’s started carrying a 10-drawer cart with 14″ wide and maybe 15″ deep drawers before Christmas for $79.99 (all the drawers are clear, the brand is Recollections I think). I bought one for each older kids when they were running a 50% off sale.
My 4 year old is using a rainbow cart the size of the one in your video. I decided to move her worksheet based lessons into a larger one too but could not find them at two Michael’s stores yesterday. My mom just texted that she found some (at a different Michael’s) for $35 so I am guessing this was a short term item that is now on sale. If anyone is in the market for these, I would check with your local Michael’s soon to see if they have any at this price. I did find something similar on the Sam’s Club website but could not find a price.
Since I am using these with older kids, I can tell you that they don’t hold a ton of weight. I am keeping their large textbooks on a bookshelf. I can put their binders, workbooks, and any other materials they need in each drawer. Some drawers have one main subject (like math and english). Other drawers have several subjects (like fine arts and life skills) as those usually require less materials or thinner booklets.
I’ve been looking into the workbox system for our crew ! Thanks for the review !!
Sarah
itsallgoodinthehomeschoolinmommahood.blogspot.com
Can you tell me what are some of your favorite manipulatives in those bins on your shelves and what you use them for? Thank you
Erica,
Your printables for the workboxes have a templete where we can insert our own pictures. Is it done in PDF or has to be converted into word document? Thanks!
I love that you did a video! What are the dividers set up for in the daily notebook? JING is a good program and really easy to use for recording videos:)
I also got our workbox system at Sam’s Club for $24.95 back in December. I use it with my 4 year old and he loves it. It has made our school lessons so much easier. I do activity per drawer as well and include a craft and a reading with snack to divide the work into thirds. This really motivates him to work through the tasks he doesn’t like so much.
Hi Erica,
Thank you for posting this video! It gave me inspiration to get our stuff in gear, we had gotten in sort of a funk since our military move. I have added a few subjects (from yours) to our curriculum and have now started the workbox system. We got the cart at Walmart for about $40 each. I also started using the Homeschool Tracker and can already see how much it will help! I do have a quick question…I downloaded your literature studies and will begin reading those to my girls, about how long do you spend in each chapter? My girls are K & 1st. Thank you again for the inspiration!!
I just wanted to let you know that I found the 10 drawer multi-colored drawers made by Mainstay at Walmart. They were $34.97 & this week I purchased two for $29.97 each!! They were not marked as a sale but came up at that price at checkout!! I’m really enjoying your tutorials!! Thank you so much!! You are truly blessed!!!
Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the pictures on this blog loading?
I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.