From a gentle start in first grade to the rigors demanded by fifth grade, our materials for the lower grades will provide guidance, inspiration, and knowledge to help you homeschool with Waldorf. Our materials are designed to be flexible and adaptable to almost any homeschooling situation.

Having said that, it is extremely important that you use the grade meant for and carefully designed to meet the stage of development of your child by age. All children are different—yet there are clear hallmarks of each year’s development that need to be met. Please refer to our Age Guide for further guidance.

Please note that the various curriculums are partially consumerable, with worksheets, games, quizzes and exercises for your child to use. Student workbooks feature in the middle grades.

The Christopherus curriculum can help you

• bring a creative, imaginative yet rigorous approach to learning to your child based in the therapeutic foundations of true Waldorf ( Christopherus) education.
• base your unique homeschool in the reality of your family–we encourage our diverse families to bring their spiritual, religious and ethnic riches to their children’s education as this is the basis of every homeschool.
• learn about your child’s developmental needs and understand how the true Waldorf (Christopherus) curriculum is never arbitrary but based on how children develop and learn.
• bring stories and later history from all over the world, making connections and helping, not through exhortation, but through living example, your child to feel a part of all human endeavor and cultures.

• It is never school at home: we help you weave chores, cooking, walks, rest, and all the demands of your particular family situation into a workable approach to homeschooling.
• It is full of pedagogical and teaching advice arising from Donna’s 40+ years as a Waldorf teacher, homeschooler and parent educator–we show you how to homeschool and make it work!
• Because we never script lessons, we help you figure out how to adapt and challenge your child, whether s/he is a ‘slow learner’ or a ‘fast learner’.
• We offer full schedules for the day, week and year as well as a clear flow of each main lesson. And we don’t stop just with main lessons! Over the years we give full instruction in cooking, gardening, handwork, music, crafts and much more! Our schedules and how-to’s outline specific lesson plans to combine across topics so that your child’s education is as holistic as possible.
• This also means that although each grade stands alone, we pick up themes and material from past years so that your child has the nurturing experience of flow and meaning, not of an atomistic and unconnected education.
• Christopherus is never dumbed down, trivial or trite and we help you find books, resources and an approach to learning that honors your child’s dignity and his/her soul need for that which is True, Beautiful and Good.
• There is copious parenting advice through the grades, helping you with questions of discipline and how to navigate that fine line between being a teacher and being a parent, where these overlap and where they must remain distinct.

Serving homeschoolers since 2004

Christopherus has been a key part of the Waldorf homeschooling world since 2004, used by thousands of families all over the world (and teachers, too). We have pioneered many aspects of the Waldorf curriculum, some now adopted by other curriculum providers such as:

• Using squirrels in first and second grade, not gnomes (squirrels climb trees when math goes from horizontal to vertical in second grade and you are encouraged to collect nuts with your child to use as counters)
• Having China be a part of fifth grade Ancient Mythology (and featuring in 6th, 7th and 8th grade as well).
• Focusing on hero stories as well as saint stories from many cultures (the original Waldorf curriculum only had saint stories).
• Basing third grade study of Native Americans on the connection between different Peoples and the land (such as People of the Rice, People of the Desert and so on).
• Providing multicultural stories such as the Stories of Wonder materials.
• Basing our Nature Stories explorations in your garden or neighborhood and building upon this for gardening, botany, cooking and later, earth science studies.

Click on the image below to view detailed information about each item.00