Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Setting up our Montessori inspired homeschool

So, this week, finally our Montessori inspired homeschool is officially open. Dd 3.9 has named it The Wise Owl School. I just wanted to share some notes from my experience with this project in the hopes that others might get something out of it. So here it goes.
First things first, costs. I reused old ikea storage units- put them horizontally instead of vertically:$0. New Toysrus Lipper table and 2 chairs, real wood $107. Bookcase target $30. Regarding materials, I bought them over a course of 4 months. Total spend: about $700. I did not want to buy materials with limited use. I wanted open ended materials that can be used any number of ways. So here is what I have:
Science section
Funnel, test tubes, prism, rainbow maker, magnifying glass, magnets- lots of different types, thermometer, flower press, toy cars, kaleidoscope, binoculars, Jacobs ladder, lots of tops, slinky, 2-way radio that works, balance, compass, jenga
Math section
Measuring cups, scale, protractor, measuring tape, bullseye compass, clock real analog and toy, timer, hourglass timers, tangrams, shapes puzzle, set game, marbles, color stone beads- lots of them, magnetic numbers. Lots of cool wooden puzzles, building models, wooden blocks, mechanix set, and games like chineses checkers, mancala ( real wood one with shell beads). Awaiting a wooden ten base material including unit cubes, ten bars, hundred squares and a thousand cube, multiplication chart, division chartfrom and hundreds board from Alison's Montessori.
Geography
A us map ravensburger puzzle, 2 large maps- us and world. Awaiting globe.
Language
Bananagrams, junior boggle, word tiles, stencils, movable alphabet, writing materials, pop sight word game, tons of books at all reading levels including non fiction, poetry and classics.
Music
Xylophone, harmonica, cymbals, traditional African musical instruments,etc
Lots of cool and beautiful items for decoration and utility including glass jars, sea shell candles- home made, stones of different textures, music box, trays and rugs.
Places I shopped
Childrens museum gift stores, parent teacher store, ikea, target, michaels, Alison Montessori, amazon, consignment shops, local stores that support artists.
Okay, got to go. Will add more as I think of stuff. Will also post pictures.
Ps. I forgot to mention that we have lots of stuff for arts and crafts including paints, crayons, chalks, watercolor, pastels, clay, stamping stuff, different types of paper, etc but none of that stuff is in the homeschool room because it gets pretty messy. The family room is her art studio.