Mandylubug Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Do you have a large window? You can you dry erase markers on that instead. I tried the window.. didn't work very well for us :( The kids just wanted to play outside and since we don't have any trees or shade on the back side of our house, the dining area gets HOT HOT HOT with the blinds pulled up :( I really like the idea, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We have ours hanging from a hanging clothes stand ($20 from Target). When not in use I roll it into the laundry area. Another thing we do is save all paper that has no writing on it. Usually junk mail, copies I made that are not needed anymore, and the unused paper from old notebooks (spiral removed or torn out and edges cut off). I use the scrap paper to write dd's narrations or memory verses on so she can copy. Do math examples, spelling words, or other things. Perfect use for paper that would otherwise be thrown away and no unsightly white board hanging around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We have lap size white boards that I put away every day. Would something like that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didadeewiththree Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We have a small house, but my husband put one up right on the kitchen wall. We have no way to conceal here so it just makes for a conversational piece when people come over. We use it daily and love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 We have a small house, but my husband put one up right on the kitchen wall. We have no way to conceal here so it just makes for a conversational piece when people come over. We use it daily and love it. I see that you are using R&S Math. It is definitely one of the main reasons I am considering posting a board up. There is always SO much to be instructed on the board. Not to mention all the other posters to post for review, etc.. I am currently propping blossom posters all over creation ;) eta: we also use MCT and will be needing to put the sentences for practice island up since I am instructing two at a time with that curriculum as well ha ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I just decided my dining room would look like a school room for the foreseeable future and hung a big white board on the wall. I don't regret it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallory Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 I had an idea- what about a mirror? Looks even more like decor then those prettied up frames/whiteboards and you could still write on it.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Our home is very small too. There's no hiding the fact that we homeschool. I just embrace it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 I had an idea- what about a mirror? Looks even more like decor then those prettied up frames/whiteboards and you could still write on it.:D Its just so expensive to buy a large mirror to fit the wall I would want it on. I had priced it at 200ish dollars.... I did end up buying a board today. Its magnetic and somewhat stylish. I got this one. Not sure if I am going to mount it but I do realize its super heavy compared to a nonmagnetic one. I wanted the magnetic property to it in case we use AAS one day, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 We've been homeschooling since 1992 and this week our last student took his last final. We're done. And the whiteboard that's been a fixture in our living room will stay. It's part of our life. Yep, it's a weird look but it's who we are and even though we're done homeschooling, it'll get used daily. Even for their college classes the kids post and solve problems on it and none of us are ready to take it down. I know you were looking for ways to hide the board but you might just one day realize you've embraced the look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datimasa Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 It would depend on your room and your style, but what about curtains over it? Remember on Little House on the Prairie how they had a chalkboard up front with curtains tied back? Well on Sundays they just pulled the curtains closed over the chalk board. You might be able to do something like that with a coordinating fabric. Depending on your house, it could look like one or two windows that have closed curtains at the moment. Neat idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 (edited) I have six or eight 12"by 18" whiteboards that we use most of the time, and a few 24" by 24" boards around for when we need a larger board. We made them by cutting those shower panels from Home Depot into the sizes we wanted (Put that pretty duct tape in the nice colors around the edges for a neater look). We had originally gotten three of the huge panels but they were too awkward to use so we started cutting. The 12" by 18" boards (lap sized) get used the most, with the slimmer dry erase markers. If you get the dry erase markers with the fatter tips you won't be able to do much writing on a lap board but they do make dry erase markers with smaller tips that work much better and write with a finer line. I've also found multiple boards more useful. For example, if I decline a noun as an example on a lapboard I can set that board aside with the writing still on it to use again as an example the next day and not have to deal with it or look at it again until I pull it out. I can grab a fresh board to help teach the next subject. Dd like to have her own board to work out math problems, ds has his own to practice handwriting, the grandkids who seem to drop by all the time have a few boards to scribble on to keep them busy while we work. None of the boards are on the wall. I have a couple boards stashed in the space between the cabinets and the frig. They won't all fit there, though. I have a couple more behind a bookcase. I have floor length curtains on my windows and I could stash a few more behind those and they would fit but I tend to stick them in the spaces between the frig and the cupboards or the stove and the cupboards. They are small enough that it is easy to find a place. You know you can get whiteboard paint, and magnetic paint too right? You can make just about anything into a whiteboard. Don't feel stuck with the one you got. We use AAS too, but I've never used it on a magnetic board. I did use K12 phonics which uses a magnetic whiteboard and the letter tiles, but the whiteboard they send to go with that kit is about 8" by 12", and instead of having you keep it set up a certain way all the time like the AAS suggests, I just set out the tiles on the tabletop in a certain order every time we had the lesson and in the course of the lesson we would pick up the tiles we would use. The tiles actually got annoying and we switched to just writing on the whiteboard pretty early in the game and so when we started AAS we just kept doing that. We live in a single wide mobile home with six people and no basement, so I understand storage and not wanting to live in a schoolroom (but the bookcases tend to give it away, really, and the maps). I would advise against a bigger board since it really isn't any more useful and is harder to hide when not in use. Edited May 18, 2012 by Rainefox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 I made a large wooden easel, framed the whiteboard, and display it on the easel. If it HAD to be on the wall, I would attached a narrow picture ledge to the wall underneath it, and have a large art print I could rest on the ledge to cover the whiteboard when it was not in use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Ours leans against the wall and we sot on the floor to use it. I want to hang it next year afyer we rearrange the front room next year. Part of our house looka like school. I Love books, so I got over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Our 2'x3' board for AAS just leans against the wall when not in use. Our house is smaller than yours and open concept as well. I have a friend with a massive house, open concept as well. They school in the dining area and have a huge white board (it must be 8-10 feet long) on the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidirenata Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Honestly, we are just embracing our homeschool crazy this year, and moving to the family room. Anyone who comes in our house is just going to be hit by the fact that we are a homeschool family. Us too! Our dining room table is cleared at the end of the day for dinner but the rest of the room (walls, buffet, sideboard etc) are all homeschool all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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