Montessori Homeschool Resources

We have been using the WAshington Virtual Academy as our main curriculum for homeschool this year (www.wava.org) 

But I’ve been adding in some other methods as well, namely the Montessori method. My oldest has attended montessori school for the past year and has gained tremendous benefits from it.  I’ve tried to incorporate some of what she loves at school into our home classroom.

In my search for help with this huge undertaking, I came across many wonerful and helpful individuals who are anxious to share their knowledge of this time-tested education strategy.  One of these helpful people, Mary, put together the following document which will help ANYONE who wants to start doing some montessori work at home wtih their children.  (See below)

It may seem a daunting task, and for sure it will take some time and effort. But the rewards are incredible and for those who want a really quick and easy start to montessori homeschool for preschoolers, I would suggest getting the book , “Teach Me to Do It Myself”.   It’s filled wtih simple activites that you can put together with items you alreayd ahve at home or can find at second hand stores very inexpensively.

Here’s the letter from Mary

For ongoing resources and support, my number one recommendation is that you join a

YahooGroups list called Playschool6.  This is a Catholic, Montessori homeschoolers site. There are many non-Catholics (of which I am one) and it is a very warm, supportive bunch. Don’t let the name put you off–it refers to the site owner’s kids. You have to “join” yahoo to use this group, but it is free and I have suffered no ill effects. I can’t stress enough how important this group is. Once you are in, check out all the “sister sites” linked from the Playschool6 page. MontessoriMakers is for people wanting advice on making Montessori materials. There’s a book discussion of Montessori books as well as other groups.

 

Karen Tyler does online training for parents who wish to homeschool Montessori style. I have not taken it, because I am trained already, but she seems to be on the right track. http://www.amontessorimarketplace.com/teachertraining.html

 

Next, you are going to need some practical books to start you off. (I am assuming that you have already read many books by Maria Montessori. If that is not true, I can give you a list of her books to read.)

 

“Teaching Montessori in the Home (Preschool)” and “Teaching Montessori in the Home-School Years” by Elizabeth Hainstock

 

“Basic Montessori” by David Gettman

 

After that, you will need “albums”. These are books for the adult, telling how to do each lesson. If you were to take training, you would be learning the material in these albums. Go to:

http://www.montessorird.com/  if you wish to purchase, but first look at the free ones below:

 

Moteaco, an excellent website, has some albums and other resources http://www.moteaco.com/albums.html 

 

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfsjy/ is Shu-Chen Jenny Yen’s free online albums.

 

For materials, look at these websites:

 

www.nienhuis. com  Ask this company for a catalog and price sheet. They are very expensive and you won’t want to buy from them, but they have an excellent catalog with pictures of each material.

 

www.michaelolaf.net    (text)

www.michaelolaf.com   (products)

This company has great, short info about Montessori and sells good quality products at premium prices

 

http://www.montessoriworld.org/

 

http://www.montessorimaterials.org    has great printables

 

Hello Wood products is a great company.

 

Montessori Services 800-214-8959   www.forsmallhands.com

Be sure and ask for the school catalog–it’s bigger. They sell supplies like trays, aprons, etc.

 

http://www.learncollection.com/index.html 

 

There are numerous companies now which sell Montessori materials for cheap. I cannot recommend any because I have not used them and I have grave concerns about how they manage to keep their prices down (can you say human rights violations?) which they have never adequately addressed for me. Playschool6 has numerous threads where people tell their experiences with different companies.

 

You are welcome to ask more questions as they come up. Good luck in the journey of educating your children!

 

Mary

Food Riots by 2012??

Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012…Trend forecaster, renowned for being accurate in the past, says

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions – all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting fut ure world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. Dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.”

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

“When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.”
- CNN Headline News

“A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.”
- The Economist

“Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right.”
- USA Today

“There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.”
- CNBC

“Those who take their predictions seriously … Consider the Trends Research Institute.”
- The Wall Street Journal

“Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark … he’s one of the most accurate forecasters around.”
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Mr. Celente tracks the world’s social, economic and business trends for corporate clients.”
- The New York Times

“Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an authority.”
- 48 Hours, CBS News

“Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987 stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate downsizing.”
- The Detroit News

“Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, ‘green marketing,’ and the boom in gourmet coffees.”
- Chicago Tribune

“The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture.”
- The Los Angeles Times

“If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.”
- New York Post

So there you have it – hardly a nutjob conspiracy theorist blowhard now is he? The price of not heeding his warnings will be far greater than the cost of preparing for the future now. Storable food and gold are two good places to make a start.

 

The problem with Socialism

” The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.”  –Margaret Thatcher