Friday, March 8, 2013

My new White Board! DIY!

We have a fairly small home.  Add two parents and 3 kids every bit of space is valuable.  Since we don't have room for a dedicated classroom (someday!)  I have to make the most of the space we have.  My kitchen now houses a large bookshelf that stores a good bit of homeschool materials.  Pretty much all my teacher manuals and paper.  The kid's have clear bins with their books on a countertop for easy access.  My kitchen table, couch in the living room and kid's desk in their room are where the homeschool magic happens!

Typically in the afternoon the baby takes a nap and the big boys each hop on a couch with a tv tray.  Then I do History and Science with them.  This involves a lot of me reading from their text while they take notes or do notebooking activities.  (We use Mystery of History and Apologia Science in case you were wondering.)  What I've found is that it is hard for them to know what are the important key words for each subject - and most are super hard to spell.  Fast forward a little and I was doing the parents portion of Institute for Excellence in Writing with a group of homeschool mommy friends.  On the DVD Andrew Pudewa says if you don't have a white board your failing your kids.  While that is a harsh statement and I don't 100% agree ~ I did see his point.  There is something to be said for having things on the board.  My own public school education had many many things on the board.

Well that got my brain rolling.  How could I put up a board?  Well - first off it was recommended to go to the hardware store and buy a piece of cheap masonite board.  It is dry eraseable and PERFECT!  Only $10 for a large piece at my local Lowe's.  So I looked around the kitchen and living room and quickly realized the living room would be the place to have it.  I didn't want a permanent white board up in there though.  We had just re-done the living room and it is a nice tranquil inviting place now.  A white board would be OUT of place.  So I looked at my DVD shelf and started thinking about how I could hang up a board.

This is when my husband's expertise comes in.  He suggested brackets - and he did the drilling.


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These are the brackets we used. He anchored them on the top of the DVD shelf where no one can see.  photo 682BB0A8-F858-4EAB-8378-4F1C67C631C3-71678-00000847A9E4D1F7_zpsc962fd1c.jpg 

Then he drilled a hole in the masonite board. There was some measuring involved but I left that to him!

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This is now a board we can remove quite easily and put behind the couch or in another room. The hooks will stay up but way less noticeable. 

Now if I'm being honest I have yet to take it down but we do use it almost every homeschool day so it is what it is.  I'm totally pleased with the quality of the Masonite board too.   You can spray a little cleaner on it and it wipes 100% clean.  

Leave me a comment if this post has helped you! 

1 comment:

  1. Wow! What a great idea! We are in a rental, and I was trying to find a way to put up a whiteboard that would be easy to take down and move when we move. Thanks for this! :)

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