Life outside of time: Back to School

It's that time of year again. The kids got back into the school groove. We actually started 2 weeks ago, but it has been hit or miss, with the gardens, dentist apt, and jelly-making and all. It is still technically the busiest part of the year still-winding down though. I have been feverishly working on some Montessori math equipment. I like the Montessori way of teaching math-very hands on without too much teacher involvement after the child has understood the use of the equipment. It also teaches in a linear manner, one concept at a time. My children seem to work better that way instead of skipping around. Unfortunately though, the manuals and equipment are wicked expensive, and we just don't have that kind of cheese in our budget. So I got to looking at some of the pictures and found out I could make this stuff cheap with a little creativity. I ended up only spending $12 on all involved. Granted we do have a lot of scraps in our shop. I thought I would post some pictures of them and the kids using them. It was absolutely worth all the work it took(really only 3 days) to get this stuff together. My daughter has never asked for more long division until now! I like it when something goes well!