Work-files?

     I have read about work-boxes here and there but I never thought we would use them. I write out a week's worth of work in a planner and then we check it off as we do it. If something doesn't get done then I circle it and put an arrow to the next day... or I cross it off if we never get around to it. The non-negotiable stuff is at the top of the list and the more expendable stuff is at the bottom.

     I love a good list. My oldest daughter, Haley, is a lot like me. She loves a list. She also loves a stack. She will get out all of her books for the day and stack them to the left of her. When she finishes with something then she stacks it to the right. When she finishes the last thing on her list she shuts the book and says "Done!"
     My second daughter, Macy, does not care about lists. She won't look at it. When she finished something she would play until I stopped her. I would say "What is next on the list?" and she would say "I don't know." It was right next to her. This lead to frustration (on my part) and lots of wasted time (on her part). I started praying for some more visual solution for her.
    I decided I would relook at those work-boxes. I never bought the work-box e-book. I read some blogs about it but it seemed to take up too much space. I thought I may try magazine holders. I ordered 12 magazine holders in primary colors from amazon. I put all the day's work in these with numbers attached with velcro.

In some of the file boxes I put fun things like "do jumping jacks" or "march around the room." I bought a small tri-fold board at wal-mart. I decorated it with stickers and put velcro spots on it. I also gave her a snack tag and lunch tag. She can use the snack tag anytime after math and she can use the lunch tag anytime after 11:30am.

What a difference the work-files have made. She loves them. After several weeks she told me I should blog about them. She will say "I'm on number 5!"

We still have occasional bumps in the road but things go alot smoother than before we used work-files.