Montessori Home Classroom on a Budget

Copyright MontessoriCandy.blogspot.com

Many of you are on a budget and looking to set up a Montessori home classroom inexpensively. Here are a few tips that have helped my family in setting up our home classroom.

Start with Practical Life

The practical life area of the classroom is the foundation in Montessori. This is also the easiest area to start your home classroom with. You may not even be planning to home school your child/children through their school years, yet the Montessori practical life exercises will benefit your children regardless. It can begin with a little table and shelf on the side of the kitchen where your child practices slicing a banana, or spooning cheerios in to a bowl. Just look around the kitchen cupboards or craft cupboards. You may find that you already have a lot of the items needed to get started with practical life. Do a search for Montessori blogs to get free ideas on activities you can set up using easy to find items.

Shop Around

You can find inexpensive book shelves at stores like Target, yard/garage sales, craigslist, public school auctions or surplus sales, and thrift stores. The same goes for child size tables and chairs. A couple of years ago I found a very nice small wooden table with two chairs at a Savers thrift store for $25! I thought it was a great deal, but you may even find something similar for less at one of the places mentioned above. Thrift stores also usually have sections for wooden items and baskets. I've found some lovely wooden bowls, natural baskets, and wooden trays at thrift stores and you can find a lot of practical life items here, as well as at craft and dollar stores. You can also check with used bookstores for books on Montessori theory and practice if your local library does not carry them.

Ask Around

I wanted my children to have a Montessori education so, so, so bad. Bad enough, that I literally called around to several local Montessori schools and asked if I could buy their "left overs". I know that some Montessori schools will get rid of items that are missing 1 piece of something, or if the wood is starting to look worn out. I figured that if it was something like a knobless cylinder that was missing, I could just make and paint the missing one's, etc. Another thing I did was post a wanted ad on craigslist. I figured I had nothing to lose by asking if there was anyone out there who had Montessori materials or manuals they would like to sell me. You can also place a WTB (Want To Buy) post on the Montessori Swap Yahoo group, which always has used Montessori items for sale. Ebay can be another good place to find used items, however be prepared to have to bid for the items for the most part.

The Printer is your Friend

The digital age we live in today can help you acquire Montessori materials easier than before. Places like Montessori Print Shop offer a ton of Montessori and educational printables at a fraction of the cost! Choose instant download items a la cart, or order entire cd packages. Moveable alphabet for $1.99 and Moveable alphabet cards for just $2.69? Yes please! Check out Montessori for Everyone for a wonderful selection as well. If you'd like to do some Catholic Montessori lessons at home, you can also download Elizabeth Papandrea's pdf manual for $30.

Go Digital
Have an iPad? There are some absolutely wonderful Montessori apps for the iPad (Sorry, I'm not familiar with android). Check out app previews before purchasing an app claiming to be "Montessori"! Some of them can be nothing more than the equivalent to loud, visually obnoxious electronic toys. Here are a few of the Montessori style app companies that we've purchased from and have been pleased with: Preschool University, Mobile Montessori, and Montessorium. We certainly use other apps in our homeschool as well (I can go over those another time), but these are most similar to the traditional Montessori materials. Think an Ipad is too expensive? We were able to purchase an iPad 1 and an iPad 2 on Craigslist for about $100-$150 each. Is it worth it? Yes! As an educational tool, the iPad has been wonderful, but I would suggest that you definitely choose wisely and subject the apps to a Montessori "test" regardless if they claim to be Montessori or not.

Ask yourself, the following questions:
1. Is it visually cluttered or are they nice and simple, focusing on the main purpose of the activity?
2. Does it make a lot of noises, or perhaps distract children with "rewards"? If you find a good app that is noisy, you could always use the mute button and turn off rewards if possible.

Don't fall into the trap of letting your iPad "babysit" your children. Be sure to set time limits and goals for Montessori iPad activities.

Happy Birthday, We got you a Binomial Cube!

Birthday's and Holiday's are the perfect time to ask for Montessori items for your children. If you have the type of relatives and friends that ask you what your child needs, ask them for gift certificates from places like Montessori Print Shop, Montessori Services, Montessori for Everyone and Montessori Outlet. If they prefer to purchase the item themselves, start a wish list for these places and let them know the items you would like for your child.

Have you tried any of the ideas above? How did it go for you?

Where Have I Been?

Hello dear readers! It's been so long since I've written! I'd like to share what has been going on since I last wrote a post this summer.

Our biggest news is that we found out we are expecting our 7th child this winter! It was quite a surprise as I was having problems with endometriosis, but it turns out surgery this spring really did a great job of taking care of it! The children are extremely excited about their new brother or sister joining the family, and if they had it their way, we would be having triplets every time! They love the Duggar family and wish we could catch up to them :)

This spring and part of summer, I became quite an active freelancer doing writing, consulting, and social media work for two wonderful companies that I feel are doing a great job at providing parents and others with well thought out products for our children. Catholic Child and Wee Believers have been a joy to work for, and it has been a blessing to get to know the real, dedicated and hard working people behind both companies.

Unfortunately this summer, when I was about 11 weeks pregnant, I had a slip and fall accident in the bathroom of a restaurant and the injuries from that were quite a challenge for me and my family. I injured my back from the neck down, as well as hitting my left shoulder when I fell which also caused me to not even be able to type with my left hand. I was taken to the emergency room and had an ultrasound, where we were happily able to see that it looked as though the baby was alright! I was so worried because I began cramping terribly after I hit the floor and I was so scared that I might have a miscarriage. After the accident, I was in a lot of pain, and because I was pregnant, I was not able to have x-rays or any real pain relief from medication. What a challenge! I was having terrible headaches, could not sleep from the pain, and as much as I wanted, I just could not resume my normal activities. We had to hire some help so because the only position I would feel a bit of relief in was laying in bed with plenty of pillows supporting me. This also happens to be the busiest time of the year for my husband, and this year business really increased for him during this time, so it was quite stressful all around. I was going to therapy a few times a week, and now I'm happy to say that it looks like I'm finally almost done with therapy! It makes me want to cry to think of everything I went through, especially all the pain and not being able to perform my daily tasks and not being available for work and many of activities with the children, however I really am so deeply grateful to God and His mercy for relieving me from the strongest of pain I was having, and to let me slowly return to what is almost feeling back to normal.

This baby has really motivated us to re-evaluate life, our routines, our goals, and how we spend our time. With God's grace and help, we've simplified life even further where possible in areas such as clothes, toys, books, and how we spend our time. The children now rarely watch any movies and don't even remember to ask for them because they are having so much fun playing games together and using their imagination! Media was pretty limited before, but now, the children are at a point where they are not even missing it.One thing we have enjoyed more of as part of simplifying life is spending more time together because our time is being spent more cautiously. As far as media goes, we do still enjoy movies or shows, and definitely plenty of audio books and stories, one of our favorite sites being SparkleStories.com

I've decided to cut out extra curricular activities and try and find a weekly rhythm that works for our family.  This weekly rhythm is not something that is strictly adhered to, however it helps us have something to shoot for and look forward to on a day to day basis. Here's a sneak peek into our weekly rhythm if you are curious:

Mondays: Music (formal practice)
Tuesdays: Nature Exploration
Wednesdays: Art Exploration
Thursdays: Outdoor play with friends
Fridays: Library
Saturdays: Baking
Sundays: Mass, Rest, Making Homemade Pizza & Sundaes Together

The weekday activities are done if there is time after all school work and chores have been completed. Some days we get to do these activities, other times we might veer off and go to one of my husbands performances, or go on a field trip.

On a daily basis, we eat all meals together mostly at home to save money and eat healthy. We also have family prayer time together throughout the day, we of course do school together, and then there is also nightly story time. Lately, we've been reading some vintage Raggedy Anne & Andy stories on one of the iPads via Childrens Books Online. I highly recommend this website and can't wait to explore it further. Just the fact that we have been giving the children something to look forward to together has had an amazing impact on them. I notice the peace and happiness that fills them as life becomes simpler and at times more predictable. I also can't help but love to see the joy that exudes from them when it comes time to our nightly story together.

If you'd like, and I can make some time, I'll go ahead and fill you in on some more of the details of how we run our days (including what we eat!), as well as how we've changed things up for school this year.

This year we've decided to mostly use Catholic Heritage Curriculum as part of our plan to simplify life. I can go into more detail about that in another post, however I can definitely say that I love the order it has helped us create for school as our little family grows and the kids really love it too! I still believe in the great benefits of a Montessori education, and see how it Montessori activities are a natural fit for children. If anything, I still recommend at least having some homemade and inexpensive Montessori practical life activities for toddlers through about 6 years old if possible in the home. It has been my experience that the practical life activities provide children with the opportunity to feel a sense of fulfillment and purpose, along with helping them to learn order and independence.

I hope to keep you updated more often, and hope that you are all doing great and having a wonderful Autumn!

God Bless!
-Susana

Peace Begins at Home

From the Archives:
In our family, we believe peace education begins at home, and for us, Jesus is the supreme example for Peace education. Sometimes the children forget to treat each other with kindness, but a simple recalling of a parable, or from Jesus own life, brings a gentle reminder of how we can better treat one another. It isn't always easy. Remember, I have six children! However what does make things easier is that since the oldest was very little, my husband and I have both taken the time out to talk to the children. The little seeds planted then, make it easier for when situations arise now. They are able to stop, listen and think, and that really helps a lot. Sometimes I tell the children that our problems are so small compared to what is going on in the world. Just last night I was talking with the children about how we are so blessed and need to take the time to appreciate each other and use the gifts God has given us to do good. When we start practicing peace, kindness, and respect in the home, we can then take what we've learned and put it in practice to share with the rest of the world. Teaching the children that we are all connected and affect one another really strikes a chord with them.

 I like to tell the children to imagine us being like a big display of domino's, one touching another, and so on and so forth. In our day to day life, we may not see the bigger picture of the domino effect. We may only see the little, immediate things, and sometimes we may not even even see anything at all. I tell them that just because we can't always see the overall picture sometimes, doesn't mean that it's not there, or doesn't exist.

 As they sit there with intent little eyes, processing the information, thinking and digesting what I am telling them, I sometimes silently wonder, "Do they really understand?". Just the other day, as I wondered this, one of them looked up at me and said, "Yeah, I get it! If I'm nice to my brother and make a sacrifice to share my toy, then he'll be happy and maybe be nice to my sister and make her feel good, then she'll go out and smile at someone and make them feel good, and then they'll do something nice like open the door for someone, and then.. and then...". ..And then Mami feels good, and thinks to herself, "Yes, there is hope for this world, and it starts right here."

My Homeschool Style

Sarah over at My Homeschool Style has just featured me! Check out what I have to say regarding my homeschool style!: Introducing Susana at Montessori Candy

Thank You!!!

Me, hubby, and baby #6.

Just a quick thanks to all of those who have been so loving and supportive to what has happened in regards to my domain name. MontessoriCandy.com is now a junk site designed to trick people into clicking their links. It is being run by the following:
 

LeaseDomains.com
  9654 W 131st St.
Executive Suite 411
Orland Park, IL 60464
Phone: (708) 254-6429
Email: leasedomains@gmail.com


Please don't enable them and click their links at my former domain name. They want to use all of the links I built up over the years for their gain. They were very ruthless and insensitive towards me by insisting I pay thousands in return for my domain name.

Again, with 6 children and many needs to attend to. There is no way I could dive into the money my family needs to live on to re-purchase my domain name. Replace the broken fridge or buy back my domain name? You get the picture! ;)


I would appreciate you all out there spreading the word that my Blog is now located at http://www.montessoricandy.blogspot.com and that MontessoriCandy.com is now a garbage dump! :)

In other news, please keep my mother in your prayers. She is in the hospital and we will be traveling to see her. I won't have much access to email, but please note that I will try to get back to you as I can.

A Montessori Moment

Copyright Montessoricandy.com

Here's a cute pic of the kids just hanging out. I love it when they work together. Even the older children who've already mastered the colored tablets, were enjoying spending time with the little one's. The older children taking joy and practicing patience in teaching the younger one's, and the younger children excited to be working with the materials alongside the old kids. I think it's sweet, and I feel blessed to be able to be a part of it, even if just as an observer.

Montessori Candy

Hello! I just wanted to send a note out to say that as the new school year approaches, my blogging will become sparse. We're gearing up for a great new year, and I'm even excited at the possibility of taking some interior and graphic design courses. Please feel free to check out my archives and enjoy! I may or may not be able to respond to inquiries ASAP, but will do my best as my 6 children allow! :)

Thanks!
-Susana

A Montessori Life

My daughter eating snack at a child size table and chair next to my kitchen.

Montessori inspired parenting has helped my husband and I become more attentive of our children's needs. We catch ourselves reflecting on how we can do things or say things better when it comes to our children. Our Catholic faith does this for us as well, and paired up with Montessori, we have seen amazing results in our family life, especially in regards to the children. Maria Montessori said,

 " Each child has their own distinctive spirit, as if they were a natural work of art"

These "little works of art" have been planted in my garden by God. I want to foster them and see them grow. I want to guide them, respect them, and see them take shape into the work of art that God has destined them to become. These "little works of art", may be feeding the world someday, either literally or figuratively, only God knows.As the parent, I want to see them blossom with respect for self and for others, love of God, and a joy and fulfillment in this blessing we call life. I am grateful that my faith, and inspiration in the Montessori method are helping me to see these children as "works of art in progress", and realize in my own journey, that I am a work in progress too.

Here are a couple of articles to help you apply Montessori in the home both inwardly and outwardly. May they inspire you in your journey:

Montessori in the Home 

by Eva Nislev

Designing a Montessori Home
by Tim Seldin

Share Your Montessori Journey!

We are all on this journey together. Interconnected, whether inspiring one another, sharing advice, or providing encouragement.

Some of us are school teachers, some of us parents, some of us are a combination of both. Some of us are seasoned in all things Montessori, some of us are scared of homeschooling and don't know where to begin. Some of us are learning day by day and trying our best to implement Montessori in the classroom or at home.

We all have a story to tell. A story to share and possibly inspire and encourage others. Advice to give so that others may learn from our mistakes. A story in it's beginning chapters, full of excitement for what lies ahead...

Share your story with us. What has been your Montessori Journey so far? How did it all begin? What hopes do you have for the future? What lessons have you learned along the way?

I would love to feature your story on my blog. Please contact me at montessoricandy@gmail.com
Both bloggers and non bloggers are invited to share their story with us. Thank you!

To read my Montessori journey and others as I add them, check out my new

Montessori Journeys Page

Intentional Living

Have you been to SimpleMom.net? It is a wonderful network of blogs headed up by Tsh Oxenrider, which includes Simple Mom, Simple Kids, Simple Bites, Simple Organic, and Simple Homeschool. This past winter I purchased Tsh's book, Organized Simplicity, and it has made such a difference in my life!

In the her book, Tsh encourages you to think and write about what your family's personal life purpose is. Tsh then has you go through and account for every minute of a typical day. She has you write down what you do and how much time you spend doing it, even including going to the restroom! Then she has you write down what you would like to do more of. Finally she has you compare the list of how you spend your time to the list of things you'd wish you could do more, against your family's own "life's purpose" statement. This little gem of guidance from Tsh has really changed our perspective and helped to make life more enjoyable and feel more fulfilled for us. I'll explain more!

I think for some people, life becomes so busy and hectic and then you throw homeschooling in the mix and it can just feel downright chaotic! We start building up these long to do lists weather on paper, in our mind, or in the form of bookmarks on our computer. These are lists of things that we never have a chance to do, to read, or explore. People we'd like to visit with, places we'd like to take the children to, but never seem to have the time. After reading Organized Simplicity, my husband and I really started scrutinizing our life. We realized that we wanted to spend as much time possible guiding our children and spending time as a family. We found out that we could use our time to better accomplish the things we wanted to do, and cut out the things that we found ourselves doing unintentionally, which also tended to drain our time away.

Here's an example: We like to watch movies as a family occasionally. We purposely don't have tv, but we did have a Netflix subscription. While looking for something appropriate to watch that fit our criteria, (good message, kids being respectful towards parents, modest dress, etc.), we would browse the online catalog for what seemed like minutes when in actuality, a whole half hour had unintentionally gone by! We found this happening a lot, and decided that we could better use our time as a family together. My husband ended up cancelling our subscription to Netflix to help us avoid falling in to that rut of always defaulting to movies for family time. We still watch movies together, but not as often. Instead, we've replaced most of our movie watching with bike riding, working on a project together, or just some singing and playing along to music. In turn, we feel much more fulfilled because we are getting up and doing something and actually interacting with the children. It's really a lot more fun for us and it feels good to not feel that nagging feeling in the back of our mind. You know, the one that says's stuff like,  "You should really take the kids for a bike ride" or "I've got to get around to trying that new cookie recipe the kids and I have been wanting to make".

This idea of living intentionally according to your life's purpose comes in to play for homeschooling as well. Are inanimate objects getting in the way of the "animate objects" (people) in your life? I found myself being affected by too much clutter in the form of too many kitchen utensils, toys, books and more. When the kids had a science project to try out, I would sometimes feel a cringe because of the mess it would make or because I had to make time to get the ingredients. I found that I had to put things into perspective, and make way for the people and things that really do mean a lot to me. I've gotten rid of things to make room in the kitchen for the children's items. It feels so good when they can easily find something they need for a school project. It brings about a peace and certainly less frustration. Anything I can do to simplify life as the mother and wife in a family of eight, is fine by me! My husband and I have made the commitment to home schooling, it is part of our family's purpose  in this stage of our life. Because of this, we have had to make necessary adjustments to make everything run more smoothly. It is definitely an ongoing process for us, and it will be different for everyone, depending on your personal life's purpose. I love when the children and I can sit together and just make art. I love to explore different mediums with them, but I need the time and space to do so. Again, for me, keeping clutter (things we don't absolutely need or want) and unintentional living to a minimum, is the key to making things like art time jump from the "To Do" list to the "We Did It!" list.

Being a busy mother, I also definitely need time for myself and for spending time with my husband. We've recently started going on dates more frequently, and I've even started tackling the stack of decorating magazines I've been wanting to get to, but had never made the time for. I still have a way to go and everyday presents new challenges and distractions, but I can definitely say that I feel like I am enjoying the journey to the fullest more than I've ever let myself before.

So what do you think? Are there certain things and activities keeping you from leading a more intentional and fulfilled life? How does that come in to play regarding homeschooling for you?

Happy Moments Journal

Susanne at Beautiful Sun Montessori shares a lovely idea for creating what she calls a "Happy Moments Journal". Check it out!

This is one of those simple things that could be extremely valuable to me on those days that just don't go according to plan. Having a new baby to care for this school year has definitely brought the family together to cooperate, practice patience and most of all having charity for one another. Some days have been absolute pleasure, and then there are days like the one where I found pasta in the laundry machine!

Yesterday was one of the more challenging days. My 3 and 4 year old decided it would be fun to use paintbrushes to apply diaper rash cream all over our new bathroom sink. Why? I'm not sure I'll ever know! ;) It seemed that everyone was spilling one thing or another, and I just couldn't seem to get things done. At one point when we were dealing with a spaghetti sauce mess, I was like "ay, ay, ay!", and then of course the baby proceeds to spit up all over the floor! My husband and I just looked at each other and had to laugh! If not, I think we'd have been in tears :)

So thank you Susanne for your sweet idea for a Happy Moments Journal, I think it could be one of those things that will help make my outlook on the day be a little brighter. I'll go ahead and start with 3 things for today.

Happy Moments for Today

1. My 3 year old offered to share her dinner with her baby sister. It's the thought that counts!
2. My 4 year old found a simple and yummy dessert idea that my husband will love

3.My husband and I took a few minutes out of the day to just talk and have a good laugh

What have been your happy moments for today?

Whistle While You Work: My Happy Little Hummer

Video of Mr. C humming during school today.

Did you hear the "Nutcracker March" (in the form of "bloops"!), evolve into "On the Good Ship Lollipop"? Bet Tchaikovsky, never imagined that!

This my darling little 4 year old. We'll call him Mr. C for the blog. Good gracious, he is a sweetie and loves to help his Mami. He has the cutest dimple and little eyes... but boy can he be loud! He's a very happy little guy, and in fact most of my children usually hum or sing while they do housework and even school work.  Even my husband who works from home during most days definitely sings a lot around the house (he's a full time musician!). We are definitely a musical home and I love it! So what to do when  little Mr. C becomes too loud when the older children are trying to concentrate on their work?

We have this Zenergy Chime from Montessori Services to help us remember to keep low voices while working, or sometimes just to help when the children want to create silence. It can really help and it is nice when the children proactively seek to create silence, but with Mr. C we'd probably be ringing it about every 5 minutes!:)

What tips could you share for those times when that happy little hum turns into that BIG LOUD overture? I would love to hear from both Montessori school teachers and Montessori homeschoolers alike. What do you think? Do you have a "happy little hummer" in your home or classroom?

Starting a Montessori Co-op!

To continue the posts on my Montessori Journey, I'd like to share what I learned while hosting a Montessori Co-op in my home. If you have ever considered hosting one or being part of one my experience may be of some help!

Last year, 3 family's joined my family in the home 4 days a week for a Montessori Co-op. They were all interested in Montessori education, and after hosting a Montessori informational night led by my teacher friend, some of us decided to start meeting about how we could possibly start a school. Long story short, we had the immediate need of educating our children so we formed a co-op in the meantime. We had five children ages 3-5 in the primary classroom, two children in the lower elementary classroom, and finally three nursing babies and two toddlers in my living room! It was an amazing year and the children learned so much, however we could not continue because there was not going to be enough room in the primary classroom for the new toddlers that would be joining the other children. I'll cover some of the things I learned along the way that may hopefully help you along your own Montessori home school journey, especially if you are considering getting together with another family or two.

First, find out what your local laws say about having a co-op. There may be certain restrictions, and if you are doing preschool age co-op, you may fall under the category of being a home day care by law. In order to not be considered a day care by law and to make things legally simpler, the families all agreed to have a parent from each family always present. You may want to find out what works best for you. At times this could be difficult for the families because mom had to be out of the home 4 days a week for 1/2 a day, while lugging around kids, diaper bags, snacks, and baby toys to and from co-op. My friends came to my house, which was about a 20 minute drive each way.

Once were sure of all the details regarding where we were going to meet, how much materials would cost, etc. We all signed a handbook/agreement. This is a very important step in making sure that you and your friends are all on the same page. You would be surprised to find out that one person could describe something as being red, while another describes it as being maroon. The details are crucial, so make sure that you share the same vision, goals, and are in agreement on what to do in "what if" situations. Examples of "What if" situations would be, "What if the children are sick?, or "What if a family decides to quit the co-op?". There are a lot of considerations and questions that need to be asked before starting so that there are no hard feelings later on and that the children get the best out of the co-op.

As far as purchasing materials, we divided the cost between the four families equally. You could do this, or you could even buy all the materials yourself and charge the other families for using them. Do whatever works best for your group. Option two could help avoid any possible conflicts regarding who gets to keep what, etc., but it would of course also be a higher up front cost for you.

After we had signed our agreements, we went ahead and did a MASSIVE de-cluttering of our garage. This is where the primary class was going to be held. Luckily for us, the unfinished 1 car garage, had some built in storage so that we could store the Montessori materials next in sequence. There was a lot of painting and cleaning to be done, as well as making it seem welcoming to the children. The addition of a few plants and flowers, table lamps, and a pet fish did wonders for the place.

Along the way, we figured out that we had to make some changes here and there. Below are some of the things we had to re-think:

-At first, the families were eating lunch at my house after school was over when the weather was nice. When the weather got cooler, they would go home to eat lunch. That could be a little stressful for them, but my house was too small to house everyone comfortably inside during lunch time. The children would have snack during school hours as part of their Montessori practical life, and so that they wouldn't be too hungry when they finally got home to eat lunch.

-Originally the co-op was being held 5 days a week and in addition were having a weekly "teachers" planning meeting. We soon found out that having co-op 5 days a week and the planning meeting was straining on the families. The solution was that co-op would be shortened to 4 days a week and eventually planning meetings were only held every two weeks.

-One of the brilliant mothers had the great idea of creating some templates in Google documents for us to share the responsibilities for the planning meetings. This was meant to shave off a few hours when meeting in person. The way it worked was that each of us was assigned a section of the classroom like Practical Life, Math, Culture, etc. and we would fill in our part of the template as well as contributing to field trip ideas, etc. Since the document was online, we could each do our part when we had the time. We would write in what should be kept, what should be removed, and what should be introduced into each subject area based on the main teachers observations.

-There were a lot of things that had to be done to set the classroom up each week and to also close up at the end of the school day. We decided to rotate classroom set up and clean up weekly amongst each other so the burden wouldn't fall on just one person. We also decided that the mom's would take turns watching the kids of the person who's week it was to clean up. This way I wouldn't end up having to do it all the time by default just because it was my home.

Overall, hosting the co-op in my home could be stressful at times, but both my husband and I were willing to make the sacrifices necessary. We didn't charge rent for hosting the co-op in our home, but each family did contribute monthly to help pay for the utilities. I couldn't just leave the laundry on the sofa if I was too tired or busy to put it away because I always had the families coming over. On the other hand, because the families were coming over 4 days a week, it forced me to keep things more tidy and orderly. There were lot's of little pros and con's, but in the end it was so worth it for us and we are grateful to the families who helped make the whole experience possible!

If you are interested in taking a peek at what we were up to with the co-op, you can pop on over to St. Francis of Assisi Montessori Academy and take a look!

Montessori Materials Giveaway!

This Giveaway is Now Closed
FREE MONTESSORI MATERIALS GIVEAWAY!

So by now, many of you have heard most of my Montessori journey story. As you can recall in this post, I was very blessed to have come across many materials very inexpensively because of a wonderful Montessori teacher who was an answer to my prayers. I would love to "pay it forward" and have a little giveaway for my long time readers and new readers! I will be giving away a set of 5 Montessori Practical Life Dressing Frames to one lucky reader! These dressing frames are mine from Montessori Outlet, and since they are still in such nice condition, I will be passing on the love! I will be choosing one lucky reader at random, one week from now, on Friday, October 15, 2010.

HOW TO ENTER: If you are not already a follower of my blog, sign up to be a follower and leave me a comment at the bottom of this post saying you are now following Montessori Candy and what you would like to read and see more of! Please be sure to leave your name and email address in the following format in your comment:

Susana L.
montessoricandy @ gmail.com

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-Susana

This Giveaway is Now Closed

Montessori in My Home Part 3

Life has been absolutely busy lately. The baby nurses a lot and very frequently, so it's quite difficult to get much done around the home these days. It has also been a challenge to post on the blog because my husband and I are pretty much sharing one computer, which he is on most of the time running our business! I could use the iPad, but I just don't have the patience to sit there tapping away, letter by letter! So it seems, until we get life rolling into more of a regular rhythm around here, and until we get another computer or laptop, my blog posts may be sparse!

So.. It is with nursing baby in tow, toddler taking nap, 4 boys doing origami, reading and playing pretend with play cloths, that I will attempt to continue my post on my journey applying Montessori in the home...

An Answer to my Prayer:
One night I was freaking myself out about how great it would be if we could afford to send our children to a true blue, bonafide Montessori school. I was drooling over local school websites wishing that my children could have a real Montessori education and experience. I was so down on myself to the point that I was completely stressed out. It was time for my children to go to bed so we knelt down for night prayers. A special request I had that night to St. Joseph was that since he was so close to God, if he could please ask Him to help us give our children a Montessori education. I felt like it was going to take a miracle and St. Joseph's petitions to God have always seemed to come through for us. After all, God did entrust Him with His only son for some years here on earth. I figure he's in pretty good standing up there and could put in a good word for me. It's like asking a friend, your mom, etc. to say a little prayer for you.

After the children went to bed, I got the idea to go on the computer to see if there were any local home schooling mom's using the Montessori method in their home. With a quick search I found a local home schooling forum and did a search for Montessori. Nothing came up except one post. I thought to myself, "What a bummer, only one post!". It said there was a Montessori school closing and that they were having a yard sale. "Double bummer!", I thought to myself, "Surely I missed this wonderful sale because this post is probably like 4 years old." I clicked on the post anyway and couldn't believe my eyes! The sale was going to be the very next morning! Coincidence? I think not :)

I was so excited! Someone was actually going to be selling used Montessori materials that I could go touch and see with my very own hands and eyes! I knew how expensive Montessori materials were, and was so excited wondering what the discounts would be like. I couldn't wait to share the news with my husband that night when he came home from work, but I wasn't too sure how we were doing on money, and wasn't sure how to bring it up. He got home from work a little later that night and had a big beaming smile. I asked him how work went and he told me it had gone great and had gotten a $100 tip! (He runs a music business). That was really great, but even better was that he handed over the cash and said he wanted me to have it for the kids schooling needs! Right then and there I burst out with excitement as I told him about how stressed I had been that night, and that I had later found out there was going to be a Montessori yard sale the next morning!

The next morning, my husband had a performance, so I was on my own lugging my 5 children around, my youngest daughter at the time nursing. I was imagining there would be crowds and crowds of people there, just clamoring to get in. I was hoping that I could at least get a decent parking spot so that I wouldn't have to walk too far with all the children. When we arrived, I saw that there was absolutely no one there, and that the owners were just barely setting out "for sale" signs. I approached them, nervously, with all my children. I say nervously because people can be very snooty to us sometimes. It's like they have something against children or something.
Anyway, the owners turned out to be super nice! They were retiring and had been doing Montessori for about 35 years.

The owner told me she had started in her own home with her own children and some other moms and it just grew from there. She happened to be Catholic and very pro-life. She helped me pick out some materials that would be useful to me and we got a really great deal! Had it not been for her, I would have not gotten my hands on all of the amazing Montessori stuff plus some good quality shelves. Later that afternoon, I showed my husband all of the items I got, and he was so excited and told me to call the the owners of the school and ask them if we could buy some more! The owner was so sweet and very happy to help. She even offered to mentor me and come over to the house! I couldn't have asked for anything more. It's been about 2 years now and we are still very good friends and we even stop by her house on Christmas Eve for a little visit and for the children to sing her a song.

I've never met such a kind Montessori teacher. There were others around town that I had approached, but they seemed a bit stuck up and like Montessori was an elitist secret that only certain people "in the know" could have access to. It was very humbling to me, whether I liked it or not. People like my friend, Mrs. M, really make a difference in people's lives, just by taking a moment of their time to be kind and give some helpful advice. This is one of the reason's I started my blog. I truly appreciate Mrs. M, my friend Mrs. B who home schooled her two daughters according to the Montessori method, Fr. V, and all the bloggers out there who have given me insight into the wonderful world of Montessori.

Next time I write, I'll talk about the Montessori co-op my friends and I formed, and then finish up with where we are now and what I'm doing in the home this year.

Hasta Pronto!

Baby is here!

We have a beautiful new baby girl! Baby M was born on Friday morning at home in a birth pool. She is so cute and we are all enjoying the company of our newest little blessing from Heaven.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the new school year. I hope to be back posting soon!

Montessori in My Home Part 2

I'm having to rest today, so I thought I'd continue with my "Montessori in My Home" post.

Once we decided to have an official classroom in the home, my husband and I went to the local Public School's surplus sales. There, they had used shelves, desks, chairs, etc. for about $3-$5 a piece. I would have loved to own the stuff from the Jonti-Craft catalog, but for $3-$5 at the surplus sale, I didn't mind a little chipped paint on the shelves! Besides, It was so exciting to get some shelves, table and chairs at such a low price, because as we all know, the cost of setting up a Montessori classroom can add up quick! I only ordered a few Montessori materials at first, but also bought several hands on items at a local teachers resource store called, "Learning is Fun!".

One of the most important things to my husband and I was that we start implementing a Montessori way of living in the home. We began to provide the children with more opportunities to do things for themselves and help us around the house, and had to keep reminding ourselves to stop interrupting the children's learning process; something that took some work! To us, the Montessori approach was very much in sync with our Catholic ideas and having a large family. It was a win win situation. The children gain confidence and satisfaction in their abilities when given the opportunity to dress themselves, help make food, etc.. and we gain children who are not afraid of being independent and who love to help the family with various tasks and chores. We were seeing great results with our children. They were eager to learn, and the implementation of Montessori ideas in our home helped to make things feel more peaceful. Children are children. They like to have fun and can be noisy, but we learned quickly that when they have the satisfaction of feeling productive, things at home can become a lot calmer with more of a joyful atmosphere abounding.

Next up: What a Blessing! Meeting with Mentors...

Montessori in my Home

I started writing this post on May 28th, before I found out my father was so sick and before his passing. I will have to continue it soon, but for now, here is what I had so far:

Courtney recently asked:
"Hi, Susanna, I had a question for you and the Mother's day post seemed like a good place to put it.
I was just wondering if you started Montessori with your children while they were babies -- things like a floor bed, no play pen, following the child, etc. These all seem like great ideas, I'm just wondering how to implement them in a large family (or even with more then one child). I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks and I love your blog! Courtney"

Courtney, I've been meaning to post about how we do things in the home, and will do my best to answer your question here, while also describing my Montessori journey and how we apply Montessori in the home. Things will be again changing for the 2010-2011 school year, so I'll give my thoughts on that as well.
My Montessori Journey and Montessori in my Home
I've been intrigued by Montessori since I was about 5 years old when a friend of mine would tell me all about her Montessori classroom. In about 4th or 6th grade, I actually called up Montessori schools I found in the phone book, to see what they were about and how to get in. They were surprised to hear from a kid, and told me that they only had primary programs at the time. In highschool I ran into that same girl I was friends with when I was 5. This girl was a well rounded, creative, athletic, and smart student. I was very impressed at how she had turned out, and wished I had had the same opportunity. She seemed to be very confidant, which I really admired. It made me wonder whether her Montessori schooling had anything to do with it.

Just before I got married when I was 20, I worked at a daycare, and started looking into Montessori again. There weren't as many resources as there are now, but Elizabeth Hainstock's book, Teaching Montessori in the Home. came in handy. If there was one thing I did know, it was that I did not like how busy our daycare toddler room was. They always insisted that the state child care guidelines said we had to paint everything in primary colors, which I thought was very displeasing to the eye personally. There were also cartoon character alphabets all over the room, along with cartoon character numbers. A few toys were kept on a shelf for the children to get on their own, but they were never organized , or shown how to organize them. I was always told, "they are going to mess them up anyway". I thought, who cares?! You should set a good example for them to try and learn from and follow, even if they don't always succeed at it. They also used to literally dump toys on the ground for them to play with. I just did not like the system, but had never actually seen a Montessori classroom. Since then had always dreamed of making my children a space in which they could learn and have fun in.

Once I was married and then later pregnant with our first child, I looked into Montessori again and found the NAMC website. I thought about taking their distance learning course, but at the time for newlyweds in a 1 bedroom apartment, the price was not feasible for us. The children started coming, one after another, and by the time by oldest was between 3 and 4, my husband and I cleared out a room in the home for use as a classroom.

MORE TO COME SOON!

Butterfly Circus

This beautiful and inspiring short film stars Eduardo Verastegui of the movie Bella. A while back I saw his wonderful conversion story on YouTube (in Spanish). Please check it out and let me know what you think! My kids and I loved it! I only wish there would more uplifting films like this. Luckily, I hear this may be turned in to a full length feature film!

All Saints Day 2009

We had a great time preparing for the Feast of All Saints on All Hallows Eve. We had pizza & pasta for dinner, then listened to St. Anthony's Glory Story while we carved Saint O' Lanterns and munched on Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies and drank apple cider. Afterwards my husband lit a fire and read Father Phillip Tells a Ghost Story: A Story of Divine Mercy. It was a great night! On All Saints Day,the kids dressed up as St. Peter Claver, St. Patrick, St. Juan Diego, and St. Michael. We had more pizza and lots of treats and goodies mixed in with games. It was a great weekend for our family and we look forward to it again next year! Oh, and my husband won 2nd place in the Adult category for Saint-O-Lanterns, and I won 3rd!