Medium-term plan

I spent a quiet morning today trying to work out the direction our Montessori work should take in the medium-term (next few months). Sprout is due at the end of March/early April and I'd like to be able to continue our Montessori time with a newborn, even if it's reduced. I don't think finding some time during the day to get into the work area will be the problem; I think I just won't have a lot of energy in the evenings to plan out the next day or next week and pull together activities.

I started out with a list that I found online of Montessori work. (I tried to dig into my history, but I can't find the source of this! If anyone knows where I found "Montessori record keeping.doc", please comment!) The list is a pretty complete overview of the Montessori work and various extensions. I made some changes for things that we didn't purchase (Geometric Cabinet, for instance), and added some things that I know we want to work with.

I then went back through the list, reviewed what we'd already done, and looked at what Nugget may be ready for soon.

Here's my plan:

Sensorial: more Pink Tower extensions, matching Smelling Bottles, Cylinder Block #3 (and working with all 3 together), matching color shades, Touch Tablets, Sound Cylinders

Language: more pre-reading, start Pink series

Geography: three elements, sandpaper globe, colored globe, continent puzzle, fabric map with animals

Science: make a boat sink with coins, using a magnifying glass, sorting magnetic/non-magnetic, living/non-living, plant/animal, animal and botany puzzles

Art: scissors, collage

Practical Life: spooning/pouring to a line, folding napkin, pin punching, sorting coins, yoga cards

It's a general plan, at least. It should be enough for me to be able to glance at it and choose something appropriate to put out.

Some of these will need some advance preparation. For instance, my sandpaper globe is nearly done, but the colored one isn't even started. I need to start putting some time in the evenings toward these activities.

I'm thinking of investing money instead of time into Language. I could make cards for the Pink series, but I could also go over to Montessori for Everyone and buy the whole set, ready to print. Normally, I'd choose time over money, but a newborn kind of changes that balance.