The Wholeness of Astronomy

Posted by Donna Simmons

The following is the introduction to the Teacher’s Guide for our new publication, A Year of Astronomy, available to purchase mid January 2019. On the one hand, astronomy is such an obvious and simple subject to study—all one needs to…

Astronomy–finally!

Posted by Donna Simmons

Whewf! It’s taken quite a bit to birth this book–or rather, these books or materials! I have been working on this for quite some time as those of you wanting to purchase our astronomy curriculum know. Astronomy is a homeschooler’s…

The Christopherus Geography Curriculum

Posted by Donna Simmons

by Donna Simmons   From one point of view, you could say that a study of geography is the heart of the Waldorf curriculum—it is the discipline that connects and enlivens much of the rest of the curriculum. History, science…

Why do Calligraphy?

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson Sometime early in my homeschooling, a Waldorf resource mentioned doing calligraphy in 6th and continuing through 8th as both an art form and a lovely embellishment for main lesson books, particularly in history. Over the years, I…

Creative Writing in 7th Grade

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson   In A Rough Guide to Seventh Grade, Donna has this to say about a main lesson unit in Waldorf schools called Wish, Wonder and Surprise: “We have not scheduled this as a main lesson because I…

A Mathematics Main Lesson: Geometry in Man and Nature (7th and 8th)

Posted by Christopherus

By Barbara Benson The  primary reference text recommended in A Rough Guide for Seventh Grade  is Mathematics Around Us. The primary text for Eighth Grade is Mathematics  in Nature, Space and Time. These are both great books with wonderful illustrations….

Coping with Chemistry-7th Grade

Posted by Christopherus

By Barbara Benson In Donna’s From Nature Stories to Natural Science (104-106), she suggests organizing the Chemistry main lesson for grade 7 around the traditional elements of Fire, Water Earth and Air, with Fire (combustion) being the natural starting point.  Since…

Highlights and Challenges of 7th Grade: Geography ( Focus on Africa)

Posted by Christopherus

By Barbara Benson   In Donna’s  A Rough Guide to Seventh Grade, she states that” this year’s focus is on Latin America, Asia and Africa.” (12). That is a lot of geographical ground to cover! There is also an emphasis…

Classical Physics

Posted by Donna Simmons

By Donna Simmons For science [with my then 10th grader–this was written about 10 years ago!] this semester, we are focusing mainly on physics. For a number of years I have been aware of the Teaching Company, an organization which…

Managing Main Lessons with Multiples: 5th and 7th grade combined unit on China

Posted by Christopherus

By Barbara Benson There are times in the main lessons scheduled throughout the grades when combining a main lesson for multiple ages is actually ideal. One of these times is the unit study on Ancient China, highlighted in the Fifth…

The Child and the Community

Posted by Christopherus

Here is an article by Christopherus forum moderator, workshop presenter and consultant Barbara Benson about her experience as a homeschooler encouraging her older children to expand their horizons into the larger community, something that anyone homeschooling older children must do. While over…

Handwork and Crafts with Older Children

Posted by Christopherus

It seems that everywhere one looks there are wonderful on-line stores and home businesses selling all manner of lovely craft items for children – young children. I can’t think why, but there is a distinct lack of craft kits and…