Monday, September 19, 2011

The best budget-conscious homeschool whiteboard!

Isn't it fun to look out of the front door and see chickens on your front porch?  We keep a smallish flock of laying hens so we can enjoy nice fresh brown eggs here~ and I do love eating the eggs, but I think I enjoy watching our hens free-range and explore our property almost as much!

Tom captured these three "ladies" on our front porch this morning checkin' things out...  Aren't they cute?  I think chickens have the most adorable fluffy bottoms!

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But you didn't stop by to read about chicken bottoms now did you?

On to whiteboards and homeschooling!

I am super-blessed to have a room for homeschooling.  I'll be honest though, last year I spent very little time teaching down there.  (Yes, we did do school last year! LOL!)  First off it is super-cold down in our basement since we heat the rest of our house, upstairs, with a wood stove.  Secondly, it was in dire need of some remodeling.  So my solution last school year was to do the majority of our work upstairs in the cozy warmth of the wood stove.

Bad blogger that I am, I forgot to take before and after pictures, but we did fix up our basement homeschooling room at the end of this summer~ fresh paint on walls and ceiling, new carpet squares from our local Habitat ReStore... super-cool PVC computer table for two computers (I'll try to show you that soon) and my brand spankin' new ginormous white board!

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Pretty sweet, huh?  And yeah, at 4' wide and 8' long, I think it is big enough for even our largish family!

What would you pay for a 32 square foot whiteboard?  How about $12.67, plus a few $ for some strong screws from our local Home Depot?

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And yes, it works just like a "real" dry erase board!  The dry erase markers erase just fine.  We love it!

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Here's a slightly better photo of the super-cool eraser that I purchased.  I love the fact that it is there when I need it and the little pointy tip is fabulous for erasing smallish boo-boos without having to erase whole sentences or words.  You can't really tell from the picture, but it is sitting on its very own little plastic holder which I actually adhered (using the included sticky tape) to our white board.  The eraser holder is magnetic, but this whiteboard isn't metal, so that wouldn't work here.

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You will notice that some of the screws holding the whiteboard are in awkward places... like the middle of the whiteboard.  Unfortunately that was necessary due to where the studs are in that wall.  I figured that I had so much real estate to write on that the extra screws wouldn't bother me.  And they don't.

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What do you think of my whiteboard?

Have any frugal homeschooling projects that you have done?  Leave me a link in the comments~ I know we'd all love to see or hear about them!

8 comments:

  1. Love it, Susan! All I need now, is a wall. Last year I found myself schooling in the kitchen where our wood stove is, instead of upstairs in our schoolroom...and I also love the chickens about the yard, but not the mess they leave behind...
    Blessings,
    kathy

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  2. Great job Susan! You must be so pleased with the results of revamping that school room of yours. Does it have its own wood stove now too??? :)

    Love to you!
    Camille

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  3. ~Thanks Kathy! I agree... the wood stove warmth is *best*!!

    ~Camille... nope... no wood stove down there! So far it has been pretty warm. I suppose that I'll use a space heater or move upstairs when it gets really cold!

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  4. Beautiful!! I may have to add to my kitchen now. I was given a FREE (which is always nice) dry erase board that is BIG BIG BIG and I love it too!

    Thanks for sharing~

    ~Cinnamon

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  5. Beautiful!! I may have to add to my kitchen now. I was given a FREE (which is always nice) dry erase board that is BIG BIG BIG and I love it too!

    Thanks for sharing~

    ~Cinnamon

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  6. ~Cinnamon, I think that a new huge whiteboard is an *excellent* reason for a kitchen addition!

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  7. This is so smart!! Thank you for the great idea....now I just have to find an extra wall. :)

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  8. ~Trisha, I think a $12.67 whiteboard is a great excuse for a home addition! LOL!

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