Remainder of the Montessori Outlet order

This is the box for the movable alphabet....


and here's the box, filled with the Movable Alphabet. The box is a nice, solid wood, and the letters are thin, painted wood. Some of them were stuck together (like they'd been piled up while the paint was still tacky), but they came apart relatively easily and I don't see any damage to the finish.


Sandpaper letters in their box. Some of the letters are oriented horizontally, some vertically. This means that when they're right-side up, the box looks pretty messy. But... *shrug*.


Metal Inserts. How much of a dork am I that the "metal" part of Metal Inserts never really registered, and I was surprised to find that they were, in fact, metal? *lol*


Large number cards.


Spindle box. The spindles fit 3-across in each bin, so it's easy to glance and verify that the number in each is correct.


Sandpaper numerals in box.


Introduction to Decimal Tray. I love this. A single bead, a 10 bar, a 100 square, and a 1000 cube. I love staring at the 1000 cube. One of the circles on the end of a bar in the 1000 cube had fallen off, but it doesn't seem to affect the integrity of the cube or individual beads. I just stuck it back in -- if it keeps falling out, I'll put in a dab of glue.


The rest of the bead material. I got the extra units, 10 bars, and the wooden squares and cubes (there are more of the cubes, I just left them in the box). I think this combination will take us pretty far.


Colored bead stair.


USA map and...


control chart for USA map. I realize now that I forgot to photograph the continents puzzle and control! Anyway, these are huge. And very precisely cut. The pieces are relatively thin wood, but they feel solid enough. And the cuts are just so tight and neat... it's just very cool.


Botany puzzles with cabinet and....


animal puzzles with cabinet. Same as the map puzzles, very precisely cut.

And, finally... my homeschooling closet!


I took the idea from another blogger to leave everything in its boxes, but label all sides. I still haven't admitted to myself that all of this is mine, so I've stuck with labeling painters tape and putting that on all sides.

I've dedicated a shelf to each area. The top is culture and science, then math, language, sensorial, and practical life on the bottom shelf. At the very bottom I'm keeping my albums and books that Nugget hasn't grown into yet.

Oh, a note for unpacking. Each white box from Montessori Outlet contains one item and a small slip of paper with a manufacturing lot. If there's a problem with the quality, they want you to call them with that number. When you're in the excitement of unpacking, those tiny slips fly everywhere before you even realize what they are. Once I caught on, I started taping them to the label of each box. But I've got a couple that fell out early on that I can't match back to the material. So, learn from my mistake -- catch those slips!