Many Latinas who homeschool have chosen to use the Montessori method. You can find some of their blogs in the sidebar. So for those of you who are starting to homeschool and are seriously considering using this method, here is an awesome resource that I have stumbled across.
The North American Montessori Center (NAMC) has just created and released a program specifically for homeschoolers. This THREE YEAR program is designed for children ages 3 - 6, and provides you with everything you need to set up and put into practice a three-year homeschool educational program for your child. It is designed to meet the cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development needs of your child. The program includes:
• A How-To Teach Montessori at Home Guide
• Montessori Materials
• Curriculum
• Blackline Masters CD
• On-line Access to the Member's Area, which provides support and additional activities among other things.
Between now and Sept 30th, the program is available for $999.00. After Sept 30th, it goes up to $1,249.00. This may seem like a lot, but considering that you are getting THREE years of curriculum, it sounds like a great deal. I paid almost $700 just for my Kindergarten curriculum (and sí it was worth it) from an accredited company.
Keep in mind that this is a new program. I have not used it myself and do not know what kind of quality we are talking about. They sound like a respected company, but I could not find any testimonials, which is to be expected since they have just launched. You can, however, view samples of the curriculum, materials and ways to set up your Montessori classroom at home. The course is divided into two curricula. The first curriculum manual focuses on three key Montessori curriculums: Practical Life, Sensorial, and Culture and Science and the second focuses on the academic curriculum areas of Language Arts and Mathematics.
The website is VERY thorough and if you have any questions, you can call the phone number to reach their customer service, which is prominently displayed on each page. To learn more about this program, check out their website.
I think if I were to do things over again, I would certainly give Montessori a second look and some serious thought. If any of you choose to purchase this program, I would love to hear your thoughts about it. For those of you who are already homeschooling using the Montessori method, what do you think of it? Is it too expensive or do you wish something like this had been available when you started?
Con mucho cariño...