Hello fellow homeschoolers! Today I have a fun video showing you what my 6th grader’s day looks like. We’re taking a closer peek into his workbox drawers to see what he does all day long. The only thing not shown in the drawers is his affinity for procrastination. And a few group subjects that I’ll mention at the bottom of this post too!
So let’s take a closer look into my 6th grader’s homeschool workload each day!
For those of you who don’t like videos, here are some pics and links to all of the products for you!
Drawer 1
His first drawer contains our expandable drawer organizer from The Container store along with all of his basic supplies like pencils, pens, erasers, glue, etc.
It also has his daily assignment spiral which tells him exactly what he has to do each day. He just crosses each item off as it is completed.
It also has his Word of Life Challenger Quiet Time devotion which he does daily. They’re nice short devotions that only take about 10-15 minutes each morning.
Drawer 2
This is his math drawer. He’s using Math U See Zeta this year. He also has Evan-Moor Daily Word Problems Grade 5 in this box. He does one a day for some extra practice applying his mad math skills.
Drawer 3
This box has his BJU English 5 and Vocabulary Workshop (Level A, Grade 6). I pull out his worksheets for each day for English, and he just keeps a sticky tab in the Vocab workbook to keep track of where he is.
Drawer 4
Time for spelling! This year he’s doing a mix of BJU Spelling 6 (mainly for list practice), & Spelling You See D (which also doubles as handwriting). He does one worksheet per day of each of these. And no, I don’t think you need to do two spelling programs, but since SYS doesn’t come with assessment tests, I use the BJU Spelling lists to test him. I know, I’m crazy. I never said I wasn’t!
Drawer 5
This last drawer is our catch all for our group subjects along with his reading box. He has his Classical Literature Units & Book Shark reading books in this drawer along with the Abeka Read & Comprehend Skill Sheets 6 tests. These are 5 minute timed tests that come with comprehension questions.
He also has his Expedition Earth Geography/Science Curriculum binder, his The Renaissance & Reformation binder, and his Institute for Excellence in Writing Group A Continuation binder.
And that’s all that is in his daily workbox drawers. Here are a few of the things we do that aren’t stored in the workboxes:
- Art: Combo of World’s Greatest Artists 2 (Yes, we’re SLOWLY working through this!), Home Art Studio, and See the Light Art DVDs
- Keepers of the Faith (We meet once a month for various activities.)
- Music: World’s Greatest Composers Vol 1 (Continued from last year)
- Literature: Classical Literature Units (We’ll do read-a-louds using books from my Vol. 1 list)
- Piano: Teach Yourself Piano
- Typing: Typing Web
- P.E. : Swim Team, ice hockey & Co-op
- Options: This is a once a week co-op that we go to through our school district. Turbo takes guitar, geography, speech and debate and PE.
A note to you…
Keep in mind all homeschools are a little bit different. What we’re using might not work for your family or your students. So just go with what works best for you and your kiddos! But if you have questions specifically regarding what we are using, there are links in this post to help you out! Feel free to email me if you have questions that I didn’t address!
And make sure to check out my Homeschooling 101 book if you’re just getting started and need help finding curriculum, creating lesson plans, scheduling your day, organizing your home, and more!
Our School Room…
For anyone with questions on our school room or workbox drawers, you can check out our school room setup here. Links to all of furniture and supplies are there to help you out.
–> I also get a lot of questions on our desk setup. You can read all about it in our Ikea School Desks post!
You can also see a check out this video I did a while back on our workboxes! We’ve stuck with the Ikea drawer units since they fit better in our room right now. And I even have some small spaces workbox ideas that might suit your needs as well!
Need workbox printables? I have a ton of free printables you’re welcome to download and use in your homeschool!
- My Schedule Strip and Plain Numbers
- Workbox Subject Cards
- Workbox Scheduling Template (Editable excel file)
- Workbox Preschool Template (Editable excel file)
- Blank Workbox Numbers (with space for you to add your own images)
- I Spy Card
- Spanish Card
- JumpStart Card
- Time 4 Learning Card
What reading program are you using? You said that your classical lit units were a little below him now, but that’s what you linked to in the written post. Also, do you do the teacher part for the BJU english and spelling U see?
We’re using Book Shark for 6th Grade. We got it from our options program. It is a secular reading curriculum, so there were a few books that I pulled out due to language and content, but the rest were okay. The reading list is really similar to Sonlight’s reading list for that grade.
Yes, i use the TM for BJU English, no I don’t use it for SYS.
Can you tell me more about your “options” program?
We go once a week and the younger ones do elective type classes like Spanish, PE, Art, Music, Science, the older kids do a variety of classes, they change each year. It’s provided by our local school district.
So with Book shark do you have him do any comprehension, or summaries, character studies, etc?
It comes with comprehension questions, but I’m not loving them. Some are kind of odd in my opinion. It doesn’t have any other summaries, reports, etc. like my lit units have. 🙁
the book you are using as their planner, is this one you have made?
Gena – I would love to know too! Does anyone know the answer? Thanks.
It’s a printout from Homeschool Tracker software. I input all of our lessons for the year, and then print out this “report” for each of my kiddos from the software.
Thanks. This wa shelpful. It is always nice to see what other people are doing and how kids are reacting to it.
Maybe I missed this, so please forgive me…….but what are you using for science this year?
We’re using my Expedition Earth Geography and Science curriculum this year 🙂
I would love if our public school offered what you listed. In our state, once you sign your child out, they don’t ask for records nor do they allow students to take classes at the public school. In which state do you live?
Hi Erica, I watched your video on the work boxes. Love it. But I do have a question about the spelling.
I myself use the All About Spelling. I feel my son needs a little more. He is on Level 2. I was curious if you felt that the Spell You See coincided with the All About Spelling? IF so, What level of Spell You See would your recommend for the Level 2 with AAS?
Thanks, Jill