Both talks are lively and practical, designed for parents of 8^th graders, of younger children considering where they are eventually heading and also parents of homescooling 9^th graders.

Video I, 1-hour talk about how to prepare practically for 9^th grade. It is focused on the decision whether to homeschool high school or send your student to school and what the ramifications are in terms of how to approach school work and life. Donna looks at the main subjects (history, science and math) and where the Waldorf curriculum varies significantly and how one might bridge this, depending on what path your teen will take. How to keep an artistic and holistic approach to education is a major concern. ‘Learning to Learn’ is the theme of the talk and whether your teen stays at home or goes off to school, learning how to, for instance, discern the essential from the non-essential has major implications not only for how one leads one’s life, but for how one approaches tasks such as preparing reports. Note-taking, reading novels, skimming, taking tests and living with a computer are other subjects addressed.

Video II , 1-hour talk is entirely focused on language arts and the theme for this talk is ‘Learning the rules so as to break them.’ After giving a general overview of the subject as one moves from 8^th grade into the high school years, Donna gives practical lessons, using real examples of student work, to show, for instance, how to help a student with poorly constructed sentences and awkward use of grammar while always asking the question ’Does this work?’ not necessarily “is it right?’ Reading novels, orality, writing essays and creative pieces, vocabulary and grammar are all addressed.