Critique my Montessori Homeschool Shopping List

[~Amy~]

After careful consideration, we have decided not to send our son to the local Montessori school this fall, but rather to homeschool in the Montessori Method instead. So in lieu of all that tuition we would have paid, DH said I could invest in some Montessori materials for our home. I'm in Canada so am looking at purchasing from http://www.montessoriequipment.ca since they seem to have the most reasonable prices I can find. I am looking to spend about $300 at the moment. My son is 2 & we will likely be sending him to a Montessori school next fall so I don't want to purchase materials that are beyond what he could reasonably do in the next year & a half. Here's my list so far:

Broad Stair
Sound Boxes
Long Red Rods
Lower case cursive sandpaper letter
Sandpaper Numbers
Number cards & counters
Snapping, buttoning, zipping & velcro dressing frames
Golden Unit Beads

I need to spend a bit more to get free shipping which will actually make my order less expensive in the end. I do want the Pink Tower as well, but this supplier doesn't appear to have it in stock at the moment.

TIA

[jenfl]

What fun!

Are you skipping the Pink Tower for a reason? (ETA: Just saw your reason! I'd try to back order the Pink Tower and wait for it to come in.) Even if you think he's past it, it can be neat to do extensions with the Pink Tower and the Brown Stair together. The Knobbed and Knobless Cylinders are both fun at that age, too.

The number cards & counters are EASY to make -- just write a number on an index card and buy some fun counters at a craft store (large beads, stones, plastic insects, etc). I think that's something that's even more fun homemade than bought.

The ones I'd think about dropping if you wanted to add something else (like the Cylinders) are the dressing frames (easy to get practice on those things in the real-world of a home) and the Unit Beads. The beads are a bit further along, and he may well not get that far before going to school.

Good luck and have fun!

[BCFD]

I agree about the knobbed cylinders. I'd go with their mini knobbed cylinders since he's 2. The spindle box is a good one (at that age you can focus mainly on the 0-4 box). Colored bead stair (http://www.montessoriequipment.ca/Co...-p/m.149.1.htm - with or without the tray) *OR* the colored bead stair hanger http://www.montessoriequipment.ca/Be...-p/m.165.1.htm

A lot of practical life stuff can be made (pouring water, rice, beans; scooping water, rice, beans; sponging water, etc...)

Have fun!

[sapphire_chan]

The practical life stuff, such as child-sized brooms will be useful even after he goes to the school.

In Basic Montessori by David Gettman, he recommends classified pictures for younger kids.

"To help the child classify early impressions of the world into clear and simple categories, and to give these impressions and categories names. To lay an intellectual foundation for reading and writing by showing that things-in-themselves can have meaning, and that there is more to language than stating one's wants and needs."

[eepster]

The long red rods are so easy to make, I would use the money on something else. Just go to the hard ware store and get planks of wood. Many hard ware stores will even doe the cutting for you for a small fee, but if the one near you doesn't it's not complicated. Once they are cut to length, just paint them.

[~Amy~]

Originally Posted by eepster

The long red rods are so easy to make, I would use the money on something else. Just go to the hard ware store and get planks of wood. Many hard ware stores will even doe the cutting for you for a small fee, but if the one near you doesn't it's not complicated. Once they are cut to length, just paint them.

I think we would end up spending more if we made them. DH has no tools for that kind of work & no interest in getting them. He is not any type of carpenter by any stretch of the imagination...LOL.

[BCFD]

Originally Posted by ~Amy~

I think we would end up spending more if we made them. DH has no tools for that kind of work & no interest in getting them. He is not any type of carpenter by any stretch of the imagination...LOL.

I actually made table top red rods from square dowels (Home Depot). They may not be cut EXACTLY to the perfect cm, but it works. I later found a local teacher selling off a ton of her M supplies and got "the real one's" for about $5. . I may have spent about $5 total making them, but I totally get that it's just easier to buy them for a few bucks more!! I made "sandpaper letters" out of sticky back felt (from a tutorial website I found online), and while they turned out AWESOME, I really wanted sandpaper letters. I was going to try to make them, but it was just easier to purchase them from Montessori Outlet or Alison's.

[kfx216]

I just came across your post while searching for pink tower command cards.

On a Montessori yahoo group, a woman said she just purchased from this site: https://www.montessoritoy.com/montes...sID=4&page=13#

It's a substantial savings over the company I've ordered from (I'm in the US) in the past, including Adena Montessori. Adena and Montessori Concepts. I'm thinking about placing an order from them. NOTE: Other than 1 woman saying she ordered from them, I know nothing about them and haven't done a google search to see if they're legit yet.

RE: what to buy...I've purchased slowly over the years. Pink tower, brown stairs, red and blue rods (never bought the red rods), movable letters, sandpaper letters (not numbers since I had the following), the numbers w/the dots and the 1-9000 number set have all been used a lot and I see continuing to use (my DD is 5 now). I also bought the spindle game, simply because I liked it, but it's easy to make. btw, I would not buy the cursive letters - too confusing for a young child. I also haven't bought the capital letters and my DD can figure them out just fine. She also started writing numbers with no prompting (or sandpaper versions). I found the sandpaper letters most useful to teach sounds, since DD wouldn't run her finger over them at all. I'd just print out and laminate if I had it to do over again.

There are a lot of free downloads if you look long enough, plus yahoo message groups, which can save some money and allow you to save for the beads, which are $$$. But, if the site above it legit, it's a lot easier and quicker to order. On one of the yahoo groups, a woman said she bought a Cricut machine (plus software), which has allowed her to

GL!

[~Amy~]

Thanks everyone for your input. About the cursive letters, I was under the impression that children learn the cursive alphabet first in Montessori or at least that is how our local school does it.

[AllyRae]

Definately don't waste money on dressing frames...at the home setting, just practice with clothes.

Honestly, a lot of things on your list are 3-6 year old work--is your son a new 2, or is he about to turn 3? If he's a new 2, you'd still be working with the toddler work, and most of that stuff isn't that. The golden unit beads don't even usually come out until closer to 4 years old. The 3's year is a lot of practical life stuff--pouring/spooning/transferring/tonging, sorting, etc. I think before you make your list, look at what is typically introduced during the 2 and 3 year old years. You'll find that most of that is really just hands on practical life stuff.

I think the one thing I'd recommend is the book How to Raise an Amazing Child The Montessori Way.

Now, we do homeschool our children using the montessori curriculum, and most of what we've introduced so far was easy to make at home. The only thing so far that I've used that I couldn't really make at home was the pink tower (although stacking cups serve a similar purpose) and the knobbed cylinders.

[~Amy~]

Thanks, Ally. I wondered it that was the case. He's a new 2 now, but I'm trying to only order once (shipping is so ridiculously expensive in Canada) so I'm looking for materials for 2-3.5.

[AKfamily]

I'm just ordering from montessoriequipment.com - they are located in BC so maybe shipping would be less? I'm in Alaska so I relate to the shipping issue! I posted on a yahoo montessori group asking if anyone had ordered from them (their stuff is WAY less than the typical site) and folks said they were very pleased with the quality (soft wood vs. hardwood but just fine and great for the price).
Are you considering a curriculum? I've used montessorifortheearth.com for DS (almost age 4) and it was useful and very inexpensive (under $30 if I remember correctly). I find David Gettman's book Basic Montessori: Learning Activities For Under-Fives absolutely invaluable. It helped me decide what to make and what to buy.
FYI we are not solely montessori-influenced, so I'm finding my way through various systems and theories.
For my DS, the geometric cabinet would have been high on my list - he loves shapes and while I considered making some out of foam board it just never happened. I also am considering the knobbed cylinders. I agree that some of your items (beads esp) might be later. Letters happened for us at around age 3 1/2, same with number cards and counters. I would love to have had all of the rods and stairs etc. I skipped the red rods and went straight to the number rods (I made them from dowels).

[rparker]

Oops, meant to post this on another thread over in Birth and Beyond...