New Child Montessori?

[jenfl]

(cross-posted in Montessori)

Has anyone used New Child Montessori? What do you think?

[craft_media_hero]

I have it. We have used parts of the math and language sections so far. I think that the science stuff is fabulous but haven't got the materials together to do any of the science presentations yet.

It is a really great and pretty reasonably priced resource. I wish I had gotten the yoga, art, and sign language stuff with it. The four seasonal guides have a ton of ideas for daily activities, songs, and art, but I think if you were just looking for the basics, you could get by with the Supplement to the Guides as a really cheap way to get a pretty complete Montessori album.

I give it

I'm adapting it to work w/ my 6 almost 7yo, and I wish I'd had it when she was 3. The practical life presentations are really good, and there are presentations in there that I haven't seen online or elsewhere (bathing a baby doll, for instance, sweet!).

If you are hesitant that you will love it, then I'd say get the Supplement and see. But I don't think you will be unhappy with it.

The only criticism I have is that it can be kind of hard to find a specific topic if you are looking through the seasonal guides, because it goes day by day---and I'm pretty much incapable of following a schedule (or a recipe ) so I pick and choose through the books.

*eta* I hope you and your new little one are settling in well!

[jenfl]

We are, thank you! We're getting to a point where I feel like I can start thinking about working more with DD (obviously ). But I still don't have the energy or motivation that I did before DS, which is why I'm thinking about trying having something laid out for me.

How well do you think the lessons time-shift? I know it's intended to start in September, but how much would it throw things off to start in, say, July instead?

I hope the end of your pregnancy is treating you well!

[craft_media_hero]

Hmm. Well, I think that you could time-shift it without too much trouble. The books are set up so that the foundational presentations (rolling up a rug, the silence game, walking on a line, using a sponge, etc.) start in the Fall. So by the time you get to the summer guide, the program assumes that your kid has these.

I think if I were going to start it in July, I would refer to the summer guide for the songs and activities and books that are specific to the season and replace the summer presentations with some of the foundational stuff, just taking it real easy til September rolled around and then hit the Fall guide "for real".

The guides have waaaay more material than what you can actually do in each day--the author says this is so you can pick and choose and keep using the same guides for ages 3-6, so I think you would be able to pick out what inspires you for the summer, grab some of the foundational presentations from fall, and still have LOTS to go on when you come back around to those dates again.

Honestly, I think you will really like it. It's very much Montessori, but the day-by-day nature means minimal prep, great for a new baby home school environment. You will have to make/order some of the materials ahead of time, which is why we haven't done any of the science stuff yet.

Get the art guide and tell us what you think! That's the one I wish I hadn't skipped.

[linclane]

We have the seasonal guides, and Yoga cards. I am also adapting for a 6 year old (and he's been in Montessori preK and K, so he knows all the basics). We're starting this Summer, but we're starting with the Summer guide. And I'm loosely using the day-by-day aspect. Some days I'm combining together, some I'm skipping over. We only plan to do 3 - 4 days a week this Summer. Then when we get to the Fall guide, I know I'll be skipping some of the things introduced there ... or doing a brief reminder, since he's familiar with the concepts already.

I like how they are set up. I like the instructions for all the materials and projects. Many can be made at home (although she also lists several websites for buying if you have the $$). I like that it's easily adaptable for different ages/grade levels. It seems like it will be easy to use the materials for my 6 yo and my 3 yo.

I got the Yoga cards ... but I only think they are necessary if you aren't familiar with Yoga. I am a Yoga instructor, and have several kid Yoga books, and know the poses, and don't think we should've gotten the cards. With that said, I plan to let ds1 use the cards to put together his own sequences, or to teach ds2. I think having them out for them to look through and pick poses will be nice.

I really wanted something to use as a backbone - and think these guides will work well. I also wanted freedom to do our own thing - and I think these guides will work well for that too. You can follow them to the letter and have each day mapped out, or you can just pick and choose and put together your own schedule.

[earthhugmama]

Thanks for the great information!

This might work great for us right now. I have 5 year old twins and a 7 year old. We are pretty unstructured lately, but I'd like to have some preplanned activities we can add to our days. The sample pages on the site look great. I think my kids will be interested in this.