chore clipboard for our pre-reader.

Finneas has been asking for a while if he can have a 'jobs' clipboard of his own, like the big kids have.  (For more about our clipboard system, check out past blog posts here and here.)  I've procrastinated for a couple of reasons, one being that he can't actually read the jobs on the clothespins, so a clipboard would end up being useless.  Nor does he have the motor skills necessary to allow me to trust him to keep track of moving a bunch of clothespins around.  Plus, I keep telling Todd it reminds me of when Israel kept badgering Samuel to give them a king and he kept trying to tell them they didn't really know what they were asking for - it's all a great idea until it becomes burdensome (which will happen sooner rather than later), then people rebel against the very thing they thought they wanted.

But, badger me he did, so I finally gave in.  Sometimes preschoolers, like Israelites, just do not listen to reason.  Go figure.  I had to figure out a way around the reading and motor skills thing, though.  

Back when I worked in Special Ed, we used a program called Boardmaker to walk students through their schedules and responsibilities.  The pictures are perfect for stuff like this.  Unfortunately, I don't have the Boardmaker program on our computer, nor did I feel like investing in it for a simple clipboard project.  So I just googled Boardmaker images for the kinds of things I was looking for.  Some pictures were easier to find than others.

I'm just starting him off with some very, very basic things he can start taking some independent responsibility for: he has pictures for 'get dressed,' 'make bed,' 'clean up,' 'brush teeth,' 'clear dishes,' 'wash hands,' and 'help mommy.'

Assigned jobs start on the left, then can be moved to the right as they're finished.  Each picture is laminated, and has Velcro on the back to make it easy to move back and forth.

See:  my stubby thumb will demonstrate.

I had Finneas test it out yesterday to make sure he was able to understand how to use his board, and what each picture meant.  He moved a couple of his pictures to the right side of his board to show you that he's not only capable, but he's also (currently) enthusiastic.

This whole project cost around $10 - I got the mini clipboard at back to school time for under a buck, and the laminating kit and box of Velcro were each $4 - $5 at Wal-Mart.  So as long as we get $10 of use out of it, I'm not really out anything.  

So, everyone wish Finneas luck as he ventures into the land and life of being a Big Kid.