So, what's in the works for grade 5?

[Penny]

Hey Donna - I know I'm early in asking this, but I'm wondering if you'll be adding anything to your already fabulous array of material for grade 5 next year - particularly (ahem) math...

Reallllly looking forward to grade 2, so thanks for working so hard on that for next year! Yay!

Thanks for any "scoop" you can share!

Penny :grin:

Also, any updates on the Waldorf at Home/homemakers book? I can't WAIT to see that one...

A little pushy, I am, I know... sorry, just not online enough to keep up with every post, so I ask questions for a couple of days, find out the answers, and then think about them for a good long while! Thank you for your patience with me!

[Donna]

Goodness, no apologies necessary - am I going to complain about someone asking me to write more books because they like the ones they have so much??!!:):D

Well.... 'fraid you'll have to wait on the 5th grade stuff til next year (o9). I know that will be too late for you... As a sort of preview, we will have some 4th and 5th grade offerings early next year - but I am not sure what just yet. Possibly Man and Animal, possibly some math, possibly Ancient Myths. But don't hold me to this just yet! I am really focused on second and third grade right now. I just completed the rough draft of the three short weather mini blocks for third grade - I'm really excited about them. I will, sometime soon, be putting a schema on our website of how the science curriculum flows and progresses through our curriculum. Weather is an important part of that. It does not feature formally in the "set" Waldorf curriculum - it rather peeps in here and there and then sometimes comes in a block in 6th or 7th grade. I want to build it up over the years, starting with the daily walks, nature/weather paintings and weather trees in first grade; a calendar and outdoor activities in second grade; experiential weather blocks tied in with math in third; and so on.... and a formal block on biomes, climate and weather in 6th grade. And astronomy in 7th.

Anyway - sorry Penny - I'm rattling on about other things!...

Oh - the parenting book - this has not been forgotten but is temporarily on the back burner. We have to get this curriculum out - people are already positioning themselves to start using second and third gr next year so we want to be able to fulfill their expectations by having each year ready for them as they progress through the grades. So we will have to see about the parenting book.

Related, though, to that, is something which I'll be sharing with you all (and with everyone who reads my blog and our newsletter) more fully soon. We intend to greatly increase the size and content of our website and make it even more useful and helpful to people. We will be inviting you all (!!yes - you!:D) to submit helpful articles and resources for use by other homeschoolers. There will be a big section on therapeutic Waldorf, on homelife, on how to get started, etc etc. So some of the things from the homemaking/parenting book will appear there instead - and be free for all.

Anyway, I'll get back to you all soon on this. And we will also soon start a section on our website specifically about our upcoming curriculum - more details and an overview, my thoughts on how we are creating it, FAQs, etc.

The Old Testament Stories book will be available in January for those of you with third graders who might wish to have it.

[holistic_mama]

we will have some 4th and 5th grade offerings early next year - but I am not sure what just yet. Possibly Man and Animal, possibly some math, possibly Ancient Myths. But don't hold me to this just yet! I am really focused on second and third grade right now. I just completed the rough draft of the three short weather mini blocks for third grade - I'm really excited about them....I want to build it up over the years, starting with the daily walks, nature/weather paintings and weather trees in first grade; a calendar and outdoor activities in second grade; experiential weather blocks tied in with math in third; and so on.... and a formal block on biomes, climate and weather in 6th grade. And astronomy in 7th.

The Old Testament Stories book will be available in January for those of you with third graders who might wish to have it.

Yeah!! This is wonderful news! I'm currently doing G3 with Nathan, G2 with Phoebe and Kindy Plus with Max (turned 6 in Aug). So, it sounds as if you might catch up with us! :D

I used the G1 Syllabus for our first round with G1; and from working with that, I created some family story traditions that we used again with Phoebe for her G1 the next year. Working out of the inspiration that I received from the G1 Syllabus and the Form Drawing book, I wrote a form drawing block very, very specific to my family and location and we went hiking through the block to discover the forms in nature before we worked with them. Our prince in the story met the wise old woman and went on his adventure...but as they left the palace gates, they kept hearing strange noises. It turned out that the prince's little sister had sneaked out of the castle and was following them. This was mirroring our real-life situation of Phoebe following one-step behind Nathan at every turn...she even started loosing her teeth as I was writing the story (originally for Nate's G2); so I went back and wrote her into it.

I've been thrilled with the G2 materials...I used the Saints and Heroes with Nathan last year; we still have our diorama of Rabia sitting in my sunroom! :) I'm currently planning a block for G3 measuring where I plan to have Nate make a model of the ark...and I'm planning to use Donna's Animal Fables to work with Phoebe while we knit animals for the ark.

I've been baking A Lot this year to sooth the feathers of my precocious 6yr old who has taught himself to read and is learning the times tables faster than his older sibs; but...is quite clearly at a Kindergartener's emotional level. So, I'm doing some more challenging baking (we're making a gingerbread haunted house this week) so that he has plenty to do at his own level.

Whoops...I'm rambling now! Thanks Donna! It all sounds great...and I'm Very interested in that OT stories book whenever it is ready!

Blessings,

Kimberly~in the SunCity

[Penny]

oh boy oh boy oh boy I...can't...wait!!!!!

and thanks for working so hard on grade 2 - I'm one of those who's "positioned for it next year"...

Y'know, my Dd in grade 4 actually asked to revisit the OT stories this year - so I may just have to have a little fun with that...

oh boy oh boy oh boy - it's like Christmas!

Thanks Donna! :D

Penny

PS: The website sounds GREAT! That will be fun to watch evolve...

[Donna]

Interesting about your son and the OT stories.... I will write a longish blog about how we have created this newest offering this weekend.... but for now I will just say that one of the things I really struggled with was where to cut off the stories. I feel that the Creation, the Fall, Cain and Able, the Patriarchs and Moses are all such important stories not just in terms of mirroring the child's development at age 9, but in terms of important stories for Western culture. I felt there was a definite cut-off there from the subsequent stories - and also too much for one block. So then I thought should I make a second volume? Or should I hold off on some of these stories for fourth grade?

Anyway, I had a long chat with our priest (a Christian Community priest, so this is someone who works with Waldorf ideas - or rather, anthroposophical ideas - with children so he and I had a good old talk.) Anyway, he says that that is exactly where he feels there is a cut-off and he saves the subsequent stories (Ruth and Naomi, Samuel, Solomon, Daniel etc) for 4th grade when he works with children.

So maybe that is something your child is hankering for!

Also, when I did OT stories with my sons, I did not separate them - so 7 year old Gabriel listened and did the paintings and drawings when the stories were for 9 year old Daniel. And then 11 year old Daniel chose to listen again when the stories were told again for 9 year old Gabriel.

And 45 year old Donna is getting even more from them herself this time around!

[Deborah Gillespie]

Hi Donna,

Can I just ask...is the OT book the only grade three book that you will have ready before the end of this school year (ie before May 08)?

Debbie

[Donna]

Yes - that's it for now!