Category: Montessori

bookkeeping / books / budgeting / family / homeschooling / Kent / Montessori / works for me wednesday

Budgeting for Children: Learning Materials and Beyond

I’m not sure why but I feel led to write about this right now.  We’ll see if Kent sleep schedule agrees.  😉 In my post about our Montessori Inspired Kitchen Setup I shared some of the products we’ve purchased for Kent to use.  We are on a tight budget around here so it is important to pull together nice materials for him without spending a fortune. You can read more about our financial situation by clicking on “Our Money Story” up above.  We follow Dave Ramsey’s teachings and operate on a zero based budget by utilizing the envelope system. We have a line in our budget for “Kent”.  This line will eventually changed to “Children”.  As is stands right now the amount will not increase with the number of children.  Right now it is $60/month and we put that amount, in cash, in an envelope for him every month.  If he needs something, or there is something I feel we should have to aid his learning, I go to his envelope first.  Here are some examples of what I have purchased from his envelope: sunglasses sensory materials (water beads, etc.) puzzles story books books to aid me in teaching him

Continue reading
kitchen / Montessori

Incorporating Montessori in Our Home: Kitchen Setup

It’s not like me to post pictures of something before it’s perfect and completed… but it’s also not like me to actually post pictures of anything I intend to share. I want to make sure this makes it on the blog so here it is in it’s current state. I intend to post more pictures as we add things. I’m really into Montessori lately. It’s all about fostering independence in the child and helping them feel that the things they spend time on have a purpose. Every child has a drive to do things on their own and Montessori is all about embracing that and making it easier. Enter our kitchen setup. From left to right: Hooks on the wall, within his reach, for his aprons to hang on.  These are both from IKEA.  The green one is waterproof and wipe-able for things like finger painting.  The red one is thin fabric and really pretty useless as food (including tomato sauce!) goes right through it. On the floor under the aprons is a small caddy with a microfiber cloth and his green feather duster.  This is the start of his cleaning supplies and I’m not sure they will stay there.

Continue reading