Has anyone used a workbox system with a high schooler?

[MamaSheep]

I'm pondering how I want to organize things this coming year, and keep coming back to the fact that our most successful years were the two years we used workboxes. I stopped using them this past year because dd was going back to public school (long story), and it was 9th grade for ds so I wanted to try a different system. It's been a hard year around here for a number of reasons, and we had a really hard time staying on track with the new system. I'm not sure if it was just because it was a change, and a lot of other unexpected things came up, or if that system just doesn't work well for us.

 

Anyway, part of me wants to just go back to the workboxes, because...well...they worked. Another part of me says they're kind of juvenile and I need to teach my high schooler to organize his own work in a more mature fashion. To which, that first part of me responds by pointing out that the boy is autistic, has always been a bit immature for his age, is still somewhat resistant to school, and has never done much of ANYTHING in the "normal" way for kids his age to do things.

 

I don't know...

 

So I am beginning to wonder if anyone else out there uses a workbox system with a high schooler, and if so are there any modifications or adaptations that you find helpful? I need to wrap my head around all this and make a decision so I can plan accordingly.

 

Not that whether "everyone else is doing it" is going to be the deciding factor...lol...if that was my basis for decision making, I certainly would not be homeschooling Mr. Grumpy Pants in the first place. I'm just looking for input. Ideas. Confirmation that it can be done. Or not. Or something...I don't know.

 

Maybe I just need to take a break for a while...lol.

[MamaSheep]

Nobody?

 

 

Hmmm....to workbox, or not to workbox....that is still the question.

[Vida Winter]

I think maybe for high school it would be easier with a weekly assignment sheet with perhaps a portable file box for assignments and filing completed work.

[swellmomma]

I think maybe for high school it would be easier with a weekly assignment sheet with perhaps a portable file box for assignments and filing completed work.

:iagree:

 

Mine are not high schoolers yet, they are junior high students, and ds13 has been asking me to restart the workboxes. So I am modifying for my older kids. They will still only have a list of 12 items. #6 and #12 will be fun type activities like art, baking, or a board game etc break up their day. The other 10 slots will be standard lessons. They will get crate holding their items for that day, (and only that day, meaning I will have to still reorganize each eveing). Then they can jsut take their list and crate to whereever they are going to do their work. Things like math, grammar, composition, and science texts can stay in there all the time, but history books, geography, lit and other things that change up more will get rotated. Slots 6 & 12 will change daily.

 

I have also decided to incorporate the morning basket I have been reading about so much, and actually having my 2 oldest help run it by doing some of the reading as the start of the work towards their public speaking, to gauge their reading, and to be sure we are getting things like poetry study in. The focus this year during that time will be pronunciation & enunciation. I already spend half my day saying that to my kids, now we are going to have a focus on it.

 

I can't see doing the physical system of workboxes like I am going to do with my little kids, it is not practical for older students that will not necessarily be working in that space, and that have lab materials, etc that I do not want out where little hands can get them

[ktgrok]

What is the "new system" that you used that didn't work as well?

[Excelsior! Academy]

Yes. Ours are a bit of a modified version, though. The Velcro numbers never worked well for us. We use our boxes as more of a holding area, so I don't have a nightly stocking. We just place the subjects in the order they are to be accomplished and have the first box be individual supplies and planner. My oldest three have moved to bookshelves, but it is essentially the same system.

[MamaSheep]

What is the "new system" that you used that didn't work as well?

 

Um...well...it was a weekly checklist, and a desk apprentice to keep things in. :001_unsure::blushing:

 

With this kid nothing has EVER been as simple as it seems like it should be...sigh...

 

"High functioning" is a very, very deceptive term. :glare:

[MamaSheep]

The "workboxes" we used before consisted of a 10-drawer cart for each child. I have sewing things in one of them, but the other isn't even being used for anything right now. We did use the velcro numbers before; each child had a small desk with a magnet board on the wall above it, and the magnet boards each had a velcro strip along the bottom that I'd line the numbers for that day up on in order. It was somewhat modified in that each drawer was just designated for a particular subject, and when I reloaded them each evening it was mostly a matter of writing the reading and history or science (we alternated days for those) assignments on sticky notes that I added to those drawers, and then putting the numbers up in the order I wanted to do the subjects the next day. The order mattered that year because I had two students, and I wanted one doing independent work while I worked with the other, but with dd back at public school it's back to just ds and me at home.

 

The weird scheduling problem this year is that he's taking one class each semester at the high school (assuming he can tolerate the presence of other human bodies in proximity to his sufficiently well). I can't teach TV Production and Computer Tech, they're beyond me; I'm stretching it enough with Chemistry this year, and I think it'll be good for him socially too. But the high school has a block schedule with different classes on alternating days, AND they start at a different time every day, because they get out an hour early on Wednesdays so the teachers can have prep time, and then there's a half hour for "intervention time" on (I think) Tuesdays and Thursdays where they can go to whatever class they need extra help in. Not necessarily a bad plan if you're going to just be there all day and move whenever the bell rings, but it makes scheduling harder at my house.

 

I had thought we could keep the lab stuff in a separate box up on a shelf, and just keep the paper materials in the chem box. I don't have little kids at my house anymore. The puppy likes to get into mischief, but has never gotten into a closed drawer (y'know...yet).

 

I don't know.

 

But then with this kid, I never know.

[LunaLee]

We use them more as a staging area really-it's very modified. We have the Ikea Trofast system with 11 buckets. They are labled by subject with one big bucket for games and stuff. Ds gets a daily assignment sheet and all of his books are in the appropriate box. I don't really change out the items in the box because at this point it's mostly just do the next thing, but when it's not, I just throw the extra items in the right box. It's very helpful to keep things compartmentalized.

 

I thought about doing this for next year because the seemed more "mature". I even found the perfect set of red metal ones at Marshall's for about $30 a piece, but I would've needed two and I just didn't feel the need to spend that money when what we have is ok.

Edited July 5, 2012 by LunaLee

[Sugarfoot]

I'm a big believer in doing what works for your family. ;)

 

Have you read the original Sue Patrick book? She talks about how beneficial workboxes are for high schoolers.

 

And I think you're absolutely right about your Aspie doing things in his own time/way. One of mine prefers a very concrete organizing system as well, but it's still an organizing system. ;) He may end up implementing something similarly visual and physical on his own as an adult, and that would be fine if that's what he needs to be organized.

[MamaSheep]

Thanks for the input, you guys, it makes me feel a little more sane just to have someone to bounce this stuff around with. (I really can't wait until dh comes home next week, three months is too long. I would never make it as a military wife.)

 

I couldn't get Luna's link to work, as it took me to a "having problems with our sites" kind of page. Maybe it'll work tomorrow. I would probably just use what I already have, as money is tight, but I always like new ideas.

 

I actually HAVE Sue Patrick's book around here....somewhere...I wonder what I did with that. I don't remember what it said about high school, but if it has thoughts on that, I should probably go read it. I bought it the year dd had just been diagnosed and was entering 2nd grade unable to do Kindergarten level work, even though everyone agreed that she's obviously bright and a pleasure to have in class--polite, helpful, eager to participate--she just can't focus to save her little life. Dh thought we should homeschool her along with her brother, and although I agreed that what she really needed was some serious one-on-one time, I went into a little bit of a panic at the thought of trying to manage ds's issues and teach her anything at the same time. While simultaneously figuring out how to cope with that ridiculously illogical part of me that kept screaming, "But she was my proof that I am capable of producing a "normal" child, she CAN'T have ADHD!" As well as some things that were happening at the same time relating to an adoption that didn't go through after all. It all worked out for the best, but I have to admit it's all a bit of a blur. I really should go back and at least look through that book again.

 

And yeah, I KNOW Aspies march to their own drum, I really do. I just have to remind myself sometimes because he's getting so "typical" in so many ways that I sometimes expect "typical" age-appropriate behaviors and skills from him when I should really know better. I think that's what I did last year, and I probably need to just admit it was a mistake and suck it up.

Edited July 5, 2012 by MamaSheep

[WishboneDawn]

Um...well...it was a weekly checklist, and a desk apprentice to keep things in. :001_unsure::blushing:

 

With this kid nothing has EVER been as simple as it seems like it should be...sigh...

 

"High functioning" is a very, very deceptive term. :glare:

 

I would say that if the workboxes worked, try them again. You know your son better then any of us and as you said, he's not the typical high schooler so why worry about what normal high schoolers would do?tributing factor to that may be my ADD)

 

You might want to check out my organization link. I looked at the desk apprentice things but they seemed a little cutesy and confusing for me (a contributing factor to that may be my ADD) so I came up with my own system using wire dishracks. It's just a way to keep the books in daily use halfway organized and from there we use nothing more then a do-the-next-thing approach. My daughter just does a page or exercise and then moves on to the next one the next day.

[MamaSheep]

I would say that if the workboxes worked, try them again. You know your son better then any of us and as you said, he's not the typical high schooler so why worry about what normal high schoolers would do?tributing factor to that may be my ADD)

 

You're right. I know you're right. Sometimes it's nice to know how far away we are from normal kids his age, and in what direction, and which direction I need to nudge to get him more functional and independent. I'm having one of those "moments" when I feel a little at sea with him. None of the "rules" or "standard operating procedures" ever seem to apply with him, and I get tired of reinventing the wheel for every single stinking thing.

 

You might want to check out my organization link. I looked at the desk apprentice things but they seemed a little cutesy and confusing for me (a contributing factor to that may be my ADD) so I came up with my own system using wire dishracks. It's just a way to keep the books in daily use halfway organized and from there we use nothing more then a do-the-next-thing approach. My daughter just does a page or exercise and then moves on to the next one the next day.

 

Thanks, I'll check that out. :)