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MarilynW
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| Posted: May 26 2008 at 8:53pm | IP Logged
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One more question - where is the best place (money and quality) to purchase:
- sandpaper letters
- moveable alphabet
- beads
and with the beads - is your set the best Jennifer? There seem to be so many options for beads.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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lapazfarm
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I prefer Montessori Outlet or Alisons. I got all of my beads from MO and they are great.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Angel
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I like the beads I got from Montessori Outlet better than the ones I got from Alison's, but I got the ones from MO a couple of years ago. Theresa, are their ten beads still a clear gold? The ones from MO were better made, with stiffer wire, and the ten bead bars were a clear gold. The decanomial beads I got from Alison's seemed to be made of cheaper plastic, more bendable wire, and the ten beads were a kind of solid gold-y brown. Not sure how the prices stack up, though.
The sandpaper letters from Alison's were fine.
Marilyn, I would love to hear about your K plans when you get them more defined!
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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montessori_lori
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Yes, you print my items on cardstock and laminate. An ink jet printer should be fine.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 8:18am | IP Logged
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MarilynW wrote:
One more question - where is the best place (money and quality) to purchase:
- sandpaper letters
- moveable alphabet
- beads
and with the beads - is your set the best Jennifer? There seem to be so many options for beads. |
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Hmmm...well, having seen the beads from Montessori Outlet and comparing to mine from Alisons and Montessori Concepts I can say that the beads from Montessori Outlet are by far the prettiest. I do like mine though, and they are quite attractive to the children. I will throw this suggestion out - give a lot of thought to your source of beads. If you decide to add to your collection of beads down the road, you'll want them to match so you'll need to order from the same place. (I should add though that I ordered beads from Montessori Outlet and Alison's and they match nicely. However, if I had ordered from Montessori Outlet they wouldn't match.)
Where you purchase from is determined by so much, Marilyn - budget, sales, coupon offerings, which vendor has the majority of what you need in order to save on shipping, and quality of materials. I've ordered from (and talked to) every single vendor I'm about to list, and find all of their materials to be nice. They all offer very good customer service as well. I ordered from various places at different times throughout the year for a variety of reasons. I do have two preferred vendors now though - Alison's and Montessori Outlet.
Here is a list of vendors to choose from...I'll list next to each one where my sandpaper letters, moveable alphabet and beads came from.
Alison's - I've ordered ALOT from them, and spoken to them on the phone a number of times. They are a homeschooling family. Great cust. svc. and quite concerned about quality of materials along with country of origin. I bought some of my bead materials from here. Another great benefit of ordering from Alison's is that they offer a 10% off your entire order coupon code all year long! Enter ALISONS at checkout. This is helpful for mid-year orders.
Montessori Outlet - I think their materials are the prettiest I've seen, and as I mentioned I like their quality. Theresa's beads came from here and I know she's mentioned several times how beautiful they are. Also, they always have a good sale going on no matter the time of year. I see right now they are having a Memorial Day 20% sale, but when that's over they will offer another sale. Their prices are good. I haven't ordered anything you're asking about specifically from them, but I have ordered other materials from them and have been very pleased.
Kid Advance - I ordered a lot from them. The prices fit better in my budget. I have been quite pleased with the quality of the items from them.
Montessori Concepts - I bought some bead materials from them as well as my sandpaper letters and moveable alphabet. I've been pleased with the quality of the materials in spite of the bargain basement prices. Again, it was a matter of budget when I purchased from them.
Montessori Services - my favorite general resources ordering site - think storage, trays, aprons, rugs/mats, pretty bowls and scoops, tongs, inset paper, etc.
Haven't ordered from these...but I know others here have and have had good experiences so I'm throwing them out for consideration...
Montessori-N-Such
Adena Montessori
Now, in your email you asked for links to presentations...here are the sites I go to again and again...
MWEI (Montessori World Educational Institute) - a favorite source of presentations for me this year.
Shu Chen Jenny Yen's Online Albums
MTC Albums - I really hope this link works. I can't get to the MTC albums the regular way - I had to use The Wayback Machine to retrieve the archived pages from the web. If my link doesn't work, go to The Wayback machine and enter the following address in the search: www.moteaco.com/albums.html - then...print everything you think you'll need from them. 
Great resource sites:
Michael Olaf - not really a set of presentations, but a real treasure of a resource for me this year, especially for the infant/toddler age. Their catalogs, The Joyful Child and Child of the World are half catalog, half resource book. Lots of really great ideas in here. I mention them because of your littlest.
Montessori Mom - a lot of really helpful information. I'm throwing it in as a good resource.
JMJ Montessori - lots of great free downloads and info here!
Montessori Materials - free downloads to print and use - tremendous resource.
Montessori For Everyone - I'm mentioning Lori here just so we can keep all of the resources together (I know you've already ordered the 3-6 Comp list from her) I don't think I'd have a "big picture" idea of what to do when without her resources. I love her materials!
HTH, Marilyn. 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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MarilynW
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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Wow Jennifer - what can I say! You are my hero as well as my kindred spirit. Thank you so much for taking the time (which I know you do not have) to write such amazing and comprehensive information.
Maybe you could copy it into a blog post at some point and I will link to you.
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Marilyn
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 8:48am | IP Logged
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MarilynW wrote:
| Maybe you could copy it into a blog post at some point and I will link to you. |
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Well, I sort of did here. It's a little different from the post above, but if you ever need the links again and don't get back here I linked to all of these sites on the left sidebar of my blog.
I'm so glad the post was helpful, my friend! Have fun exploring the possibilities. I thought Angela gave a really helpful review of the bead materials from Montessori Outlet vs. Alison's. I wish mine were the pretty ones from M.O.  , but no looking back. I'm grateful for what we have, and the kids don't know the difference.  Just me. Let me know if you have any more questions.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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JennGM
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I also appreciate all the advice here.
I'm going to repeat my math question. I know it's unorthodox, but IF you were to use a math curriculum alongside the Montessori beads, which one at this age would be more "compatible". I know I need some written work just to keep things going at different points, also the accountability aspect.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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MarilynW
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 4:34pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
I also appreciate all the advice here.
I'm going to repeat my math question. I know it's unorthodox, but IF you were to use a math curriculum alongside the Montessori beads, which one at this age would be more "compatible". I know I need some written work just to keep things going at different points, also the accountability aspect. |
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Jenn - I am not sure as it is one program I have not used - but I think Math U See may be what you are looking for.
I am still considering - Ruth Beechick has some interesting things to say.
I want to start with bead activities, hundreds board activities, and calendar activities - before I even start written work. I am a real Horizons fan though ....
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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Jenn - actually thinking about it maybe RightStart Math (I have never used this either)
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Marilyn
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Angel
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Jenn,
I used Singapore along with the beads for my dd when she was 6, but it only worked for a while; Singapore doesn't have much practice. My kids have never gotten into Miquon, but it's pretty open-ended and I think you could use it with the beads. I think it's the kind of program a kid loves or hates, though. Just my opinion, of course.
Saxon prior to 5/4 was enough to drive *me* crazy, though it is manipulative based. If you and your ds do well with scripts, you might check it out, but it was way too confusing for me.
Andrea uses Right Start, so maybe she'll chime in.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Meredith
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Jenn, I have been having great success with the Math sheets at Learning Pages
My ds Seamus (now 6) loves them as they are theme-based and I can really gear it to whatever he really enjoys working on. Seamus has totally excelled using these pages and all of his Montessori math work; beads, etc. It's been great and he will transition into Saxon when he's ready for a "workbook". But at this point he's doing 2nd-4th grade level math as a Montessori K-er  So I probably won't even go workbook with him until he's ready for 5/4.
It's been really fun with him this year, and he truly loves it!
HTH, Blessings,
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Meredith
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Sweetness and Light
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Donna Marie
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JennGM wrote:
I also appreciate all the advice here.
I'm going to repeat my math question. I know it's unorthodox, but IF you were to use a math curriculum alongside the Montessori beads, which one at this age would be more "compatible". I know I need some written work just to keep things going at different points, also the accountability aspect. |
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I have used Montessori Maths with Right Start. I remember someone on playschool6 used Montessori math alongside of the Mortensen math worksheets...just the worksheets Mortensen Math I only got a glimpse of the worksheets once and I forgot about it until now.
I hope this helps somewhat....
God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc + one more due 10/08!
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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BrendaPeter
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There's also Shiller Math which is Montessori-based.
I like Miquon Math in the early years. It's very affordable and heavily incorporates the Cuisenaire rods.
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Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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Mamamoon
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| Posted: May 28 2008 at 12:31am | IP Logged
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hello~
have to chime in and say that i used shiller this year, and was a bit dissapointed.
it was OK, very scripted and it was very hands on, but did not feel like montessori math to me. it felt choppy, it introduces somthing, and then that is it,
over. turn page, nect concept. make sense?
i have been doing something similar to merideth, a DK math book from costco, and i use the whole bead layout, mult. boards etc.
lisa
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AndreaG
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I really really love RightStart math. I wanted something scheduled and easy to use, for accountability along with montessori. Its been a perfect fit. The manipulatives and games are really a great inexpensive substitute for all the expensive and time-consuming to make montessori materials. Joan Cotter was a montessori teacher, and keeps up with math education research.
I have also just gone through montessori albums in order or used Singapore math with montessori presentations.
But I guess I just like how RS seems complete on its own and is scheduled.scripted, and comes with the manipulative kit!
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Andrea
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 28 2008 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for the feedback on math. Lots to mull over. So what I'm hearing is the RightStart is based on Montessori concepts, but using traditional Montessori beads alongside would be confusing and incompatible?
Andrea, what were the downsides of Singapore math? Compared to RightStart? I know my one sister who loves Montessori used that for a while.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 28 2008 at 9:19am | IP Logged
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Meredith wrote:
Jenn, I have been having great success with the Math sheets at Learning Pages
My ds Seamus (now 6) loves them as they are theme-based and I can really gear it to whatever he really enjoys working on. Seamus has totally excelled using these pages and all of his Montessori math work; beads, etc. It's been great and he will transition into Saxon when he's ready for a "workbook". But at this point he's doing 2nd-4th grade level math as a Montessori K-er So I probably won't even go workbook with him until he's ready for 5/4. |
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Meredith, this sounds really interesting, but I couldn't find anything on this link. Can you check it for me, please?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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AndreaG
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I used traditional montessori beads and everything else along with Right Start. I think it worked great!
I was ok with Singapore. I didn't like that it wasn't hands-on. It did use pictures for visualizing though. I swithced to RightStart b/c I wanted something easier than using Singapore AND montessori. I wanted to simplify.
With RightStart I feel like I CAN (and do) use traditional montessori with it, but it isn't necesary as I felt it was with Singapore.
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Andrea
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Donna Marie wrote:
| I have used Montessori Maths with Right Start. I remember someone on playschool6 used Montessori math alongside of the Mortensen math worksheets...just the worksheets Mortensen Math I only got a glimpse of the worksheets once and I forgot about it until now. |
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It does help, Donna. What I'm trying to picture is when you used Right Start, were you pushed along by their schedule, or could you do a Montessori Math approach and supplement with the RS, maybe with gaps when you didn't need their scripts? Or vice versa...the materials were the supplements?
The Mortensen math sounds intriguing, but I can't navigate the website, and it loooks like it hasn't been updated since 2006. Can't find the pages...
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Jennifer G. Miller
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Montessori help - can I do this?
