What is the curriculum at a Waldorf school like?
in
The Waldorf curriculum is designed to be responsive to the various phases of a child's development. The relationship between student and teacher is, likewise, recognized to be both crucial and changing throughout the course of childhood and early adolescence.
The main subjects, such as history, language arts, science and mathematics are, as mentioned, taught in main lesson blocks of two to three hours per day, with each block lasting from three to five weeks.
The total Waldorf curriculum has been likened to an ascending spiral: subjects are revisited several times, but each new exposure affords greater depth and new insights into the subject at hand.
A typical Lower School curriculum would likely look something like the following:
Primary Grades 1 - 3
- Pictorial introduction to the alphabet, writing, reading, spelling, poetry and drama.
- Folk and fairy tales, fables, legends, Old Testament stories.
- Numbers, basic mathematical processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
- Nature stories, house building and gardening.
Middle Grades 4 - 6
- Writing, reading, spelling, grammar, poetry and drama.
- Norse myths, history and stories of ancient civilizations.
- Review of the four mathematical processes, fractions, percentages, and geometry.
- Local and world geography, comparative zoology, botany and elementary physics.
Upper Grades 7 - 8
- Creative writing, reading, spelling, grammar, poetry and drama.
- Medieval history, Renaissance, world exploration, American history and biography.
- Geography, physics, basic chemistry, astronomy, geology and physiology.
Special subjects also taught include:
- Handwork: knitting, crochet, sewing, cross stitch, basic weaving, toy making and woodworking.
- Music: singing, pentatonic flute, recorder, string instruments, wind, brass and percussion instruments.
- Foreign Languages (varies by school): Spanish, French, Japanese and German.
- Art: wet-on-wet water color painting, form drawing, beeswax and clay modeling, perspective drawing. *Movement: eurythmy, gymnastics, group games.