Question about Montessori Homeschool for 19-month old

[Mamaluu]

(If there is a better place to post this topic please let me know.)

I'm inquiring about setting up Montessori system/environment at home to work with (homeschool) my 19-month old. I've referred to a couple of books about activities and materials to have.  I'm ready to get some materials so I can get started, but wondering how the Montessori homeschool moms get their materials.  They seem rather expensive to me to buy (for example, the "cylinder blocks" cost more than $100, the "geometric cabinet" cost more than $100...)and these are not materials that I see you can easily produce at home.  Things like the "dressing frame" maybe can be homemade easily, but what do you do about most these activity materials that seem very specific and very expensive to buy (not to mention that you don't even know if your child is going to be interested in a certain activity before you buy the materials for it). Do you actually go buy most of all these materials or what?

How do you get your Montessori materials when you do Montessori at home?

Also, for items that you do buy, I'd appreciate pointers to places that have good price.

[mirinyi]

How exciting to be planning ahead to homeschool your child!  Montessori education is grouped according to age and your child is still in the infant/toddler stage.  The good news is at this stage of development you don’t need that to purchase many Montessori materials; many can be homemade.  One of my favorite resources for Montessori at this age is the Michael Olaf website which is a combination of Montessori child development and age appropriate materials.  http://www.michaelolaf.com/JCcontents.html .   As your child gets closer to age 3, you may be interested in NAMC’s 3-6 Montessori Homeschool Program.  This is a step-by-step 3 –year curriculum that also includes many Montessori materials in the purchase price:  http://www.montessori-home-schooling.com.

[PixieLittle]

There is a Yahoo group where people buy/sell Montessori materials. I think it has a lot of homeschoolers. I plan to get materials this way when my DS is old enough to start.

Also check out Karen Tyler's Montessori albums. I got them and they're great!

[Theresa787]

Thank you for starting this thread.  That's wonderful that you are planning on homeschooling your little one AND to apply Montessori methods in your practice.  

We have 14-month old twins (Emily and Tommy) and this is what we've made/purchased so far:

• Colorful interlocking blocks

• Board books

• Box of different sized/colored balls

• Shape sorter

• Ring sorter

• Xylophone

• Objects with lids (shoeboxes, formula cylinders, tupperware)

• We put six different colored scarves in an empty cube-style tissue box.  Emily and Tommy love taking each scarf out and they are now practicing putting them back in.

• We purchased some small drinking glasses for them to learn how to drink out of (instead of relying on sippy cups).  Emily takes care not to raise her glass to fast, Tommy loves the way the water feels as it spills out of the glass over his chest.

• We also purchased toddler-sized flatware, glass plates, glass bowls and a glass pitcher (for their water). 

• Opening and closing jar lids- this remains to be a challenge.

• A homemade coin bank.  We took clay poker chips (gray for even numbers and white for odd numbers) and added a slit in the lid to an old formula container.  I thought this was going to be challenging, but they completed the activity very quickly.

• Putting thick popsicle sticks into a small mouthed container and removing them again.

• Taking out and replacing tennis balls into a tennis ball container.

•  Purchased a beautiful, wooden bead and disc threading activity.  This work takes a lot of time and patience, because they need to master hand over hand coordination.

We are also going to make a texture box (cotton balls, sandpaper, wool, fake fur), a color box (several items that are the same color), we're planning on introducing pouring soon (we'll practice first with Cheerios, beans, rice and finally water).  I'm currently in the process of making 3-part cards for everyday objects that we'll hopefully glue on cardstock then laminate (it should be ready by the time they are two- ha!).  

I hope this helps.

[rcolicchio]

Does anyone know where to get a box set (step by step) type homeschooling for 6+?