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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 12:55pm | IP Logged
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I have never considered the Montessori maps because of cost, space needed and a few other reasons. I have thought these Geopuzzle mapswith pieces which are country shaped are a good alternative which are more affordable.
But I have been doing a lot of Montessori summer reading and I am revisiting the maps. I am interested to know people's views on the two types of maps - the Montessori ones are so very expensive - I am trying to justify ever finding a budget for them.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
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Marilyn
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 3:15pm | IP Logged
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I have some thoughts.
The Montessori puzzles are large and expensive. They are NOT a necessary feature of the home schooling experience. They are a very nice addition if it fits in your budget.
The Geopuzzles are nice, but they are not comparable to Montessori puzzles. If you're on a tight budget, the Geopuzzle maps are fine!!! Can you tell I'm trying to be very careful about giving the impression that any learning room that is not outfitted in Montessori puzzle maps is somehow lacking???
Ok --- so just so everyone knows what we're talking about, let me link to an example of Montessori Maps
**Montessori Puzzle Map of the World
image credit Alison's Montessori - Geography Map Cabinet
These are the ways we use our map cabinet and what makes the Montessori maps unique in my opinion and a wonderful asset to the learning space:
**Large wooden construction - They're sturdy! Mine have been picked up, accidentally dropped, and are still doing well after 2 years of non-stop use. Each piece of the puzzle has a tiny wooden pincer knob attached to it. Not only is this good for little guys learning small pincer grasp and refining motor skills, each piece is easy to pick up and put back exactly. There is no fumbling for little fingers trying to hold a piece, line it up and somehow smosh it in place. I will say in the interest of full disclosure that some of my puzzles are slightly warped. It has never bothered us tremendously, nor does it affect the puzzle. I didn't buy Neinhuis puzzles (mucho expensivo $$$$) so I didn't expect Neinhuis quality.
**A cabinet gives them a permanent home in our learning space. They're always accessible...always. That means we grab a puzzle daily - whether it's the 4yo learning his continents, or the biggers working on Africa, or someone on a rabbit trail grabbing a continent or country piece to trace around for something...they are always available (read...not in a box and tucked on a top shelf somewhere and forgotten by me  )
**Control Maps are useful helps. Because the Montessori maps are all unlabeled, control maps are helpful. I spent 15 minutes with a sharpie and an atlas labeling ours. This is how the children learn the countries. 3 sets of unlabeled control maps came with mine, I only labeled one. The others can be used on top of cork making push pin map features, or pin the saint to his country, or pin the travels of St. Paul, or pin the flag to the state/country. You can pin geographical features, etc. Lots to do with the control maps. Having one unlabeled control map is great for playing quiz games.
**The maps are used both as puzzles for learning continents and countries by removing pieces and learning names, but also as traceable items. Having that pincer knob means that little hands can be taught to hold the pincer and trace slowly and carefully around the piece. That is enough of a work in itself. Older children can color and all sorts of detail. You can make mini books of countries of a continent or mini books of the US states - we did this and had such a great time. After tracing a state or country, add details to the paper, flower, bird, flag, saint, etc. We also take all the pieces off the map the children have been working on and I time each person to see how many countries they can name and successfully place. This is great in a home with competitive children!
**Studying history goes hand in hand with geography in my house. So, if we're studying a region, we're tracing it with the maps, and adding details pertinent to that period of history.
My suggestion for anyone considering purchasing these is to buy an entire set of maps and cabinet all together. If you have a handy husband, you could EASILY make your own cabinet at home, but the maps themselves are quite detailed. Some of the pieces are extremely small...you wouldn't be able to duplicate the level of detail needed to make these useful if you made them at home...at least not unless you had some laser guided precision cutting gizmo... Save and purchase all the maps you will need at once...if you're purchasing a cabinet, buy it at the same time.
Alison's Montessori always has a special going on, and used to honor a homeschool code for a discount. They are a family owned company and they homeschool themselves (or at least they did last year). It would be worth it to give them a call and ask them what kind of codes and coupons or discounts are available. They are great to work with, and when I've had problems with my orders in the past, they bend over backwards to make it right quickly. This has been my experience at least.
Overall, you can surely tell that I love the Montessori maps. There are a number of past threads here about these and the way others use them...I'm sorry I don't have time to search and link for you right now, but I know they're here - from the continent boxes which are GREAT to the different ideas many have come up with to use these maps in their homes. Here are just a few from a quick search. That should get you started with an idea anyway.
Hope this helps you discern, Marilyn! They are useful...yes!!! But not necessary...especially if it will blow your budget!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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missionfamily
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 3:49pm | IP Logged
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The map set at Kid Advance seems the most reasonable deal if you are scoping them out...it is priced at $259 for 8 maps and the stand, but they offer free shipping and a 10% discount so the total will run about $225...if the budget allows for it, that's what I'm planning to purchase for our continent studies.
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Colleen
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 4:00pm | IP Logged
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That's a VERY good deal. I didn't order my maps from them, but I did order other things from Kid Advance and was pleased.
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Jen Mackintosh
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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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Thank you Jen - very helpful.
Colleen - I did a comparison and saw that Kid Advance was the best too. I am ordering some other things from them. My brain is just too tired right now to have to make a decision. I want to have plans for everyone so that I know exactly what my spending is.
I just want to make sure I would use the maps - not just to satisfy my need to be surrounded by beautiful wooden materials!!!
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Marilyn
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AndieF
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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I was going to post a replay about this but Jennifer said everything I was going to say, and said so well, so I'll just say Ditto! If you can afford it, they really are very nice to have! We use ours all, all, all, the time.
Andie
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 5:02pm | IP Logged
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Wow, Jen!!!! That was almost better than some of your planning posts 
Here is the 4-pager from the archives....Geography Puzzles and Form Cards in case anyone wants to read even more! 
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Suzanne in ID
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 5:30pm | IP Logged
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Another thing to note about the location of the knobs of the puzzles (some people wonder why some of the knobs are in the most seemingly odd locations) - the knobs are placed on the capital of that country or state.
We got our set for about $250, all 8 puzzles with cabinet. They get a LOT of use.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 5:33pm | IP Logged
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What Jenn said. 
It was a big-ticket, budget-busting purchase, but one which I have not regretted in the least.It gets tons of use.
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 9:18pm | IP Logged
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I couldn't agree more with everything everyone has already said!! Have fun with them, they are a very worthwhile investment!
Blessings,
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 7:07am | IP Logged
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Something else to do with your Map of Europe - follow along with the Tour de France in a couple of weeks!
Make a Tour de France (begins on July 4) mini book -
There are 21 stages, so you'll need to trace 21 times - most of those will be France, but the race dips into Spain and Switzerland this year as well. Add the elevations of the mountains......the distance traveled....the ranking of your favorite team/individuals...the vocabulary [my kids love saying "peloton" (and I have no clue how to spell that)]...recipe for local cuisine...the winner of that stage...SO MUCH FUN!!! Staple the book together in order at the end of the race.
This Tour de France link has some great details and stats about the individual stages if anyone is interested.
Just thought I'd share a current way we're using our maps, Marilyn...I can get a little excited about the Tour!
Edited to link to the great Tour de France post here in the archives in case someone wanted to follow along. It is a goldmine of ideas!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angel
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 7:41am | IP Logged
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Jen's post was great, but I'm going to add one caveat about having the maps with lots of toddlers around. (Since I know your two youngest are fairly close in age, Marilyn.)
I had to put my map cabinet behind a gate so that the puzzles would not be continually pulled out and dumped everywhere. We also haven't gotten as much use out of the puzzles as others have because I wasn't able to give the older kids a "safe" space in which to work on them, without the twins walking over the puzzles, or grabbing pieces, or pulling the control map out from under the pieces, etc. Now that the twins are older I have hope, though, because at least there is only ONE of my current toddler.
Anyway, when you have to make the maps less accessible, they will be used less often, in my experience. Also, I don't know if anyone else had this problem, but the knobs on all my maps were loose. I have to go back and glue a lot of them down.
BUT not having a place to store maps ready to go would probably result in even less use for us,and any puzzle is probably going to be a problem with toddlers. So I still consider the Montessori map puzzles an investment I can (hopefully) work with. But I think it *does* take some ingenuity on figuring out the logistics with certain ages/personalities.
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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 8:26am | IP Logged
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Thanks again everyone. I so find it stressful making school purchases. I think I will let my dh make the decision on the maps - I am not so rational with school purchases! And seeing that we still have not replaced our dying diswasher and oven (from many threads and prayers ago!)- we are really living my motto at the beginning of the last couple of years
Use it up
Make it do.
Wear it out
Do without.
When I weigh it up I would rather have the maps than the dishwasher - but this may not be the best decision. Thank goodness for clear thinking husbands.
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the Tour de France reminder Jen. I have great pics from the Pyrenées étape from when I lived in France - it was such a big deal - I will have to dig my photos out and see what I can do with the kids.
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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Just a note on the Kid Advance map puzzles - they are out of stock until end July.
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Marilyn
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StephanieA
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 8:36am | IP Logged
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Are there any differences between the quality of the puzzles from Alison vs. Kids Advance?
If we were only able to invest in a few puzzles, but I wanted ones that would last....is there a quality difference?
Thanks!
Stephanie
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 8:54am | IP Logged
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StephanieA wrote:
| Are there any differences between the quality of the puzzles from Alison vs. Kids Advance? |
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Stephanie~that link that I did a couple posts above, talks about the differences.
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Suzanne in ID
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 9:01am | IP Logged
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And, I just remembered this was in another thread, where someone asked about our Kid Advance Maps:
SuzanneG wrote:
We're very happy with the Kid Advance puzzle cabinet and puzzles that we have!! They only hold 8, so it's def. shorter than the ones that hold 12.....sifnificant if you want bigger kids to stand at it. We use the top for other things, and never work at it like that.
Although, I just looked at it, and it looks like the one they have now has a bigger "free space" at the bottom than the one we have, so it WOULD be taller, so that's not a factor anymore. Still holds 8, but the same height as the Alison's one.
The wood on the cabinet looks nice, and has held up well so far. The puzzles "bow" a bit......sink down....and i don't know if that'll have long term implications, so far....it's no big deal, they slide in and out just fine.
We also have the labeled control maps.....they are $3 each. I need to get them laminated....they get a lot of use, and need to be protected. I complained about that....so, maybe they changed it .
I've had good cust serv from Kid Advance. |
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Suzanne in ID
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StephanieA
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 9:18am | IP Logged
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Dear Suzanne,
I scanned the previous post, but all I could find is the differences in the cabinets.
Are the puzzles themselves any different? The knobs look the exact same.
From previous post:
The only other thing is that just from looking at the pictures at the site, the Kid Advance puzzles don't seem to be cut out with quite the level of detail as the Alisons ones. But this is hard to tell from pictures.
Does anyone know if the detail is indeed different?
Thanks!
STephanie
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: June 17 2009 at 9:39am | IP Logged
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I don't think there is that much difference.....the knobs on the Kid Advance puzzles are plastic....Alisons-wooden. I haven't inspected Meredith's Alison's puzzles closely, but from afar, they looked very similar. It's probably just a matter of cost and how many puzzles you want and the cabinet size, etc. And, what other things you may want to order with a one company or another.
They are probably all made from the same crazy Chinese manufacturer anyway . Kind of like dishwashers....same manufacturer, just a differnent name slapped on them
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Suzanne in ID
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Montessori or Geopuzzle continent maps
