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julia s.
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Montessori interested people.
Thereasa I saw you had the Moira's album I was wondering if you thought this was a good investment? You seem to be just my speed for how many books and things I want to purchase. I'm afraid I'll go over board with all the possibilities.
What are other good investments that you made that your glad you paid out of pocket instead of googled or made yourself?
Thanks a bunch.
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julia
married to love of her life
with ds12 ds8 ds3 and ds1
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Mackfam
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Julia,
Moira's albums are worth their weight in gold! Definitely worth the $$ to purchase.
Other things I'm glad I bought????
The miniature Mass kit.
You can make a lot of the stuff in Moira's albums, but the Mass kit is essential, and it's helpful to have the beautiful items already assembled.
I'm still slowly assembling my Montessori items. I have a number of activities, but still feel a little disjointed in terms of direction. I'm hoping to use some of the great resources from a few of these threads to build a "free" presentations album. But, I find that I'm starting to just wish I could spend the money, and save the time and get an album with a number of presentations in it. Sort of like what Moira's albums do for CGS.
I think I'll just take a deep breath and start making a few lists. Like you, I must be very frugal, so I want to spend my dh's money wisely!
I'll be watching this thread closely to see what others think.
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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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lapazfarm
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That is an excellent question!
We are on a pretty tight budget and the album isn't cheap. It took me a long time to convince myself to go ahead and splurge on it.
And now that I have it I absolutely think it is worth every penny.
There are a lot of things I can put together myself, but I could never have done this. This is special.
In fact, that album and the mass kit and linens are the only real montessori materials I have bought, rather than made or cobbled together from yardsale finds.
Everything else I see in those wonderful catalogs, when I think about it, I can make myself or substitute something I already have. I'd rather do that and save my money for other things. Like science supplies!
I am interested in hearing from others about their favorite purchases.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Celeste
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I don't have Moira's album, so I can't speak to that, but I am CGS certified in Level I. The Good Shepherd materials were a good buy--something I never could have "jigsawed" myself. Woodcrafters of Nashville They come unfinished; I used acrylic craft paint and sharpie markers, then sealed them.
Actually most of the materials are supposed to be made by the catechist, since it makes for better understanding of and meditation on the materials, so even the "premade" stuff is somewhat unfinished.
Celeste
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Celeste
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Sorry to double post, but I forgot to mention that I built a stone wall for my sheepfold instead of a fence. (Glued dollar store rocks.) According to our trainers that's now the preferred way. It's more authentic, and it also gives a greater sense of security. (Apparently--I am a city girl, so I'm taking this on faith--sheep push their heads really hard against their enclosure until they've assured themselves that the walls are solid; then they are peaceful. Kind of like people kids, no?)
Okay, now my "premade" is obviously very labor-intensive! Silly me. I'll go stand in the corner now.
Celeste
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Meredith
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Julia, I feel the same way about Moira's Albums as Theresa as they are very special. I waited longer than I should have to purchase mine, and wished I would have bought them at the beginning of this year, but as they are tied to the Liturgical Year, it's very easy to just jump in the current season. Like we'll be doing one of the Baptism Presentations this week as we are still in Easter.
Also, just to let you know, the Mass Kit comes with it's *own* presentation booklet that is wonderful in itself. And along with the linens and the Ciborium, it makes for a very thorough presentation IMHO! Oh and we made our own Tabernacle, just spray painted a small box from Michaels gold, it turned out very nice!
I have made many of my own Montessori materials and mostly budget friendly purchases thus far 
And Celeste, I love that you made your own sheepfold out of rocks, very good idea!!  And definately not silly, please share any more great suggestions, as I know we are ALL EARS here
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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msclavel
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My only regret about Moira's Albums is not having bought them years ago. All my children (up to the 12yo dd!) love the presentations and learn from them. The Mass work ( I also purchased the mass kit and ciborium) has been a joy to do with my son preparing for FHC. The care and tenderness with which he prepares the "altar" (an overturned cardboard box) has filled his heart with a love and longing for Our Lord. Well, I could keep gushing, but I'll stop there.
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AndreaG
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I agree that Moira's albums are worth the money! I have both of them and plan to use them over and over. My kids get something different out of a presentation each time, and they really internalize the lesson. If I divide the cost of the album by the number of kids I have and the number of years I will use it, it is very affordable! I suppose you could do CGS presentations on your own using The Good Shepherd and The Child, but Moira's albums are so nicely scripted and geared to a homeschool, they are definitely worth paying for. The albums allowed me to actually "do" CGS, in the same way that taking Karen Tyler's teacher training course and getting her albums enabled me to "do" montessori. Others may not need to spend the money but for me, these albums were what I needed and so are priceless.
The Mass kit is also a great investment, and we made our tabernacle the same way Meredith did! I love the sheepfold out of rocks idea, I have made the figures and materials for all the presentations, but am thinking about "upgrading" at least some of them, like the good shepherd, to the more official CGS wooden ones.
-Andrea
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Erin
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Julia
So glad you asked this question as I have been pondering 'how worthwhile' are the albumns. I didn't want to buy them and not use them as sometimes happens 
I relation to the Mass kit, I have put together a few items from thrift shops and they look okay, has anyone done this and then decided to buy the Mass kit and decided it was better to buy the 'prettier' deal?
I haven't got the altar cloths so I have been contemplating buying them to go with my 'homemade' kit.
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Erin
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ladybugs
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I haven't been online much lately - can someone put a link up for Moira's albums?
Thank you in advance....
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Love and God Bless,
Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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Meredith
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Here it is Maria: Our Father's House
This should take you directly to the Albums and other Montessori items they offer!!
Blessings!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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julia s.
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Well it looks like I'll be putting the album on my list for next year. Thanks for your input. I know if you guys say they're worth the money then I can feel pretty confident in my purchase.
Celeste, I like the idea of a stone fence. I told my husband what you wrote and we both thought the analogy very appropriate.
I'm starting kind of late with Montessori and really late with any of the CGS. I wish I knew more of this when I was hsing my oldest who I think would have probably needs the literal presentation more than just the abstract concept of it.
Thanks again.
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julia
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julia s.
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I meant to say when my oldest was younger. I'm still hsing him.
Oh, yeah and I'll get the mass kit too.
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julia
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ladybugs
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Thank you for the link, Meredith!
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Love and God Bless,
Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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mandamum
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I found the linens pretty easy to make on my own--you could even find an old white sheet second-hand that had some wear left and wasn't stained and cut it up for linens. I got a yard of inexpensive white cotton from a local fabric store. The seams are just straight seams--I did them by machine, but by hand wouldn't take long, and all but the altar cloth are small. A labor of love, right? And I stitched a red-thread cross in the middle of the corporal and pall instead of marking it on.
Our Good Shepherd materials are a craft-store fence and popsicle-stick gate fastened on a piece of cardboard painted green, two rocks from dd's extensive collection  three scraps of felt, and four plastic sheep and one plastic wolf looked over by a clothspin doll shepherd.
But the book and Mass Kit were worthwhile purchases. I thought about trying to gather stuff together myself, but I hadn't seen anything in the second-hand stores that would work. Also, I think it helps dd that things look similar to what she sees in church. We got the basic kit, and store it in our second-hand footstool/table, and we painted a box from Michael's gold to be our tabernacle.
My big question: How to store these things so that they are available and enticing to small people, without taking up too much space? How to carve out a workable, inviting, peaceful atrium in a small living space?
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Mackfam
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mandamum wrote:
My big question: How to store these things so that they are available and enticing to small people, without taking up too much space? How to carve out a workable, inviting, peaceful atrium in a small living space? |
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This is how we did it in our home - I bought a very inexpensive unfinished couch table from Lowe's (a few years ago) and stained it. Then I went to a local discount fabric warehouse and picked up some neutral looking upholstery fabric, but you could just as easily buy some old curtains or something from the thrift store and cut it down to size. The material needs to have some weight though. Whatever fits your budget. I measured the front and side openings of the table and sewed some simple panels. I sewed a strip of velcro onto the panels, and staple-gunned velcro to the inside of the table - that way the panels are removable. The purpose of the panels was to "hide" the stored items below it. We used it for years as our prayer table/feast day table. When I started carving out a niche for our home atrium, it was the ideal spot. I bought for $10 from Walmart one of those shoe storage things that go in the closet and it fits perfectly under there. I store my Mass kit and the CGS supplies that we are working on at the time under the table. The materials are easily accesible to all! But because of the panels, my 2yo just doesn't get in there - out of sight, out of mind. It keeps the atrium set apart, and all of the atrium materials together. If you're looking for some pictures - here's a link to all my Home Atrium posts. Just scroll through the pictures - I know there are a few in there with the panels lifted so you can see the storage underneath.
Maybe this will springboard you to something that might work better for you in your home.
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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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mandamum
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Thanks--that inspired me to carve out a little space on top of/top shelf of what had been an auxiliary pantry shelf. Generally it would be in the path, but I guess if it's just us, who would need the path? It's covered with lace curtain, but for dd#2, instead of "out of sight out of mind," it's "better bring these out to where everyone can see and enjoy them" or "if they're hiding, they must be special!" So we'll see if it will really work, but I put a few icons, the Bible, a rosary basket and a candle on top and my two actually sat down with me to say a decade of the rosary. I put the materials I have on the shelf underneath-- Dd#1 isn't interested in working with our materials yet, and dd#2 likes to dump them, but at least now they're together.
Thanks for the inspiration!
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