by The white board and dry erase markers. Yup. A necessity.
And not for the reason you think…yes, they come in handy for the mom or dad when illustrating addition or the silent final “e” rule…but our children’s creativity explodes when given free rein with the white board!
Whether by playing school, or drawing elaborate works of art, our white board gets put to good use by my girls. Pictionary is SO much more fun, as is Hangman, and my oldest loves filling it with words. (shrugging my shoulders, yes, words) She’ll start out by writing all the words that start with a certain letter that she can think of, then she’ll ask me for more, and sometimes (on a REALLY good day!) she’ll get out our children’s dictionary (another must have–ours is by Scholastic) and get even more inspired!
We even have to draw a line down the middle so both girls can have equal space and then it has to remain till Daddy gets home so he won’t miss out on admiring all the fun!
To spur my oldest’s interest in learning to read, I’d write a two or three sentence story on the white board each morning before she woke up…and she’s such a sucker for stories, she’d overcome her “disinterest” and excitedly start sounding out words. She was in kindergarten then, and every morning I’d also have her write the month, day and year on the board.
Our white board is a medium sized one we bought at Staples four years ago. The other day my oldest found me cleaning the bathroom, and the look on her face tipped me off immediately. “What’s wrong?” I asked. No one was crying, so I relaxed somewhat.
“That marker that we thought was a dry erase marker?”
I nodded. It looked exactly like one.
“It wasn’t. It’s a permanent marker.”
Oh.
Anybody know of a way to remove permanent marker from a dry erase board?
Yes! Sometimes you can go over it with a dry erase marker and it will come off. Otherwise, you can try the dry erase board cleaner. Might even try alcohol or hydrogen peroxide if you have it. I think I’ve used just about all of them, LOL.
And, Mary, I’m finally updating the blogroll on my blog and adding you. Sorry it took so long!
We use our dry erase to write down all the things we are supposed to remember to do– like people to call, groceries to get, etc. We found it was hard to remember things, and now we just clutter the board with stuff and I’m not sure we’re any better at getting them done! 🙁
Oh well, it’s a great tool. I’m sure I’ll be getting a bigger one when we actually start homeschooling.
Vinegar. I use it for everything.
White boards are so much fun fun fun! At my last job I had one in my office, and my daughter LOVED drawing…when I wasn’t with a client, of course. Reading about your activities makes me miss home schooling already, and my daughter isn’t starting public school until tomorrow. Enjoy every moment:)
I should have a minute today to try these “fixes”…will report back any successes! I so appreciate all your responses!
Georgiana, I hope the transition goes well for your girl…and for you!
MInTheGap, I’ve been wanting a bulletin board for some time now…in fact,maybe a huge one for the hall wall…we’ve got more artwork than my refrigerator can hold…
Thanks, Jen for adding me! :OD
How to remove permanent marker from the whiteboard?
An answer of chlorine blanch and water will both expel the indelible marker and light up the whiteboard. To expel indelible marker from a whiteboard, utilize a cloth to rub the indelible marker with rubbing liquor, hand sanitizer, or CH3)2CO.
You can likewise have a go at shading over the indelible marker with a dry-delete marker and after that wiping everything off with a whiteboard eraser.