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Anya
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| Posted: May 07 2008 at 6:52pm | IP Logged
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Has anyone used the NAMC albums? I have been looking at their website and like that they go to age twelve.
If you have used them, did you find them to be advanced?
They look like they might be a year ahead for most children.
They look like beautiful albums, but are very expensive. I am wondering if they are worth purchasing or if I should just use their table of contents as a guide for when to introduce topics with other less expensive sources.
I am really tempted to buy them.
Any comments or thoughts?
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 07 2008 at 8:51pm | IP Logged
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Anya,
How old are your children?
I don't have them, but I think maybe Angela (Angel on the forums) does. Maybe happymama? They are quite expensive.
Their TOC is a good guide to go by, and I also use Lori's Comprehensive Guides. They are a great guide and offer a bit of direction for me. After referring to the guides, I generally look into MWEI, Shu Chen Jenny Yen's Albums, and MTC's Albums (sorry - I wanted to link to them, but for some reason I can't get to their site tonight.) I do presentations for my 3yo, 7yo, and 11yo and haven't had a problem yet using these presentations online.
Montessori At Home offers a lot of resources.
I know that the NAMC albums offer a lot extra that isn't found online in a nicely organized format, but for a hefty price. I spent that $$ on materials and used online albums. Don't know if you had considered using the presentations and albums available online or not.
Oh, I did just think of one other great resource if you have youngers. Karen does an awesome class at Montessori Marketplace - again I'm sorry I can't link. I have her bookmarked, but it goes to a different site under construction now. Anyway, she sends you all her albums (downloaded from a yahoo group) for you to print and compile. It is a lot of information for a very affordable price - $30 for the class. Her class is really geared for the 3-6 crowd - not sure where your kids fit in there.
Can anyone help me with the links? I'm not sure what's wrong.
HTH Anya.  I'm sure someone who has the NAMC albums will chime in to give you some specifics with them.
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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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BrendaPeter
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| Posted: May 07 2008 at 9:10pm | IP Logged
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I'm considering purchasing the Montessori R&D albums but there are some very extensive & nice albums in the files section of the Montessori by Hand Yahoo Group.
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: May 07 2008 at 9:46pm | IP Logged
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I know we've had some excellent discussion of these albums and the R&D albums in the past, so I did a search with NAMC in the subject heading and came up with the following threads:NAMC vs Montessori R&D
Montessori manuals namc etc
Hope that helps!
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Theresa
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Angel
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| Posted: May 08 2008 at 7:56am | IP Logged
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I'll be back later with a longer answer, but -- yes, I have both NAMC and R&D albums. Actually, I just ordered some of the NAMC 6-9 Math albums, because I gave up on the R&D albums.  I'm apparently *extremely* visual, and I just couldn't follow without pictures. NAMC offers many more elementary manuals now than they did when I was ordering, and I think I will probably stick with them if I decide to order anything else. R&D are cheaper and they're full of information, but they're much harder to follow, IMO. At least for me they were.
(I should mention, though, that I'm mainly interested in their elementary albums, not their 3-6, because 3-6 albums are plentiful online, and 6-9, 9-12 albums are not.)
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Genevieve
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| Posted: May 08 2008 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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Angel,
I'm looking forward to your longer answer.  You had mentioned before that NAMC's albums are most beneficial with regards to Math. When you refer to "order anything else", would that include language arts and geography? I feel that in areas of Science, Montessori isn't very different from non-Montessori resources. Am I wrong in my presumption?
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Genevieve
The Good Within
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Anya
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| Posted: May 08 2008 at 7:35pm | IP Logged
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Hmmm, I will have to do some thinking on this. You are right, one shouldn't spend money unwisely. Thanks for all the great replies. 
I emailed R&D for some samples. I'll wait and see their reply. I am looking for the 3-6 albums.
In the mean time, I am reading, How To Raise An Amazing Child The Montessori Way by Tim Seldin and Montessori Play and Learn by Lesley Britton. Just got them and read a bit. They look great, though!
Now I'm wondering, are the albums necessary, or could I just use these two books for the 3-6 age instead. Then I could use the money for buying montessori supplies. Or are the albums needed for sequence and completness? If they are necessary, I will certainly but them, of course.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 08 2008 at 8:34pm | IP Logged
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Anya,
While the books you are reading will give you a great sense of the philosophy and feel of Montessori, they won't give you the specific presentations for the individual lessons which is, I think, what you're asking about.
This is my own opinion so take it with a grain of salt...but if you really only need presentations for the 3-6 age I think you can find so many presentations online for free, or through Karen's very affordable classes and albums. I chose to do this with my younger set. I found the presentations online to contain all I needed for our home setting. Then I spent that money on materials.
The NAMC and R&D manuals are tempting to me because there isn't much out there (and by out there I mean online - and free) for the 6-12 age group in terms of presentations. But, I found this year that I taught/presented better to my older two when I simply presented in a Montessori style - showing, working quietly alongside them, encouraging expression, offering work in a beautiful, organized way. I felt like the written presentations sort of got in my way after a while. Could be my stubborn/independent streak though. What I liked about presentations for the older age group was that it gave me an idea of the potential for a material which I couldn't always see for myself, but then I started getting around that by just coming here. 
Now, if you are in need of a visually organized format for grouping your presentations, I think the NAMC albums would be ideal. I admit, they are quite tempting in that way.
I'm hoping Angela will jump in here more when she has time. I know she has more insight.
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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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Angel
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| Posted: May 08 2008 at 9:20pm | IP Logged
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Well, I'm not sure I have more insight, but for what it's worth, here are my thoughts:
I have the NAMC math and sensorial manuals for the 3-6 range. I actually bought the math album for my elementary aged daughter, who was 6 at the time (I think... or maybe 7). Anyway, we hadn't done the Montessori sequence when she was 3-6, so that's where she was in math. Prior to buying the NAMC album, I'd been attempting to use the MTC elementary math album (which is online somewhere again, right, if somebody has the link?), but I kept tripping up because no pictures. I have gotten a lot of use out of the NAMC math album and will continue to use it with my younger boys, so the cost kind of spreads itself out. (One of the benefits of a large family, I guess, is the economy of scale.)
I bought the sensorial album at the same time because I felt the need for pictures there, too. At the time, however, there weren't all the online resources there are now. Now there are so many blogs and albums aimed at th 3-6 set that it's really kind of overwhelming. So I doubt I would feel the need to buy the sensorial album now.
I have heard weird things about the NAMC 3-6 language album -- like they use their own system as opposed to a more traditional Montessori approach -- so I don't mind avoiding that one either. I think you can find enough language activities for 3-6 online, too.
I don't think the R&D 3-6 albums have anything over what's available online for free or at a minimal cost (like Karen's), personally. And the free online stuff often has pictures, which you won't get with R&D. (At least unless they've changed.)
Now, as far as the elementary albums go... I did purchase several R&D albums last summer, mostly because I was tired of waiting for NAMC to bring out their elementary math and language albums.  I'd been waiting for a really long time, and they kept postponing and postponing, and finally I just decided to go with R&D. Then, of course, NAMC came out with the albums I'd been waiting on.
R&D albums include tons of nomenclature. There are lots of little details. The NAMC albums tend not to focus so much on nomenclature and the little details. They provide a big, glossy photograph of the material as it ought to be set up, or being used. The steps of the demonstration are listed, and then several extensions are provided. The order of presentations is not given, but that's okay with me because I'm sort of improvising anyway. But I do appreciate the photos of how to set up and use the materials and the ideas they provide for deeper work. Plus, all 6-9 math, fractions, and geometry is contained in 2 volumes, whereas there are a lot of separate volumes in the R&D sequence. With a new baby, I just don't have time to sort through all that stuff. (Someone should also point out to me next time that I should just refrain from buying any new curriculum at all when I'm pregnant. Because nothing ever works out the way I think it will.)
So, I do think that if you're going to spend money on some albums for the 6-12 range, I'd go with NAMC in whatever areas you think you need it most. (If I could only have an album from one subject area, it would be math, because the Montessori math materials are the most complicated.) I don't think it's necessary to buy the whole set of albums. As Genevieve said, science is not that different no matter how you do it; the main Montessori contribution is 3-part cards. (I do, however, own the History album because I wanted the Timeline of Life. I actually like the History album, not so much for the history part of things, which we do pretty well on our own, but for the presentations about time, which would be included in other math curricula. And the Timeline of Life, of course.)
As it happens, geography is one of the "other areas" I'm thinking about -- because I have the puzzle maps and a geography-challenged 9 yo -- and I *may* consider language in the future for my 5 yo. I bought the R&D language albums and was initially happy about them, but ack, the details, and again -- no photos. It was just easier to get workbooks, and as it turns out, the workbooks have gone pretty well.
Anyway, that's the summary of me and my expensive mistakes. I don't think the R&D albums are bad, for the record; I just personally like the NAMC albums better, after trying to use both.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Anya
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| Posted: May 09 2008 at 8:17pm | IP Logged
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Thank you, thank you! You ladies are so generous with your time and thoughts. 
Could someone please, give me the link to Karen's online classes and albums? They seem worth checking out. Checking out some of the other links as well.
Also, if you use the oline resources, how do you determine the order of the presentations for subjects like math and language arts, which need to be sequential?
And with so much out there, how do you know what is necessary for each year and what is extra? (scope and sequence?)
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AndreaG
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| Posted: May 09 2008 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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For online 3-6 albums check out the Montessori by Hand yahoo group: Meg has shared her albums there:
Montessori by Hand
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BrendaPeter
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| Posted: May 10 2008 at 5:19am | IP Logged
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Hi Anya,
Here is the link for Karen's group. I'm glad to share it with you as I combed the old threads looking for it myself!
She just started up a May 1st class and will take new participants for up to 2 weeks afterwards. I recommend that you join as she gives away so much Math stuff plus you get the albums so it makes it worth the cost ($30 for 4 months). This week she downloaded quite a bit of practical life presentations. I love her presentations. They are so simple & do-able. She is not a "purist" at all and is extremely flexible with homeschoolers.
If you join don't get too overwhelmed with the stuff you have to sort through from last week. I went through the files & just read most of it. Then I printed out the presentations I was interested in.
HTH!
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Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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Anya
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| Posted: May 10 2008 at 12:21pm | IP Logged
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Thank you Brenda and Andrea!
I just joined Karen's group today. I don't think the catch-up will be a problem.
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websterm
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| Posted: May 14 2008 at 5:49pm | IP Logged
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WOW! I just got in this conversation, guess I missed it when it started...you ladies are awesome! I just went in and joined Karen's group also! I think this is just what I am looking for!
Marcia
Home To Learn
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: NAMC Albums
