Brilliant Minds Montessori Complete Math Kit Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I purchased this kit for use with my two daughters (ages 2 & 5) and was thrilled with the comprehensive nature of the lessons. This is a COMPLETE Math curriculum that begins with basic number recognition and counting and continues all the way through multiplication and division. This is a great set for home use because some of the large Montessori materials (The red & blue number rods for example) have been helpfully downsized and converted to cardstock so that the child can easily work on a desk or tabletop. The bead stair work is done on felt squares rather than hanging from a wooden frame which saves space and cost but still allows the child to visualize the concept effectively. The wooden and bead materials are of good quality and comparable to other materials I have purchased from Adena Montessori. The people who designed this kit did a good job knowing where they could substitute less expensive materials (counting rods for example) without sacrificing the effectiveness of the overall lesson. I can't effectively express how much can be done with the assortment of materials provided; addition, subtraction, multipliction, division, decimals, place value, etc. This kit covers all of the Math concepts that your child would be expected to understand by the end of second grade in the public school system where I live.

Also, the CD alone is worth the cost of the package. It lists each lesson in detail, with directions on how to present the lesson and photos of how work should be set up, and how to tell when the child is ready for the next lesson. Additionally, there are several worksheets for each lesson and a great deal of bonus material. I worked in a Montessori school here in SC and I can tell you the math work they had to offer was not as complete as what is available here. Tuition there ran more than a month. My husband complained that was a lot of money, but I feel like I saved a bundle in tuition between the two girls!

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I saw this product on Amazon and decided to buy it directly from the company instead. The quality of this set is awesome. Wood, bead, foam, sand paper, tile, felt, velvet, etc. -a neat diverse tactile math experience. The instructions are easy to follow for each activity. They tell you what order to go in and even provide you with markers and glue. The only thing you need to "get" is to print out the curriculum sheets and the worksheets. So I can maximize my paper, I intend on putting each worksheet in a plastic sleeve and using dry erase markers for writing. This covers all the arithmetic calculations from the introduction of numbers to long division.

If you are concerned about quality, I can vouch that these are very nice materials. The velvet pouches and the beads make you want to treat things gently.

The lessons are simple to follow and graduate steps very slowly, so that concepts are mastered.

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The biggest problem is that stacking up nine of the wooden squares representing "hundreds" of beads yields a larger volume than the volume of one of the wooden cubes representing "thousands" of beads. This is, obviously, disastrous for anyone trying to teach or learn the concept that ten hundreds makes up a thousand. A math kit may take certain liberties with abstraction, but this particular mismatch with physical reality is not beneficial to kids at this stage of their learning.

The above problem could be avoided if the squares and cubes were replaced with collections of 100 (respectively 1000) individual physical beads wired together. At school, they use such objects, which allow children to see the individual physical beads inside. With wooden blocks, the kids cannot see the virtual beads represented inside the blocks in any physical manner. The problem is especially acute for the 1000's cube, where the interior is completely opaque, but even on the 100's square, it looks like there are 200 beads (since the dots are drawn on both sides of the square).

I puzzle at the inclusion of common items like markers and glue stick; surely any kid would already have these, or be able to get them easily. If cost of materials is a concern, omitting these items would be a better way to save money.

Honest reviews on Brilliant Minds Montessori Complete Math Kit

The materials are a great price for what you get, BUT just be forewarned that if you want to make copies of all of the worksheets for a classroom of 6 (the worksheets need to be in color), you will wind up with a $269 copy bill!

Definitely copy them in b&w if you can. Most of them are designed to be utilized in color, unfortunately. BIG money drain if you have a larger classroom.

I was impressed with everything else and the children LOVE the materials!