Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

This topic has 20 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago by Karen.

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June 24, 2014 at 9:37 pm
Karen
Participant
I’m considering purchasing some whiteboards that would be NOT for hanging on the wall – something smaller. Do any of you use the smaller size? Do you actually use it? or do you find yourself going back to your chalk/whiteboard that’s hanging on your wall?
Our chalkboard has a terrible glare because of it’s placement. And the placement isn’t changeable right now (The chalkboard is a HUGE 5 foot x 3 foot REAL slate chalkboard – it’s absolutely divine to write on; but it has no frame and is leaning against the wall until we get a place to hang it and a frame for it .)
So, anyway, it’s not very useable right now (or at least, it’s a pain to use it). And I’d thought that perhaps a small-ish whiteboard would do better. I usually find myself just putting things on the board to explain to one child, not all my children, which is the reason I’m thinking of a smallish white board.
Advice?
Thanks!

June 24, 2014 at 9:43 pm
sarah2106
Participant
I use small white boards for my kids and they really like it. They are great for early motor skills. I write a letter and they erase it with their finger. Also writing simple words. My kids don’t like to write that big even when starting (not sure why though I tried), so they can fit a 4-5 letter word easily on a smaller dry erase board. They like that there are no “mistakes” since it is not on paper
June 24, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Carolyn
Participant
I love our small white board! We use it for math and reading lessons. My 4yo also loves to draw on it at lesson time. I do have a larger one on an easel but I find we use the smaller one more often.
June 24, 2014 at 11:13 pm
Shannon
Participant
We have four that are 12″x18″ and we use them all the time. I also have a large white board on the wall (3’x4′) but mostly use our small ones. They are great for using while learning on the couch!
June 24, 2014 at 11:39 pm
Benita
Participant
Yes, they get used for all sorts of lessons and the kids like to use them for their own things as well.
June 25, 2014 at 12:23 am
kerby
Participant
We each have one. I’m also thinking of getting a couple more because we are always looking for them. LOL they are great for a multitude of things, which is why we’re searching.
We’ve used them as white boards but as the dc have gotten older, we’ve used them as writing surfaces more.
I use them to work w/ dc on math problems, too. We both work it out and then we walk through the mistakes.
Another great benefit is that they can be put onto the copier and a hard copy made for record-keeping. (Required by our state periodically.) I’ve done this w/ spelling tests in the past and w/ dictations, especially when they were younger.

They have so many uses that you’ll find you use the other less and less. (It sounds wonderful, though.)
K
June 25, 2014 at 1:29 am
Karen
Participant
Oh, Kerby – what a great idea! I never thought of copying the white board on the copier. That was one of my concerns — we need to hand in a portfolio, too. And I think several of my children would find writing on a white board more “fun” than on paper.
Thanks to all of you for chiming in! I’ll definitely be looking for some now.
Okay- now a more specific question: Do you find that you’d like your whiteboards to have lines? Or are you okay without having lines. I’ve seen several lap-sized whiteboards that come with lines, with kindergarten-type lines, with graphs, etc. Which are most useful to you?
And along those lines, do you use markers or the new dry erase crayons and dry erase pencils? I have some dry erase WASHABLE markers, but on our sheet-protector-dry-erase pages, they seem rather light – almost like pastel. I’d really prefer brighter, but I don’t want to be ruining our furniture and walls, either!
Thanks so much for helping me think this through!
June 25, 2014 at 1:32 am
sarah2106
Participant
I like both options, line and no line. I actually purchased white board tape (special black tape for white boards at the office store) so that I could create lines on the white board. It works great for actual writing. If they want to dry I like no lines. We have 3 small boards 2 with lines and 1 with out, but with 3 kids I think they would each like their own lined board and free to draw board.
We use markers. I tried the crayons and I don’t know if user error, but they did not work well for us. The kids love the markers too. More fun
June 25, 2014 at 2:24 am
suzukimom
Participant
I have found dry erase crayons to work well on SOME white boards, and horrible on others. Havn’t tried the pencil crayons, but I would imagine similar results.
June 25, 2014 at 2:30 am
missceegee
Participant
We have a selection of lap sized boards from – http://www.dryerase.com/double . They have ghost lines for writing, math boards, music boards, you name it. I’ve had them for years and they still look great.
June 25, 2014 at 1:01 pm
kerby
Participant
Ours have the wide lines on one side and blank on the other. I haven’t seen them w/ smaller spacings. I didn’t know about graphs, either. Now, THAT would be neat!
We use the regular dry erase markers. I would also contemplate using the wet erase but haven’t yet. I didn’t know about the crayons or pencils. I would wonder about the crayons, though, based on past experiences w/ those wipe-off crayons. I would think it would be similar. Besides, using the markers flows better and some dc need that.
Just a note about the copying – remember that the white board is a bit bigger than you sheet of paper, so you would want to keep their writing in the section that would work for copying. For our spelling tests, it was fine because there wasn’t much, if any, that was “off” that space. It easily fit. I’m thinking you would need that awareness more for dictation or other writings where the dc might just use the whole board.
K

ps – we found our boards at the local drug store. dh took the little loop and metal ring off. we did that because it always seemed to catch books/papers that were in their buckets. they also didn’t stack as well.
June 25, 2014 at 1:46 pm
Karen
Participant
Thanks, everyone.
I placed an order at dryerase.com. They had some of the lined on one side, blank on the other side on sale. And even with the shipping, they were cheaper than the boards I was just looking at in OfficeMax and Staples.
We’ve used the dry-erase crayons before, on those little board-books for traveling games. My complaint about them is that they melt in the heat of the car and cause significant cleaning issues. *L* NOT good.
I’m eager to try the dry-rase pencils. I’m thinking that my left-handed daughter will be wearing lots of marker if she uses a marker.

June 25, 2014 at 2:30 pm
RobinP
Participant
Christie, these are wonderful! I had no idea that site existed! I bought two small boards at Walmart a few years ago for $2 and the boys still use them for lots of things. I think we would make good use of them. Thanks!
June 25, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Tristan
Participant
Oh Christie, you’re feeding a dangerous addiction here….lol. We love our lap size dry erase boards. Do you like the oversize ones offered at that link (11″x16″) or do you use the smaller ones? We have a stack of the smaller ones in a mix of blank and lined for younger children (some are doublesided). Hmm….
June 25, 2014 at 2:48 pm
missceegee
Participant
Tristan, I’m not home at the moment, but I think mine are a bit smaller. I’ll check later. We have the math ones and us one but use the lines and place value ones most.