This is a previous post but, I thought I would give you an update. We still pull this shoe lace board out often. Bug sometimes regresses with her skills. Sometimes she just needs to focus on working on her fine motor skills. This is one of the items that I still use often in helping her at home. She has more control of the board than a shoe. She can also move it to a position that is comfortable for her. Between motor skill delays and arthritis with her it's best for her to get in the best possible position. The reality is that the only time she really wears shoes that lace up is during horse therapy and when its absolutely needed due to weather. She only wants her Crocs and has a lot of sensory issues that go on with tennis shoes. I'm afraid she will lose the skill of tying her own shoes again. We had to retrain her a few times with this task as she wasn't using the skill. Bug is now 12. We started this endeavor of tying shoes starting at age 6.

Learning to tie shoelaces is a complicated task for any child. For my Bug, it has been an extremely hard task for her to accomplish. It has been an ongoing task for several years.  years. Honestly, I was at the point of being content with her just putting on shoes with Velcro straps. Bug's occupational therapist has also worked with her over the years with it. Bug has fine motor and gross motor skills that are extremely delayed. 

SHE DID IT! She tied her shoes yesterday. She came running to me after her occupational therapy session. She was hollering and has happy as can be. She sat down on the floor and said, "look Mommy what I can do by all by myself now!" She tied her own shoelaces. Everyone in the waiting room clapped for her and rejoiced with her accomplishment. She has showed everyone with much excitement.

This year I had Grandpa make me a little gadget to work with the kids at home. It has been very helpful with them learning the concept or should I say the art  of tying your own shoelaces.

All it consist of is a  piece of scrap wood 2x4 cut around a foot with two holes drilled into it. I then bought some shoelaces at the dollar store. Make sure you use two different colors.

Are you wondering why the two different colors on the laces? It helps them to see the differences in each step they are taking. They can see that the black and white have different functions. It is much easier to explain shoe tying if laces are different colors. Instead of saying “the right one” or “the one in that hand” you can say, “put the white one over the black one.” Different colored laces can make any shoe-tying technique easier. This is also a good time to help with the left and right. I would say, "black lace which, is your right hand" and so on.

We would put these in our workboxes once or twice a week. The lesson would go like this:

First of all I would do it in steps, I would make sure that the first step is mastered before you go onto the next step. Just step one took awhile to get across for my Bug. You don't realize how much work as just crossing the shoe lace underneath one another on the first step if you have any motor skill delays. We who don't have delays take the small things for granted.

1. Place the untied board on the table. Take a lace in each hand and demonstrate crossing the laces into an "X." Instruct them to insert one lace through the bottom of the "X" and pull both laces tight.

I won't go into all the step because there is all different kinds of methods. You will have to find which one works for your child.  I think I have tried them all. In the end it was the traditional method that worked for her. I thought it would be the two bunny ears loops! Here is a great website for teaching your kids that I found helpful.

I hope this simple gadget works for you. You should be able to find all these items around your home. Make sure that the laces are not shredded at the end as it will be easier if they are new. You can also put tape or a bit of glue on the end to keep it together if you are using old shoe laces. For me it was a matter of sensory issues, texture, and being a distraction for Bug. Also, when they do start tying their own shoes having not to deal with shredded laces will be much easier for our special kiddos who need a bit of help. How many times have you fought with trying to lace old shoe laces that are shredded. Trying to get those pesky shoe laces in the holes can be a pain at times. I prefer to avoid a major melt down with Bug and to build up her confidence by not having shredded laces.

Blessings to you all. What have you tried with your kiddos to teach them to tie shoes?

I am also joining a link up with all of our therapies being canceled to help me at home to be accountable to work with her more at home. Stop by, As He Leads in Joy blog and see what other mom's are doing with therapy at home. 

  

I have been blessed by others and their free printables. I will continue to update this page as I create them and post more printables as time permits.

I have been blessed by others and their free printables. I will continue to update this page as I create them and post more printables as time permits.

If you have any problems let me know about them. Any suggestions are welcomed. All the clip art is free public domain. If you see one that is not please, do not hesitate to let me know so that I may fix it immediately.

Terms of Use: I created these printables (free of charge) and you are welcome to download and use them for personal and classroom use only. However, they are NOT to be reproduced, sold, hosted or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system. The downloads on this site are copyright protected.

Copyright 2010 by ReneeK reneek-littlehomeschoolontheprairie.blogspot.com/

If you download and blog about any of my printables, please link back to my blog post (NOT to the 4shared download)!

Thanks and enjoy and have a blessed day! Keep checking back as I will be adding more when time permits.

Clicking on the links below the pictures will take you to my 4shared downloads.

Math Printables

Skip Counting 2's Chart

Skip Counting  3's & 4's Chart

Skip Counting 5's & 10's Chart

Skip Counting  6's & 7's Chart

Skip Counting 8's & 9's Chart

I like to print them on card stock. I cut out and laminate my skip counting chart cards and punch a hole and attach them together with a metal ring.

Addition Facts Cards

All the cards are in the same format:

Addition 0's

Addition 1's

Addition 2's

Addition 3's

Addition 4's

Addition 5's
Addition 6's
Addition 7's
Addition 8's
Addition 9's
Addition 10's
Addition 11's
Addition 12's
Addition Doubles's

I like to print them on card stock. I cut out and laminate my skip counting chart cards and punch a hole and attach them together with a metal ring.

I use the blank space for Bug to write in the answer and afterwards I can wipe off the answer after she is done. Don't you love laminated papers. I cover up the answer so she can't see it with another card. I love laminator's. It is a fun and easy way to practice her math facts.

Workbox Number Tag's

Pink Delight, Castles, Crowns, Horses, and Fairies Workbox Numbers 

Medieval Knights and Castle Workbox Number Tags

Wild West Cowboys Workbox Number Tags

Workbox Task Cards

Workbox Task Card 1

Workbox Task Card 2

Workbox Task Card 3

Workbox Task Card 4

Workbox Task Card 5

Days of the Week File Folder Game

Months and their Number of Days File Folder Game

I made the File Folder Game into one folder. You can make it into two seperate games.

What is an Archaeologist Lapbook

Archaelogogist Lapbook Page 1

Archaelogogist Lapbook Page 2

Archaelogogist Lapbook Page 3

Archaelogogist Lapbook Page 4

Archaelogogist Lapbook Page 5

Archaelogogist Lapbook Page 6

Skip Counting has been a hard thing for Bug to learn. I came up with these charts for her to use. She reads them out loud and can even look at them during school while she is doing something that involves skip counting. She is finding that she can do it without the charts now. She is not there yet, but she is plugging along slowly.

I am so proud of her. I guess the visual charts are a big plus for her. I put them in her workboxes for her to practice her skip counting. She tries to sing them out loud. We have the MUS skip counting CD but, Bug just doesn't pick up the singing thing. That's why I said she tries to sing them out loud. Songs just don't stick in her memory banks.

I like to print them on card stock. After I cut them out I laminate them and punch a hole in them to put a metal ring to keep them together.

 I hope they help as much as they have helped my Bug. If you download and blog about any of my printables, please link back to my blog post (NOT to the 4shared download)!  I created these printables (free of charge) and you are welcome to download and use them for personal and classroom use only. However, they are NOT to be reproduced, sold, hosted or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system. The downloads on this site are copyright protected.

 2's Skip Counting Chart 

5's & 10's Skip Counting Chart

3's & 4's Skip Counting Chart

6's & 7's Skip Counting Chart

8's & 9's Skip Counting Chart

I also have these and others on my Free Printable Page. Would love to hear from you and how you use these cards in your school. Especially any fun ideas you come up with them. Many blessings <><

 I love these workbox task cards. My kids get excited when they open their drawer and see a card that has map work, or field trip, and game time on it. I have 5 different pages to download.

Are you wondering what task cards are for? It's for those items that don't fit into your drawer. When you want to plan a game you stick the card in the drawer. I don't know about you but, I always forget the games that I pull out the night before. The cards make me remember and the kids excited. I also have large crayon containers for my kids and they don't fit in the drawer. When they see the "coloring time" card they immediately grab their crayon container. It makes things run smoother having them know what they need to do without me telling them.

Card 1-Nap Time, Time with Mommy, Music, and reading.
Card 2- Computer Time, I Need Help, Coloring Time, and Science Experiment.
Card 3-Time to Exercise, Play Outside, Field Trip, and Map work.
Card 4-Game Time,Chalkboard, Read-out-Loud, and Art.
Card 5-Trampoline Time, Playground, Scooter Board, and Exercise Ball.

I have pictures on My Printable Page of each card.

If you have any problems let me know, as this is a new endeavor for me. Any suggestions are welcomed. All the clip art is free public domain. If you see one that is not please, do not hesitate to let me know so that I may fix it immediately.


Terms of Use: I created these printables (free of charge) and you are welcome to download and use them for personal and classroom use only. However, they are NOT to be reproduced, sold, hosted or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system. The downloads on this site are copyright protected.


Copyright 2010 by ReneeK reneek-littlehomeschoolontheprairie.blogspot.com/


and my other blog


homeschoolblogger.com/ilovejesus/. All rights reserved.


If you download and blog about any of my printables, please link back to my blog post (NOT to the 4shared download)!

Medieval Knights and Castle Workbox Number Tags Free  Printables

Little Man is crazy about Knights. Last year his birthday party was a knight theme and it was a blast. If you are looking for a knight theme for your workboxes you can download it from my 4shared page here.

I also have all my free printables listed on My printable page.

If you have any problems downloading let me know, as this is a new endeavor for me. Any suggestions are welcomed. All the clip art is free public domain. If you see one that is not please, do not hesitate to let me know so that I may fix it immediately.


Terms of Use: I created these printables (free of charge) and you are welcome to download and use them for personal and classroom use only. However, they are NOT to be reproduced, sold, hosted or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system. The downloads on this site are copyright protected.

Copyright 2010 by ReneeK reneek-littlehomeschoolontheprairie.blogspot.com/

and my other blog

homeschoolblogger.com/ilovejesus/. All rights reserved.

If you download and blog about any of my printables, please link back to my blog post (NOT to the 4shared download)!

Bug got a new set of drawers for her workbox. We now have 10 drawers to fill instead of 7. As you can see from the picture I have 12 workbox tags. I have the slightest ideal how Bug knew that the original system is suppose to have 12 drawers. She must of over heard me talking about it to someone. She was persistent about needing 12 tags. She informed me that 2 things can go in each of the bottom drawer. I guess if 12 tags works for her than it is okay with me. Little Man wants one just like it next year, but honestly I don't have anywhere to add another one like it. This one is going into the door way a few inches. He informed me that it has wheels and we can move it when we need out. He actually thought about that answer for awhile after I told him another one would not fit. Got to love it!

Everyone has new tags. Little Man now has Wild West cowboys. I was only able to put up 4 or his tags on the workboxes. Bug told him that he needs 12 made. Talk about the peer pressure from all the kids. Princess has Pink and purple castles, horses and fairies. She also has 12 tags and only 3 up. She has the larger drawers on the bottom. I originally made Little Man knights this summer. Which I really liked. I couldn't resist those blue eyes asking for cowboys.

I am working on getting some of my workbox tags and file folder games on my blog for others to download for free. I just need to figure out a few things. Have a blessed day.

Have you already started school? I haven't, I like to always start my school year after Labor day. When August 31st has passed it just feels like summer is over to me. I do school year around and in the summer I have a very scaled back schedule. I like to catch up on things we got behind on. We always do math and reading. I usually do 2-3 days a week for an hour. Then I always clean up the classroom. I move shelves around, or in my case up and down. Organize the things that didn't work out the previous year. Get more plastic bins.

Last night we had or Mom's homeschool support group meeting. The topic was organizing your house and homeschool. I got to thinking about workboxes and what a blessing it was for me last year. After doing it all last year I can now look back and say, "wow, what a difference last year was compared to the previous years." It was a result of the workboxes.

What in the world is a workbox, if you haven't already caught the bug! It is a wonderful way to organize your child's school work assignments and materials needed for each subject. Workboxes include; workbooks, worksheets, books, flash cards, games, arts and crafts, snacks and sometimes even a surprise for the kiddos. Each workbox has everything the child needs for their work. An example would be a pencil, and crayons in each box along with the needed book and workbook. The boxes are numbered according to how many boxes you have. When your child completes one box they take off the number and attach it to a card before moving to the next box. Workboxes can be completed by children independently unless tagged with a “Work with Mommy card”. When all the boxes are completed the school work is done for the day. That is the system in a nutshell.

The first thing you need to do is to consider how much space you have to allocate to the workboxes and also a budget. I would love to have a different set of drawers in my classroom but, the reality is that I have every square inch of it used. The big one for me is budget. You can make your boxes out of things you already have in your house for free. You can be very economical – use cereal boxes, or recycle scrapbook toy bins, dollar store storage containers, magazine holders, bookshelves, shoe boxes and stackable desk top bins. Or you can invest in some type of bins. Which the price can vary drastically I bought a 7 drawer bin for around $20.00. I bought two bins for each kid. The original system calls for 12 boxes. Which would be nice but, the cost of the drawers was not something I could work into my budget. I use more than one workbook or subject in each drawer. The creator of workboxes Sue Patrick recommends one subject in each bin.

This is how I load my drawers usually. I mix them up and add unit studies, lapbook and games.

1st drawer is for bible, scripture memory and character training.
2nd drawer is reading, Daily language review and Tatras.
3rd drawer is math.
4th drawer is spelling and Language arts.
5th drawer is read-out- louds and history
6th drawer is science, geography and Hebrew.
7th drawer is art, misc and crafts.

What are the advantages of using workboxes?

1.)Versatile -  It works with any curriculum.

2.)Organized – forces mom to be organized and plan the school day ahead of time without last minute planning. Takes around 15 minutes a night to load the drawers unless I have a big project planned for the next day.


3.)Logical – Filing the boxes with assignments and projects make so much more sense than writing everything in a planner and then pulling them out one at a time during the day.

4.) Expectations – children know what is expected of them, and they can see what needs to be done daily, and when their work is completed. No more “Are we done yet or I'm tired.”  Looking at a paper with a list of assignments looks much longer than bins filled with books in the eyes of a child.

5.) Peace-Creates a smooth running and structured learning environment.

6.) Time saver – Everything is completely laid out before the day begins (no running around looking for pencils, scissors, markers and etc.)


7) Flexible – easy to adapt to any schedule. When interruption arises you can have the children do independent work until you are free to work one-on-one with that child.

8.) Training for independence - Your child can see what needs to be done independent or what needs to be done with mom or with the other siblings.

9.) Motivation - the children see all their work in one place and it doesn't look threatening, and they visually see that the bins are empty. Helps them to learn self-control and independence, give them a sense of accomplishment.



10.) Easily laid out for last minute emergencies- even Grandma or Daddy can fill in when mom can't. No more, "I couldn't find the needed supplies you put in the pile." or" I wasn't sure which book I was suppose to do." No excuses! The child knows how it works and all the supplies are in one place for each subject!

11.) My favorite part of the workboxes. You can incorporate all those things you bought but keep forgetting to add to your school day like like flash cards, games, geo-boards, homemade file folders and etc by placing them in a workbox. Before I started the workboxes it sat on the shelf and collected dust. The night before I thought of using it in school the next day but the stresses of the day and the unexpected happened. You know the rest of the story.

12.) Choices- This is a big one for my daughter. She feels that she has control of what she can choose to do first. That has been an unexpected surprise for me this last school year. With my drawers doubled up she can choose what she wants to do first. It's not mom telling her what to do! It has made her feel like a big girl. Now we have ground rules which I laid out in the beginning. If we have arts and crafts and games they need to be done after everything else is done in that drawer.

What do you think? Does it sound like something that will work for you homeschool? You can adapt this system anyway you like it. Here is the link to my workboxes. Have fun and do a google search on workboxes. Just don't overwhelm yourself. Remember, your family is unique and what works for one homeschool family may not work for you. You can tweak the workboxes to fit your needs. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Now that we have using the workboxes for awhile, I have to say that it is a wonderful system. Who would of guessed that a plastic container with a bunch of drawers would make school so much easier. Bug is loving the choices she gets to make.

My system is tweaked to meet our needs. We have 7 drawers compared to the suggested 12. Not that I would mind having 12. Cost of a larger drawer was considerable and I wanted to make sure it worked for our family before I put to much money into it. I won't complain because, I think Bug likes the mixture of things in the drawers. I let her choose which item she wants to do first. The only thing I don't let her have a say in is when we have a game or craft. She knows we have to do other stuff first. Some days I surprise her when she is being focused and we are moving along at a good pace I tell her she can choose which one to do first. Unfortunately, Bug is hard to get back on track the majority of the time so we have to have some ground rules with the boxes. Little man and Sierra on the other hand have a little more freedom in that area unless, Bug is in the room and they already understand that the games and crafts (which usually include Bug anyways) have to wait. They know Bug wouldn't understand why they get to have more of a choice in that area. Maybe one day Bug will have better attention span and I won't lose her if I do the games and crafts first. As you can imagine I have to put those in the last drawer. This is what our drawers usually look like.

1st drawer - bible and memory verse

2nd drawer - All About Spelling and a portion of language arts-usually this is Explode the Code or Daily Language Review.

3rd drawer - Math U See or a portion of Horizon Math 1

4th drawer - Sonlight history, Sonlight geography or Handwriting without tears and a snack. This is also when we do our passport and map work.

5th drawer - Sonlight read-out-louds and more language arts usually a portion of Sonlight or First Language lessons. Which, includes our lapbook for FLL. Phonics if we didn't already go over it in Spelling. I use Teach America to read and write by Frank Rogers.

6th drawer -Sonlight reading, or the electives we don't do everyday

7th drawer -God's Design for science, Mystery of History and crafts and games(I don't do these everyday) and other electives if needed

We also do lapbooks, history pockets and notebooking. Depending on what we are doing. We also do some file folder games which for the most part Bug will keep on focus.

I also do the workbox cards and I will have her go jump on the trampoline or the scooter for 5 to 10 minutes. She gets excited with the cards and has to announce it to the whole house.

I have to say that I am very pleased with the results. It has made our days more productive, calmer and alot funnier for everyone. This mom has more sanity!

I jumped on board the newest thing that is all over the homeschool community. At first I thought the idea was crazy and not something I would be interested in. How could you ignore all the talk on it. It was in every forum, homeschool discussion and every ones blogs. That being said,you couldn't avoid not reading more about it. After seeing how so many families are using the system and adjusting it to meet their needs it just dawned on me that this might be a very good fit for Bug. The homeschool community always amazes me at how creative they are.



I opted to do drawers. I just couldn't justify the cost and space on doing it with the shoe boxes and the rack or shelves. I made one for Bug and I will start Little Man with it this year. He will share with Sierra for now.



I also wanted to make it very colorful and fit each of the kid's personality. Bug's card has the bugs and the colors she likes. Little Man has a jungle theme and Sierra I decided to do butterflies and flowers since she is a girly girl.



The card will go in a pocket on the side of the drawers when they are not using them. I put Sierra's numbers on the side. Bug and Little man's numbers are in the front on the drawer.



When they finish a drawer the completed work will go into this.

Most of you already know what the workbox system is. I am sure some of my family and friends who don't homeschool are a little lost with this post. I will try to explain.
This is a creation of Sue Patrick. From what I have heard from other bloggers is that she created the workboxes for her homeschool to help her son with special needs. Sue Patrick recommends using 12 boxes. The shoebox sterlite containers are the most common ones used. Some use magazine files, large envelopes and magazine racks that you hang on a wall. That's just naming a few ideas out there.
The idea is that you load each drawer with your core subjects.(math,language arts, ect..) Along with all the supplies they will need. (Pencils, glue)You put a pencil and supplies in each box. I will put one pencil in each drawer.(Maybe, this will help in the "I can't find my pencil")Then comes the extras like file folder games, puzzles, snacks,books and other learning games. The kiddos then work through the boxes in numerical order. When you are done with a drawer you put your number on your card.

You have laminated cards that you can put in the drawers if needed, "help card", "work with mom" and also cards for breaks and exercise. I still need to finish my cards.

Now you are wondering why?

1. This system is suppose to help your child work more independently in their schoolwork, but they still will get help from mom when needed. I am not sure how the cards will work with Bug. I hope this system will help her to be more independent in some areas. I think it is a good skill that needs to be taught to kids.

2. I do feel that it will help Bug in several areas. One being able to see the whole picture. My hope is that I won't have to hear the constant whining of "are we done yet" or "how much more mommy,I am hungry" She will see how much is expected from her each day.

3. You put the things they like in a drawer also. I will put a snack or a snack card in a drawer. She will know that after she does 2 or 3 drawers it is snack time. 

4. It will somewhat put her in control of her day.Or make her feel like she has some control of her schoolwork.

5. I hope she sees all the fun and tasty things to look forward too. Last year, I planned to do things but, it didn't happen as much as I had wanted it to. It will help me do the things that sit on my shelves and collect dust. It should motivate me also.

That is the system in a nut shell.I will have to load the drawers everyday. That's not to different from what I already do. It just won't be in a form of a stack on the floor.

I plan on buying the book here soon. I just bought all of my curriculum for the year and the book is a want item at this time. The book has al ot of ideas on how to use the system. I only have 7 drawers. For now it should do the job. If not we will get a larger one with more drawers and have more storage for crafts in the old ones.

Here are just a few ideas file folder games, which we already use alot in our school. My favorite homeschool site homeschool shares now has ideas for workboxes with file folder games.
The best part of the workboxes is seeing other put the games together and passing them on. LOL! It give me an excuse to use my laminator! 

Most of my friends know that I am pretty organized. I guess this is just another excuse for me to organize even more. For those who are not so organized just think how it could help you out. I will keep you posted on how this adventure goes.