The Christopherus Waldorf Curriculum Overview for Homeschoolers

The Christopherus
Waldorf Curriculum Overview for Homeschoolers

by Donna Simmons

The essential guide to Waldorf-inspired homeschooling!
240 pages, 8½"x11", spiral bound - $55

10% discount on this book when bought with our First Grade Syllabus – see here for details

The Christopherus Waldorf Curriculum Overview for Homeschoolers is for those who wish to adapt the Waldorf School curriculum and/or indications arising out of anthroposophy to their own unique homeschooling situation. It is for those familiar with Waldorf education as well as those who are completely new. It is our hope that any homeschooler, not just those who ally or identify themselves with Waldorf education, will find this book of use. The book's focus is on First through Eighth Grade.

The Overview is just that - an overview of Waldorf education, written by a homeschooler for homeschoolers.

This is neither a package curriculum nor an in-depth examination of the whys and wherefores of Waldorf education. These resources are available elsewhere. (To find out more about some of these, click onto our Resources page.) Rather, it is an introduction, an overview, of the complexities of Waldorf pedagogy, presented with an abundance of ideas and suggestions so that parents can use what they need from the rich tradition of Waldorf education.

This is a practical book and parents will find help on questions ranging from how to make a schedule to working with multi-age children and from parental self-education to designing a language arts program.

Suggestions as to how one might use non-Waldorf resources but stay true to one's educational ideals will also be a feature throughout the book. Hundreds of books and other resources, both Waldorf and non-Waldorf, are reviewed. Homeschoolers will find lists of great read-alouds, books for Main Lesson preparation, suggested source material for students and books explaining different aspects of Waldorf pedagogy.

And, to help support one's parenting and homeschooling choices, there will be a discussion on "the Waldorf-inspired home". As the Montessori people say about their philosophy, Waldorf is a way of life, and it certainly helps if one's educational philosophy is in line with one's lifestyle.

Thank you for your interest. You will find other Christopherus publications to purchase at our Bookstore. Please refer to our Homeschool Consultation Service page for assistance in 'putting it all together', or if you perhaps just have a few questions you'd like to spend time discussing or exploring.

"I just wanted to drop a quick note to thank you for the customer service and product of your Curriculum Overview... I'm thrilled with the prompt delivery and warm customer service.

"I'm also devouring the curriculum itself. It's exactly what I've been looking for since I started exploring Waldorf philosophy a few years ago. It seems so easy to get a list of dogmatic rules and surface prescriptions (wooden toys good, beeswax good, legos bad, finger-paints bad, silks good, TV bad) without learning the whys behind it all... It's also been so hard to find things that are applicable to a homeschool environment with only one or two children. It was so nice to see in print that forcing a circle time with only one child might seem un-authentic... and meet with resistance on the part of my child.

"I have purchased several Waldorf-oriented resource materials, and poured over Kytka's and other websites. Many of the things I've perused you even reference in your book (i.e. Path of Discovery.) But, as an eclectic, Waldorf-oriented but not strict homeschooler, your resource by far is the one with which I've been most pleased. So many times I've spent money purchasing materials and been disappointed when they come and/or felt that the price is way too much for what I've received. Your material is so well done and so reasonably priced.

"Thank you for your efforts and wonderful material."

" After much deliberation, I finally got your overview book. Needless to say, I wish this would have been the first book I bought when I found out about Waldorf. It is wonderful!

"I have to say you have challenged me, in a good way and in several ways. All my life, since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a stay at home mom. As a matter of fact, I often chuckle when I think that my guidance counselor when I was in high school would get so frustrated with me because he wanted me to go to college, and when he asked me what I wanted to do with my life I told him, "Get married and have kids!". My point being that in the chapter that you talk about homemaking and being fulfilled, it really hit me, if this is what I have always wanted to do with my life, why am I so grumpy all the time, and why am I always searching for "time alone" away from my kids? I honestly believe that it is a mindset that I have had (stay at home moms need to get some time away from their children to feel refreshed), and that needs to get straightened out. And your overview has done that. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that we as moms need time to re-group and time to ourselves, but I was taking it to extremes, and taking it out on my children.

"The other way you have challenged me is the TV! I have been trying to work on the kids watching less TV, but it wasn't really working. In your overview, you talk about this, and challenge us as parents to watch what we do in our own free-time. Do we veg in front of the TV, or do we do something productive? And guess what I was doing? It has been interesting today (I got your overview 2 days ago and am halfway through it <grin>) to watch myself and to pay attention to what is going on in my head. I get bored, I turn on the TV. I want to veg, I turn on the TV. So I am watching myself and seeing what I do that the kids are picking up on.

"Well anyway, I must go tend to my youngsters, but thank you for your publications. I am looking forward to getting the first grade syllabus, the new LA books, and your science book in the near future."