Table of Contents

 

Contributors                                                                                                           

Foreword by Michael Rivera   
Introduction                                                                                                        
History of Waldorf schools and anthroposophy                                            
Chapter 1: The fourth grade                                                                     
·         Grade four book and resource list                                                     
Chapter 2: Drawing animals in grade four by Sieglinde De Francesca       
Chapter 3:Music in the Waldorf curriculum  by Judith Ivy                           
Chapter 4: Inner work for self and family                                                     
·         Blending a family from hate to harmony                                           
·         Homeschooling single                                                                        
·         Struggling to love your child                                                             
·         Homeschooling from Dad’s point of view                                        
Chapter 5:  Grade four lesson blocks and sample schedule                           

Closing remarks                                                                                              Appendix                                                                                                       


 

Social studies and science.  I combine these, but you can very easily insert Norse myth with social studies as well.  One of the great things about Waldorf education is that so many things just flow together, you are really accomplishing a lot.  My real focus for science is the man and animal blocks.  At first this might sound like an odd way to approach this subject but once you understand Steiner’s ideas behind it then it makes complete sense.  He was such a brilliant man!  Much of this subject will flow directly into grade five and the study of plants and the Earth.  The two really do build upon one another.  With that in mind, I wrote the container story as a two-part series, with part one being grade four and part two, the completion of their journey being grade five.  While I will probably continue to revisit this family in grade six, it will be in a much different capacity.

While researching for this subject, I stumbled upon some interesting words from Steiner.  He really wanted us to be careful with how we introduced both zoology and botany.  He cautioned us in his lecture Balance in Teaching  not to aspire to make budding botanist or zoologist but to just present the material.  His point being that one should not be pressured into a career choice when they are 10 or 11!  “…for no one should become a botanist or zoologist through what is learned in grade school; that can come about only through special gifts revealed by the student’s choice of vocation and this would certainly appear in the child’s life if there is a true art of education.”

Steiner goes on in many lectures to refer to animals as mirrors of different aspects of the human being and when you pull together these aspects then you have a balanced human.  He goes beyond appearances to bodily functions with regards to metabolic and rhythmic functions and how they are more present in some animals than in others, for instance the cow might seem to be a large digestive system on legs with it’s constant chewing action and the eagle with it’s strong nervous system, being alert at all times.  As you explore these animals with your children take note of the differences and similarities to humankind.  

This is also an okay time to discuss classifications of animals, while it is discussed more in depth in the upper grades, they will enjoy making some connections now.  A great book that works well for this year (and next) is Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth  by Rochelle Strauss and illustrated by Margot Thompson.  This is such a beautiful, Waldorfy looking book!  The pictures are done in a format that makes them very pleasing to the eye.

The other aspect of social studies this year that you will be working on is geography.  Most children this age have some sense of it already, you’ve likely taken at least car trips that had them asking about maps and where you are going.  Children of all ages love maps but what is great about this age is that they can also really understand them for the first time.  Their abilities are really growing and they realize the difference between a city and a state, a town and the country.  These are things that if you ask most younger children they can’t grasp just yet – but they will try so beware if you have younger siblings in the mix that there will be some challenging conversations.  

Geography is easiest taught when you start with your current surroundings, you’ll read in the container story that this is just how I approach it.  We took a few days and mapped our home, neighborhood, town, and then I took it to the state level and showed him distances, longitude and latitudes, we talked about map keys, etc.  One fun activity we did for observations was to take a drive around our neighborhood, I drove the same route twice, then we went home and I told my son to draw us a map from here to church so that we could see just how much he was paying attention to detail.  We had my husband hide something at church and made it a scavenger hunt of sorts.  The trick was we had to use his map, we couldn’t just walk there. He was surprised at how his map differed from the way he saw things in his mind.  It took us a couple of tries before we had an accurate enough map to get us to church! 

Have fun with geography, incorporate local history with it where possible – think outside history texts to what you would want to know about your area.  In our case, we live a few hundred miles north of Salt Lake City.  The early settlers to our area were Mormon pioneers who came north after Salt Lake City was settled.  In order to really talk about our area, we had to go to Salt Lake City and study those pioneers.  We were lucky in that my children’s father comes from a pioneering family so my son could make a personal connection with them and then follow their path to where we live now.  See if you can make connections like that, if not with your child then find a neighbor that is from the area, find out what it used to be like, let them tell stories to your child to get a sense of how things have grown and changed.

In closing this section on science and social studies, I want to touch for a minute on science kits.  I get questions about these a lot – how do they fit in with the method? Am I going wrong to buy one? Etc.  With many things you can follow your child, watch that they are not in over their head and don’t allow too much depth in something before they are ready.  Find out what it is that they are really asking and address that need in them, try not to go overboard, but DO have fun, your child is finally at a place where they can really grasp some concepts so let them.  My son wanted to learn more about solar energy in grade four and it happened that we had access to a Lego renewable energy science kit, what a ball we had!  He built all sorts of things with it. 

Enjoy science and social studies this year, it just gets more fun from here on out!

 

September

 

Week 1 – LA/social studies- introduce the container story.  

  • Day 1 – Form drawing. Tell  the first part of the container story.  Introduce your child to their journal or go shopping together for one.  You want one large enough for their work, but small enough to give them the “journal” feel.  Begin your lessons by mapping your surroundings.  You could do several little activities with this for instance have your child start by mapping your home from memory and then see how they did.  Later in the week you could do the same with your neighborhood, go on a fun treasure hunt together, etc.
  • Day 2 – Have your child write a letter as if they were the mother, Sarah in the story.  What would that letter say? Have your child imagine him or herself as the one going away for the next year, how would they feel about the family that was staying behind?  What sorts of things would they hope you would tell them in the letter?  Focus on proper letter writing form and have them record the letter in their journal.
  • Day 3 – Map a larger area now, go from neighborhood to town.  Look at local maps and discuss what the symbols mean.  Take a trip to your local tourism office (most Chamber of Commerce offices are one.)
  •  Day 4 – Talk about local history.  Is there a local history museum you can visit together? What resources are local that caused people to want to settle in your area? Write in their journal about it.

 

Don’t forget to start some daily math practice.  Math in circle time is good, also a few problems written in their main lesson book of concepts they already know and are reviewing is a good idea.  I get sample problems from workbooks or from math websites on the internet.  I generally only use a few problems a day.

Week 2 – LA/Social Studies/Science – Animal introductions.

  • Day 1 – Form drawing.  Tell the next part of the story.  Begin the man and animal lessons by doing some good comparisons – how is a rock different from a seed? How are they the same? How are we different from animals? How are we the same?  These are great themes for writing in their journal and provide great ideas for drawing as well.
  • Day 2 – Buffalo study (see animal study section for information) To keep the writing activities with these studies from getting too dry, I would have my son meditate on what he thought it would be like to be each animal and then he approached his writing that way.  So this might begin “I am a buffalo, I live in Yellowstone National Park.  I live with my family, we are called a herd.” And go from there, you may need to help with the first sentence.  Their writing should cover the basics of each animal presented.
  • Day 3 – Work together to find another animal of interest with an overdeveloped metabolic system like a cow or a pig. Write about it in their journal.
  • Day 4 – Mule deer study (see animal study section for information) Do the above activities. Also if you have the opportunity to see some of these animals in the wild via a national park or wilderness area, go and try to view them.  It is such a rewarding experience.