Edit: This planner is no longer available to purchase.
Nothing beats the warm fuzzy feeling when an empty homeschool planner presents itself; an invitation to recreate our homeschool just as a fresh coat of paint gives a new lease of life to old tired walls.
I'm super excited to share our updated Homeschool planner for 2019-2020!
This production has truly been a labour of love....truth be told I am a bit of a planning nerd. Although I have to tell you, sometimes the planning is a little more fun than the implementation of it all.
Its specifically designed for the Muslim Homeschooler, with both Islamic as well as secular quotes relating to education scattered throughout to sprinkle a little inspiration when you need it.
When it comes to crafts supplies and learning resources, so many of us keep them safely locked away in unreachable cupboards or shelves; partly because some things are expensive and we don’t want to risk damage or loss, and partly because we don’t want a hot mess to clear up and we don't trust the kids enough to give them free access. But in doing this, we need to ask what message are we giving to our children about our learning environment?
Something to consider is when things are out of sight, they are often out of mind.
When we have things hidden away in storage, how often are they thought about? How often do we ourselves make the conscious decision to get them out?
Whether you're reading this as a homeschool or school parent, I know if you're a responsible and interested Mum, you 100% want your children to enjoy learning and discovering new things.
There never seems to be enough hours in the day. From the time we wake up in the morning until the time we lay our heads back down upon our pillows, there always seems to be something we need to do...or something we haven't done.
Although a struggle many of us can all relate to, not everyone does. There are some who seem to jump straight onto the productivity train leaving the rest of us lagging far behind at the procrastination station.
So what is so different about them? And more importantly, what can you and I do as mothers, to get the same inshaAllah?
We've added a new practice to our homeschool this week: a Morning Time Basket ...our interpretation of one anyway.
I wanted to find something that would bring new energy to our new homeschool year, which typically begins after Ramadan.
However this season has been a little slow to get started. More than slow actually, Ramadan ended more than 2 months ago.
Perhaps we needed that time to help us make things different.
I've seen our homeschool efforts have been a little stale for some time, and I knew we needed to make quite a few changes to bring back a sense of excitement and zeal we've lost.
One of our changes, is the introduction of a "Morning Time Basket".
As I contemplated starting this, I wasn't sure if my children would be a little old. When I've seen other home-schooling families online who implement something like this, they seem to be younger, so I thought perhaps I'd missed the boat on this little home-school practice.
However, I decided to give it a try with my version of one, and I'm so glad that I did alhamdulillah.
Is anybody still there???
Its been rather a while since I last hopped on! I hope everyone had a beneficial Ramadan and an enjoyable E'id.
Here we are now, heading into the middle of July and I am itching to get back to our studies inshallah...although my girls may not be...they have certainly enjoyed the time off!
We don't typically do a great deal of home schooling over Ramadan. To be honest, its been a good couple of months since we have actually home schooled (ssshhh don't tell anyone!)
Who likes treasure??? ...A little piece of informational treasure I came across recently is loop scheduling. ....a way to still get everything you want to get done "done" inshallah, but with a lot of the pressure and stress gone! ....its simple!
Its that time of year again....Ramadan has passed, E'id celebrations ended, our batteries have been recharged and now we are ready to refocus, energised for another "school" year bi'ithnillah...that's got to be a good enough reason for a new planner right! (...and if you are not a home educator but instead a teacher in a school or madrassa, then I've included a separate downloadable file with a "My School Planner" front cover just for you!)
I can not remember how I came across this, as I didn't go searching to find anything to do with organising and planning, however Alhamdulillah I some how stumbled across this video on youtube...
....which then led me to watch this video.....
....which then led me to google and trailing blog after blog after blog......reading and understanding "Workboxes"!!!!
So what are workboxes?
I have to admit, I am really quite excited about this as I am going to put this into action after E'id inshallah as I begin my KS1 work with K (and I'm also going to start working with Z as she is starting to show signs of learning interest alhamdulillah so I think she is ready for a little "formal" work - well as formal as "formal" can be with a soon to be 3 year old inshallah!).
Enough rambling and back to the actual topic of the post!
This is Sue Patricks workbox system, and to summarise it is a revolutionary and innovative method of putting organised structure into the home school learning day inshallah.
What is the workbox?
The system consists of 12 "workboxes" which are plastic clear shoe boxes placed on a rack / shelf. Each box is numbered 1 - 12.
In each box you put the days lessons and activities for the child.
Also each box should include everything they will need in order to complete the work - so for example text book, scissors, glue, paper, calculator, felt pens etc etc etc....whatever is needed should be there ready!
The child works through the boxes in order, taking each box to their desk / work area to complete.
If the work in the box contains a lesson in which requires parental instruction / teaching, then you would place a "work with mum" card in there too so the child knows to grab your attention. Otherwise, if there is no "work with mum card" then the child knows they can get on and work independently.
Benefits
The benefit in this is that the child can see at the beginning of the day what to expect, they know what is coming next...and they know when work for the day is finished inshallah!
It also helps to encourage the child to work independently - they are not having to wait for us to have a free moment to start them off in between all the juggling we are tasking! They can take their box and get to work, everything is there ready for them!
And maybe most importantly of all....it keeps us organised! We have to make sure we have the work prepared before the day begins ....otherwise there will be no work!
This is just a simple summery of what workboxes are, and if you search google images you will see so many families have tweaked the system to suit their own families needs - for example rather than using shoe boxes, some have used tray drawers, some box files and some even used gift-paper decorated cereal boxes(to save space) !
I personaly like the shoe box concept as my girls are young, I think they would benefit being able to see everything for the day.
12 boxes seems like allot of boxes to fill with school work!
When I began reading about workboxes, I thought 12 boxes seems crazy! I don't do 12 separate lessons with K each day....no one does!!!!!
However, you don't put 12 separate lessons in the boxes.....
firstly, you can put some fun educational toys, puzzles, games or crafts in a few of the boxes.....so for example maybe box 1, 2 and 3 will have school work you want them to complete, then box 4 will have a world map puzzle (you know the one you never pull down off the shelf!), and then a couple more boxes of school work, then box 7 could have a craft etc etc.
The child can see the fun boxes that they will get to after they complete their work inshallah.
Secondly, as Sue Patrick discusses in her book (yes I bought the ebook!!!!...I'll get to that later!) children often learn better when material / lessons are presented in smaller chunks. So you can divide your lessons over 2 or 3 boxes and even spread them out....thus making it more digestible to your little youngster inshallah!
Google " Sue Patricks workbox system" and you will find literally hundreds of homeschooling blogs all talking about this (although most are all American Christan home schoolers!).
All the blogs out there explain the system much better than I have....they all include photos too which makes it easier to understand.
If you go direct to Sue Patricks site here - there is a little information about the system here, however I found reading blogs who were using the system at home provided allot more information and understanding of how the concept works.
Sue Patricks Book
You can buy Sue Patricks book or ebook on her site....
.... after trailing tens of blogs I didn't think I needed to buy the book to be able to implement the system, as like I said, many of the blogs include detailed explanations, pictures and even printables to label your boxes and schedule strips to get you started.
However, after a couple of days of debating what type of workbox would work best for us (the shoe boxes or drawers) I decided to take the plunge and purchase the ebook. I'm glad I did! I found it quite valuable reading alhamdulillah. (I will just stress that although Sue Patrick is a Christian and occasionally talks about Bible Study, the workbox system is completely secular as is what she writes in her book about the other educational points she discusses).
She has some good educational ideas and understanding of how children best learn....well I thought so anyway although I didn't agree with completely everything! She has some great teaching / learning ideas to impliment which she disscusses to help children digest and retain information.....thus understanding!
After reading her book, I am really excited about implementing this system in our home school inshallah. I feel my eyes have been opened to children's learning processes and I can't wait to start inshallah.
Inshallah it should keep me on my toes and be prepared and planned .....I have to fill the workboxes ready for each new day so I will have to be planned and organised....exactly what I needed!!!!#
Once I've completed my set up I'll post some pics inshallah and update as we start implementing the system inshallah.......I just hope this isn't going to be one of those things I "give up on" because I really do see allot of potential in working this way!
Search google and read more experienced reviews......I found quick way to filter out all the junk from the actual home schooling blogs was to google image, and click into the blogs through the images. (most of the images were from blogs).
