Purchasing Materials

One of the most stressful parts of doing Montessori homeschool has got to be purchasing materials!  I've seen lots of posts out there about it, but I've never seen anyone with a concise list of what is needed and when.  I'm sure this is because it varies, since homeschooling is very flexible and everyone's budget  and craftiness is different.  I feel like everyone who is out there making these purchases is reinventing the wheel each time they figure out what they need.  I'm the farthest person from an expert on the subject, but I thought I'd make a dedicated page on what materials I'm choosing to buy, and when.  (Maybe one day my hero, MBT, will make a nice list for us all)  The prices will vary from place to place and month to month, but they won't be far off.

I made several posts during my first big purchase, and I've already made three this go-round.  Instead of only referring to those (very wordy) discussions, I'll just list the materials I purchased and when.


FIRST PURCHASE
Link was 3 1/2 when I made this purchase.  I took out anything that I regretted buying or that was not for him (infant toys).  It ended up being roughly $950.

Binomial Cube (Beech Wood)	$21.00
Bird Puzzle with Skeleton	$10.00
Broad Stair (Beech Wood)	$68.00
Cylinder Blocks	$104.95
Fish Puzzle with Skeleton	$10.00
Flower Puzzle	$7.00
Frog Puzzle with Skeleton	$10.00
Geometric Cabinet	$147.45
Geometric Form Cards	$10.95
Geometric Puzzle Board	$10.00
Geometric Solids With Bases	$42.00
Globe of Land and Water	$18.00
Globe of the World Parts	$18.00
Horse Puzzle with Skeleton	$10.00
Knobless Cylinders	$48.95
Leaf Puzzle	$7.00
Long Red Rods (Beech Wood)	$38.00
Metal Insets with 2 Stands	$64.00
Numbered Spindle Box with 45 Spindles	$25.00
Numerical Rods	$38.58
Pink Tower Only (Beech Wood)	$32.00
Puzzle Map of North America	$25.95
Puzzle Map of USA	$25.95
Puzzle Map of World Parts	$25.95
Sandpaper Double Letters, Print with Box	$22.00
Sandpaper Letters, Lower Case Print with Box	$28.00
Sandpaper Numbers with Box	$13.00
Seed Puzzle	$7.00
Tree Puzzle	$7.00
Wood - Large Movable Alphabet	$52.95

SECOND PURCHASE
Link was 5 for this purchase.  If we had been diligent in our homeschooling, I probably definitely would have needed to make this purchase sooner.  I should have started a lot of these things a year ago!

Animal Puzzle Cabinet	$19.50
Botany Cabinet Nomenclature Cards	$2.95
Colored Bead Stairs 1-9	$1.95
Flags of the World	$49.95
Golden Bead Material	$242.00
Labeled Africa Control Map	$2.95
Labeled Asia Control Map	$2.95
Labeled Australia Control Map	$2.95
Labeled Canada Control Map	$2.95
Labeled Europe Control Map	$2.95
Labeled North America Control Map	$2.95
Labeled South America Control Map	$2.95
Labeled USA Control Map	$2.95
Labeled World Parts Control Map	$2.95
Printed Numerals with Box	$12.00
Puzzle Map of Africa	$28.95
Puzzle Map of Asia	$28.95
Puzzle Map of Australia	$28.95
Puzzle Map of Canada	$28.95
Puzzle Map of Europe	$28.95
Puzzle Map of South America	$28.95
Stamp Game	$23.75
Stand for Puzzle Maps	$109.95
Teens & Tens Board	$53.95
Teens Bead Stair Tray	$9.50

You may notice that I bought most of the maps in the second purchase.  If money wasn't an issue, I should have gotten them with the first one, or at least when Link was 4.  I would also have bought different bead material, but I'm going to wait until next year to get the rest.  Also, if an order tends to be $100 off from free shipping and shipping is $80, I go ahead and get materials to make the order an even $500.  I purchased from different suppliers each time; IFIT and APlus the first time, and APlus and KidAdvance the second time.