Sample chapter and lesson plan for kindergarten

 Planning Your Year 

In my consulting practice, I get more questions about laying out and planning the year than I do anything else.  I think as a society we are programmed to be so busy that when we sit down and actually look at what we are trying to accomplish daily it can become very overwhelming.  I taught a class on simplifying your life at a conference once and a father in the class asked me “how do I run my kids all around and still live a simple life?”  He wasn’t so sure he liked my answer when I told him that he had to decide what was important to him, running his kids all around OR having a simple life.   When we are too busy to attend to our basic needs and those of our children, then something must definitely give.  When you lay out your year, you will be able to see what needs change and hopefully have the courage to change it if you are too busy.  Remember that your children will have memories of spending time with you, not the play dates or soccer/football games they played at age 5!  Stand firm and don’t fall into the trap of over scheduling your children.

Main Lesson Block. The main lesson block is another idea that sends fear into the hearts of many new to Waldorf.  It really is a genius way of thinking.  I have noticed in my studies that there are many mainstream schools that have adopted this method, especially alternative schools for troubled children… I just want to scream at them… if it works so well for troubled children then why not try it for all children?

A main lesson block is simply a period of time to concentrate on one subject.  One aspect that makes Waldorf so different than other methods is that all the subjects are not taught each day.  Subjects are taught in lesson blocks, a little like unit studies.   Each lesson block may last anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks or even a bit longer if needs be.  I like to keep mine in the confines of each month as it is easier for me to focus on one month at a time.  I also have all my children studying the same type of block at once, for instance everyone is working on a math block at the same time, or a language arts or science block, this helps me so much in planning.  I don’t have to shift gears so much, I just plan out three math lessons each day and then I’m finished.  The lesson block is especially handy for homeschoolers as we tend to try and work in too much each day.  So say for instance that you are working on a math block, after your circle time (covered in another chapter) you would only work on math.   Of course this is again a loose reference as in kindergarten children really shouldn’t be drilled on math facts!  It’s more food for thought as you move through the grades.

Main Lesson Books. Along with the term “lesson block” you will likely also hear “main lesson book”.  Simply put, a main lesson book is just a compiling of work done in the block.  It becomes one place to keep it all.  I always encourage their best work to be done in this space, at this age, their best effort at drawing or painting, etc.  As they grow, their best effort at writing, etc.  Some people like to do a different book for each block and that is perfectly fine, although I prefer to just use a new book as needed and put as much as I can in each one so I may have one main lesson book that has both math and language arts, depending on how much work was done in a particular block.  There is no wrong answer here, chose what works best for you.   My website has main lesson book photos from children around the world if you would like a visual reference.

Planning. I will take you through the process of planning as I learned it many years ago by a dear Waldorf teacher, Barbara Dewey.  I have adapted it more to fit my needs and  I have come to love this process as it gives me a clear picture of what we have going on in each month. 

1.       Get a large piece of paper, I use big drawing paper for mine.

2.       Fold it so that you have twelve squares

3.       On one side you will be outlining your full year, on the other you will have breakdown space for each child.

4.       Label each square with a month, either Jan-Dec or if you prefer to just do the school year then start with whatever month you start school in.

5.       In each month write any birthdays, holidays or family activities that you already know will happen

6.       Now write in all the Waldorf festivals you plan to hold, in their proper square (see the previous chapter for dates)

7.       Now think of all the lesson blocks you want to cover in a year, put them in the months that you feel comfortable teaching them.   Give yourself enough time, for instance if you are planning to take most of the month of December for holidays, then don’t put a labor intensive block in that space, keep the rest of December light and easy for you.  This way you are not going to be overly stressed about getting the school work done and having fun with the holiday.  Again, for kindergarten this is not a huge issue, it will become more evident as your children grow older.

8.       You can use the backside of the paper to layout the blocks you’d like to cover with each child more in depth. I have three children that I am schooling so right now I have four squares dedicated to each child, this really gives me a good quick overview when I do my weekly planning.

Now that you have your year laid out for you, you can move on to a weekly schedule.  Think again about your rhythm, it may not be practical to hold school all five days (especially for a kindergartener!)  In fact the lesson plans that follow in the last chapter suggest using a three day per week schedule for young children.  Remember this isn’t public school, you can get as much or more learning done in a shorter time period because you are working one on one.  For your weekly planning, I would suggest look at your rhythm and on your three slowest, easiest days, make those your school days.  When they are older of course you can move to four or five days.  Remember that many festivals and holidays will take up more than one day of your week so plan accordingly.  I keep the overview that I make each year handy when I am planning out my week so that I have it as a quick reference, I also tend to add to it as the year goes on and I realize things I may have overlooked.  You are now ready to plan out each week!

But I have 5 children! So are you teaching more than just your kindergartener?  You really need to know how you are going to effectively teach them and the rest of your children too.  Well never fear, Melisa is here!  Seriously, I have worked out a system to where everyone gets a turn at Mom’s energy.  I have found it easy to give tasks such as daily reading and journaling to my older children as I work with my children that do not yet read.  For instance, right now my second and fourth grader read their chapter books (usually we pull titles from the Waldorf Student Reading List) for 30 minutes.  Then we have a journaling jar full of easy little journal starters, they work on that for another 10 to 30 minutes, that buys me the time I need for spending with my kindergartener.  I have also taught my children to be patient and realize that each sibling needs their own attention, that is how a family unit works, so if they finish before I do, then they quietly occupy themselves with some sort of handwork until I am ready to work with them.  If they do not wish to work on handwork then they sit patiently and do nothing.

Our school day tends to look a bit like this:

v     Circle time – everyone together, we light a candle, pray for strength in our school day and say some verses (see the section on Circle Time)

v     The older children find a quiet place to read and journal while I do the main lesson “work” with my kindergartener.

v     When we are all finished, I then take the time to get each child going on their main lesson work, basically rotating my time between the children.  This is where having one main lesson theme for the entire family works nicely, I don’t have to switch gears between math and language arts all morning, we are at least all in the same subject area!

v     While I am rotating through to each child, the others work quietly either on the work that I have just given them or they do handwork.  My kindergartener has plenty of books, puzzles, drawing and manipulatives that she has set aside just for school time to keep her occupied.

v     We come together as we have finished and say a prayer of thanksgiving for work well done.

 I highly suggest putting together a basket with some “school time” things in it for your younger children so that you can get your work done.  Also if it is just for school time then it will be something to look forward to.  If you have preschoolers, then a fun and easy thing to keep them busy is play dough, especially if you make it yourself!  A recipe for it follows in the appendix. I put lavender essential oil in ours and the soothing scent keeps the school room atmosphere to a nice quiet hum.  We have cookie cutters and all kinds of fun things in our basket for play dough, it’s generally something that is really looked forward to as their “work”.

Week by Week Sample Schedule

 This chapter is dedicated to showing you how simple a schedule for a kindergarten child could be.  We want to focus on a simple flow, that in and out rhythm that Kimberly speaks of in her chapter on Circle Time.  Just as you will know when to switch activities in the circle, you will also get accustomed to knowing when something isn’t working in your school day or when you need to take a day off to rest.  Please remember that these children are so very young and school should really be the least stressful part of their young days, it should flow easily with the rest of your day.

I purposefully did not put any writing, reading or counting activities in this lesson plan.  That is great work for first grade.  If you would like incorporate something more academic into your child’s day, I encourage you to keep it confined to marching and counting in Circle Time or on walks or if they want to practice “writing” then let them, but I personally would not do any encouraging.  

I only do a three day per week schedule for children this age (and should note that I only do four days per week for my older children).  Three days is plenty of time to “do school” let the other two days be filled with other rhythmic activities.  For instance one day might be the day you chose for any lessons they may take out of the house and another day might be great for field trips to see interesting sights near (or far from!) your home.  For us, with our large family, we spend one day on group lessons, Monday, then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the days that I work with my kindergartener (weaving her into the schedule of my older children) and then Fridays are a complete play day with their dad.  Between your nature table activities and your Circle Time, plus what is laid out here, there are plenty of activities to keep your kindergartener busy.

For the sample schedule, I have used a northern hemisphere example, and I have also focused on Susan Whitehead’s Golden Beetle books for the under sevens, but really any short seasonal stories would do and in the resources section at the beginning of the book, I give other book ideas that would also flow beautifully into this model.  Many of the filler stories I have used come from the Wynstones Press books, but again any seasonal anthology would work too.  There are many Internet resources for seasonal stories.  I have also started the school year at the traditional time of early September, but you can easily adjust it to fit your family’s needs.  This schedule does not include your preparation time, you should plan on spending a few minutes each evening just making sure you’ve got everything on hand for the next day’s lessons and read through the material so that you can flow with your child and it is not a completely scripted undertaking.  You can use these examples as a complete lesson plan, a jumping off point or just as a guide to how you could structure your year.   Keep things simple and have fun.

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