Montessori at Home: Book Review & Giveaway (CLOSED)

From: Several months ago John Bowman contacted me and asked if he could use some of my Tot School pictures in his new book Montessori at Home.  Now his book is finished and he has offered to give away a free copy to one of my lucky readers.

Observations: This book is aimed at parents who want to give their preschoolers a Montessori style education.   It contains a brief description of the Montessori philosophy, where to buy materials, how to make some materials, detailed descriptions of many activities and several sheets of activity pages (which are templates printed on heavy card stock such as shapes, landforms and word cards).

The tone of the book is authoritative and informative.   The author gets a little wordy when describing the Montessori method, but most of  the activity descriptions contain a few easy-to-follow steps.  The activity descriptions are much simpler than those in David Gettman’s Basic Montessori book.

When Montessori at Home first arrived, I was struck by how thick and heavy it was.  It really is a tome full of great ideas and activities, and that is the biggest strength of this book.  I kept a highlighter near me while I was reading and marked at least 40 activities I wanted to try with Sweet Pea.  I have listed below a couple of the the ones I have tried so far (and will be blogging about soon):

• Measuring and Cutting Play-Doh

• Using Tweezers to Sort Pony Beads

• Introduction to Sewing Using Shelf Liner

I do have a couple of complaints about this book.  The first is that while the activity pages in the back are printed on colored card stock, they are not printed in color.  It is very difficult to make out some of the objects on the word cards (a boat mast, for example).   My second complaint is that the plastic comb binding is fragile.  I dislike this type of binding on any book because the last few pages of the book always seem to slip out of it and this one seems especially weak.  Also, the layout of the book feels self-published (which it is).

However the content is excellent.  I was thrilled with the quantity and excellent description of activities this book offers.  I would recommend Montessori at Home to anyone who is looking for Montessori style activities to do with a preschooler.

THE GIVEAWAY IS  NOW CLOSED.

How to Enter: Simply leave a comment below if you would like to be entered into the contest.

The Fine Print: This giveaway is for one copy of the book Montessori at Home.  It is for U.S. Residents only.    You must leave a valid email when you submit your comment so I can contact you in the event that you win the contest.  I am using random.org to select the winning comment numbers.  The deadline for entry is Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 11:59pm CST. Winners will be contacted and announced shortly thereafter.

I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for using some of my photographs in the Montessori at Home book.  The opinions in this review are mine and I was not paid or compensated for writing it.