I finally got to show off all my WorkVelcro handiness to our TORCH group last week and decided it's time to do the obligatory blog post as well. I came up with this system whilst laying in bed pregnant all Summer, trying to figure out how to keep nine schooling kids occupied enough that I could sleep in with what was soon to be a nursing newborn. It started in my mind as a pile of index cards stuffed into those little cardboard library card holder thingys and taped generously to the front of their schoolwork boxes. The more I tossed and turned over it, I was able to eventually develop the idea into its current incarnation. Once I had the idea up and moving I discovered this thing called Work Boxes. It's a remarkably similar system but I decided to stick with mine for a number of reasons, mostly due to the sheer number of creatures I school on a daily basis.
So here's how WorkVelcro works - I think most of these are of Philip's cards.
Each kid has two index card holders in their schoolwork box (I got these at the Dollar Store)- one holder for storing all the possible cards they could use and one for storing the day's active working cards.
Each evening before I plan to use the system, I move the cards they are going to need for the day from their storage holder to their working holder. Before they go into the working holder they have a number attached to each card which tells them the order in which to do their cards. The numbers are stored on this chart - the letters represent the child's first name to avoid confusion about whose cards are whose.
As they work through the cards, they pull off the number and replace it on the chart. This is so first of all I can see how much of their work they have completed at any given point in the day, and it also resets the numbers for the next time the system is used.
The main reason I implemented this system was to utilize all the fun educational resources I've collected that otherwise sat unused in my school cabinet. Their cards may have such activities as:
Puzzles
Play a Game (alone or with a few sibs - will be assigned)
Play a Computer game (specific games are assigned along with this card)
Ride scooter (this is a therapeutic goal for several of them - many of the cards incorporate therapeutic activities as well)
Speechercise
LeapPad or Leapster
Various types of Math drills -
Flashmaster, flashcards, math games, etc
Wii (we've been using Wii fit Balance games to meet therapeutic goals)
Read chapter books or history books
Cooking task
Brain Gym
Read to a younger
Workbooks
Math assignments
If a task card is included which involves a larger item then that item can be found on this shelf with the child's initial velcro'd to the item so they know which ones has been assigned to them. They use the item and replace it on the shelf as is. If they are assigned to play a game with another child and that child is not yet ready, they are instructed to keep going through their additional cards until they can come back to the shared activity.
And that's it. Putting together the laminated task cards was the most time-consuming aspect of putting this into effect. I think daily of more cards I could add to the system and will continue to mix in more activities. The kids *love* this. I don't get the cards ready every day and I don't expect myself to. If we do the cards 2 or 3 days a week then I've had a good week with the system.
Everyone who went outside today was privy to his shenanigans. He just would not leave our family alone, as if to say "Look, you already have a gazillion, don't you want me too?!" A bit worried about his behavior and not at all familiar with juvenile squirrel antics, I put in a call to Animal Control. Mr. Animal Control guy arrived and identified our little friend as Orphaned Squirrel - round about age 4 weeks. He suggested Mama Squirrel probably met up with a car somewhere and left little Jr abandoned to the wild world. He captured Orphaned Squirrel, put him gently in a cage, had me sign a paper saying I was the owner of Orphaned Squirrel and I was willingly relinquishing him to the care of Mr. Animal Control and then set off in his van to deliver Orphaned Squirrel to a local rehabber who, he promised, would carefully care for Orphaned Squirrel for the next two weeks and then release our little friend into the wild. So long little friend! May you fare better than your poor mum!
