Montessori materials- difference between Nienhuis and M.O./Alison's/etc?

[bellyofjelly]

We have recently decided to homeschool our little ones -4 and 2.5 DDs. I am so excited!! And also incredibly overwhelmed at the plethora of materials available for purchase in such a huge range of prices. We are very blessed to be in the position to be able to afford many of the premium quality materials (no tuition= extra $$ in the budget, yay!!) but I'm just wondering if the cost is worth the quality. Is there THAT big of a difference between, for example, the bead set at Montessori Outlet and the $1222 set at Nienhuis? Just looking at the cost differences, it seems like there would be a rather large gap in quality, but I have no way of knowing if this is actually true (oh how I wish there was a way to actually look and feel the difference before ordering!) What makes Nienhuis so expensive anyway??

What materials would you recommend splurging on the premium quality?

I would love to hear your thoughts and experience! Thanks in advance, wise mamas!

[AllyRae]

We bought the Alison's Montessori and Kid Advance stuff.  There was just no reason for the ultra-pricy premium stuff--the premium stuff is made to withstand 30+ kids a year for like 10 years.  I needed to be able to use them for 2 kids a year for like 5 years.  The AM and KA stuff has held up really well and I'm glad I didn't spend the extra.  When you go to sell it on ebay, you're likely to get a much lower price since it would just be other parents buying it for the most part, so it would be really hard to recover any of your costs with the more expensive stuff.

[Luckiestgirl]

We're unschoolers but do have some Montessori works at home--from both ends of the price spectrum.  I agree with the PP about quality, but it also depends on how you feel about where/how stuff is made.  The Kid Advance item we have is MIC and did have a strong smell for a couple of weeks (varnish?).  The European-made items we have weren't made under questionable labor practices and had no such odor.

There's also a Montessori manufacturer in Tennessee, I believe.