Something's gotta give!

Well after many ups and downs over the past few weeks of homeschool I think I am going to try something new tomorrow.  I had read recently from another homeschooler that she had set up a system where the child got to choose which lesson he/she wanted to do.  They had placed everything on shelves and labeled it clearly then the child would go to it and decide whether he/she wanted to do math, reading, art or whatever else filled the shelves that day. The only rule was that they had to finish everything on the shelves. I'm sure I'm not explaining this exactly right but in my mind I know what I mean. You can check out something similar here: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2009/11/workbox-system.html.  Now I think Erica does a bit differently than I originally saw but either way I LOVE the idea. I've been watching the price of the work boxes fluctuate on amazon so for now I'm going to try to find some kind of shelving system to do the trick (something cheap).  I'm hoping this will alleviate the arguments. My only downfall that I know I will run into is with my 1 1/2 year old, he LOVES to tear things apart and I'm afraid he will be pulling everything off the shelves.  We shall see.