Montessori mamas....math rods, golden bead set, and beads

[AngelBee]

If I am not 100% Montessori and using it more as an add in, would it be ok to skip the Montessori red and blue rods and just use our C-rods or MUS blocks to work on numbers 1-10?

 

Also could I skip the beads if we are using c-rods and MUC blocks?

 

I want to still get 100s base sets with blocks, but I am thinking I could save money if I skip rods, beads, and golden bead set.

 

Thoughts?

[AngelBee]

Bump :)

[Jay3fer]

Look, since nobody has answered, I will jump in and tell you that EVERYTHING is okay. Montessori equipment is beautiful, but honestly, it is geared towards schools with budgets.

 

Few individual families can afford to buy ALL the materials, so your choice is to buy them, make them or skip them. And it sounds like you have other materials that work for you already - so why double up???

(Here's a tutorial to make your own red/blue rods - looks easy enough! Making the bead materials is probably tougher, but I have seen tutorials for approximating them out of golden pony beads and pipe cleaners)

 

From what I understand from a lot of reading, the multiple modalities of teaching and the different methods with each of the materials are designed to reinforce the same concepts from slightly different angles. If you have other materials, and your children are learning these concepts, then they are just fine. You have raised more children than many mamas here, and certainly longer than I have been. Your kids are okay and will probably be just fine without all the math toys in the world. On the other hand, if you do buy or make them, they'd probably get lots of good use... ;-)

 

(one more edit, however, to add that the red/blue rods are HUGE, so probably far more tactile and better for younger kids than C-rods or MUS materials)

 

So! It's really up to you, which is perhaps why nobody else has wanted to jump in with a reply. :-o

[AngelBee]

Thanks so much!!! Really thinking this through. Thank you for your input.

[Stef03]

We're not *really* Montessori here either but I have a lot of Montessori-like activities set up for my younger ones. We only have a few "official" Montessori materials. For the rest we purchase similar items (with the same principle behind it) but are cheaper and make our own things with what we have around the house.

We don't do all the activities, I just pick the ones that may interest my kids. We use the Montessori at Home book & I really recommend it :) http://www.montessoriathomebook.com/