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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 2:39pm | IP Logged
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I found this website the other night while looking for some directions for make-your-own supplies. If you click on the subjects at the top, you can see how she has each lesson set up. The lesson about landforms was really neat, and I understood about how to do it with the clay and a rubbermaid storage set.
Here's the link:
http://get-me.to/monthome
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 3:06pm | IP Logged
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Great photos at that site!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Eleanor
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 3:55pm | IP Logged
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I like a lot of the information on that site, but I have to say... I've been known to show the "environment" photos to friends, as a sort of cautionary example. By attempting to put a full set of Montessori materials (and then some!) into a small space, they've produced a great deal of visual clutter.
It seems like they could fix this by
A) storing many of the materials elsewhere, and bringing them out as needed, or
B) making greater use of drawers and closed cabinets (labeled with small pictures of what's inside).
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 4:05pm | IP Logged
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I thought it looked a bit crowded too, but aside from that, I enjoyed the pictures of each lesson and a description of whether it could be handmade or should be bought. I agree though, there's just too much stuff to be a peaceful environment!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 4:19pm | IP Logged
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I agree. The pictures of the materials are great, but the environment looks really, really "busy" to me.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Meredith
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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I really like this site too and isn't it funny we all are having the same impressions of the environment, perhaps we're more purist than we thought  (just kidding)
Thanks for linking it for us here!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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marianne
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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Very helpful - but the photos blew me away! The materials may have been homemade, but there was a lot of money in that classroom.
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SuzanneG
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Can you imagine our toddlers in that area? Can you say....FLING! FLING! TOSS! FLING! DUMP! DUMP! Every Toddler's dream!!! 
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Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 5:22pm | IP Logged
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SuzanneG wrote:
| Can you imagine our toddlers in that area? Can you say....FLING! FLING! TOSS! FLING! DUMP! DUMP! Every Toddler's dream!!! |
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 6:23pm | IP Logged
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Holy cow! What a great site- I especially liked how each material was presented with where she bought it or how she made it. Very helpful. But-sheesh! I could not learn in that crowded environment. It was a Fling and Toss dream.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Eleanor
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 6:44pm | IP Logged
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They do have an abundance of materials, many of which appear to be candidates for pruning (IMNSHO ). For instance, if you look at the "sensorial" page, they list:
- a geometry cabinet AND a set of flat geometric shapes in a range of sizes
- a set of color tablets for matching, AND another set with labels
- the Montessori knobbed & knobless cylinders AND a multicolored "knock-off" cylinder set
- a pink tower AND a tower of stacking/nesting cubes AND a natural tower 
There are also a bunch of generic wooden shape puzzles (shown on the sensorial and practical life pages), which are nice if you don't have all of the Montessori materials, but kind of redundant if you do.
This is something I've noticed around our own house. While the actual Montessori materials take up a considerable amount of space, our collection of assorted "Montessori-ish" manipulatives and educational toys seems to be a much worse source of clutter. We have many such items, some bought or made by me, others received as gifts. It's hard to get rid of any of them  , but looking at these pictures has inspired me to go through our closet this weekend and ask,
"What concept does this teach? Do we already have an activity that teaches this?"
If the item seems redundant, or lacks a clear purpose, we'll only keep it if it's an absolute favorite, heirloom quality toy. Otherwise, out it goes.
Argh, this will not be fun. But it beats drowning in stacking rings and shape sorters.
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earthmaven
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 7:03pm | IP Logged
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I keep getting server not found for this link...is anyone else having trouble opening it?
Tracy
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Meredith
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 7:41pm | IP Logged
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Eleanor wrote:
"What concept does this teach? Do we already have an activity that teaches this?"
If the item seems redundant, or lacks a clear purpose, we'll only keep it if it's an absolute favorite, heirloom quality toy. Otherwise, out it goes.
Argh, this will not be fun. But it beats drowning in stacking rings and shape sorters. |
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I'm with you, this looks like the weekend project *I* should be doing, let's compare notes on Monday
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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Donna Marie
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I used to think this was the ideal set up. Now my perceptions have changed a bit. I like looking at the pics, don't get me wrong. I love seeing what the materials look like out..I am HIGHLY visual. I need this for ME...as for the kiddoes, as a person trained by THEM, I know this would not be the ideal set up. I am looking with a different set of eyeballs right now.
I do have a variety of ages and one of those "fling, fling, toss dump" toddlers and 1092 sq ft of living space. My dream is to have good places to hide filing cabinets (I just found a place for a few) and a storage closet for materials and from there place carefully chosen items out and rotate. Yeah, this takes work, but considerably less when you don't have to follow the toddler around in fear of her unorganizing and unsimplifying my simplification...if YKWIM I am teaching her to be neat with less around as my control of error...can't tell whether this is her control or mine
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Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 12 2007 at 8:08pm | IP Logged
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Meredith wrote:
Eleanor wrote:
"What concept does this teach? Do we already have an activity that teaches this?"
If the item seems redundant, or lacks a clear purpose, we'll only keep it if it's an absolute favorite, heirloom quality toy. Otherwise, out it goes.
Argh, this will not be fun. But it beats drowning in stacking rings and shape sorters. |
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I'm with you, this looks like the weekend project *I* should be doing, let's compare notes on Monday |
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I just did this. It was freeing ladies! I asked myself the *exact* same questions Eleanor. Then I weeded out a lot! I set everything aside to sell this fall in our gigantic bi-annual kids consignment sale here locally! It is one of the things I am most pleased about in our learning environment. I kept things that were worthy, but I weeded out the twaddle and the redundant.  The visual decluttering was very helpful to focus my attention, and I hope will be less distracting to the children.
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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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SuzanneG
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I can't believe y'all are talking about this. I decided just this morning that this is what I'm going to do over the weekend. I have just moved EVERYTHING from the upstairs living area (living room and bedrooms) to the downstairs and will sort down there.
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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CatholicMommy
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earthmaven wrote:
I keep getting server not found for this link...is anyone else having trouble opening it?
Tracy |
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I am too - I was just reading through everyone's responses before asking if *I* was the only one having a problem. I want to know what everyone's talking about!
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Donna Marie
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SuzanneG wrote:
| I can't believe y'all are talking about this. I decided just this morning that this is what I'm going to do over the weekend. I have just moved EVERYTHING from the upstairs living area (living room and bedrooms) to the downstairs and will sort down there. |
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GMTA!! I am doing this now..Have been for the last few weeks with real life getting in between here and there and slowing me down..
What I have been doing is putting many items in rubbermaid totes ...even the pieces parts that I still need for school, and bringing them up to my walk-up attic and thinning through the piles on cooler days. The kids are all downstairs and I am alone to decide what stays and goes. If it stays, it is quiet enough for me to remember WHERE I PUT IT!
After I am done with this massive project, I will inventory...so much to do...so little of me to do it But! It is sooo freeing!!
God love you,
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc 
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Donna Marie from NJ
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Finding Elegant Simplicity
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saintanneshs
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Well, it must be another "fever" because I've got it too! Dh and I spent last week laying laminate flooring in our new learning space and as I've moved boxes from upstairs to down, I've been purging and labeling and organizing...if it can't fit behind closet doors then it's time to eliminate!!
It was doubly difficult when my parents came over today, took one look at my newly-painted closets and their shelves (without doors to cover them yet) and announced that my kids have more "stuff" than they ever would have imagined possible...
and here I thought I was doing a good job of paring down! 
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Kristine
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Kristin
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I am finding this thread very inspirational and much needed --- you've got my mind churning on how I can simply!
Here's a question for you ... is having a set of cardboard nesting cubes (like those by Eric Carle that somebody described) and a Pink Tower redundant? My reasoning for having both is that a younger toddler could have fun exploring with the nesting cubes while older sibs use the Pink Tower. I must admit, I'm particularly fond of the nesting cubes because this like-new set was one of my favorite thrift store bargains!  I guess I'm looking for objective opinions and wondering how stringent I'm going to have to be with myself to get the simplification job done!
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Link for Montessori home/set-up
