Grade 1 | Age 7

First Grade marks the start of formal academic learning for the seven-year-old child. In a Waldorf setting, children who have lost their first teeth and are in their 7th year of life are ready for Grade 1. These physical milestones (losing baby teeth) reflect a mental preparedness that children are developmentally ready for formal academic instruction.

In our homeschool, we waited until the children were seven before starting our first academic lessons. In the home setting you will have more flexibility for when you choose to begin your formal academics. Either way, the loss of teeth, the age of awareness, and the seventh year of life are major developmental milestones for the child.

This developmental change is recognized in other educational pedagogies and by child psychologists who observe a distinct mental developmental shift in the child. In Waldorf education that change is marked, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and most importantly spiritually.

In Grade 1, students aged seven years, are beginning to awaken to the world around them. However, they are still in their imaginative phase of learning. There is not a clear distinction between imagination or fantasy and reality. That distinction will materialize after the Nine-Year-Change. Up until this point, if you try to explain to a child the difference between reality and fantasy, they may parrot back to you what you want to hear but cognitively they will not be able to comprehend that distinction for a couple more years.

The knowledge that children are in their imaginative phase of learning is used in the Waldorf elementary years through the use of fairy tales, folklore, animal fables, and other stories in which the lessons are readily understood while embedded in stories that are fantastical in nature. Adults may lose the wisdom of the story when their intellect overrides the fantastical nature of the story. It’s also possible that children may understand more deeply archetypal characters more readily than adults.

In Grade 1, students still love their teachers deeply and want to be in their presence often. The colors of the classroom reflect this warmth as the mood is still warm with colors of rose, soft reds, peach and pink. In a classroom you might find that students desks creep closer and closer to the front of the room where the teacher is. In the home setting, you might find that your child doesn’t just sit next to you when you tell them a story, but they must be in physical contact with you or on your lap (think toddlerhood or preschool).

It’s important to know that before children go through a major developmental change they tend to momentarily regress. This is a natural tendency that happens before the child leaps forward in development.

Students and children will love their teacher and their parent deeply in Grade 1. They see the teacher as a beloved kindly authority, who is warm, consistent and worthy of imitation. At this age, students believe the world is good and they see the good in people and the world, despite the harsh realities. This foundational feeling of goodness is cultivated through stories, music, art, and daily rhythms. This forms the moral and emotional ground for the learning to come. It provides a strong secure foundation for the student where they can experience wonder, trust, reverence and and appreciation for beauty within them and around them.

While it is not always possible to change the colors of your homeschool space to match the development of the child, especially as many families are homeschooling more than one child, you may re-create the same mood through fabrics, accessories and materials. It might mean that the candle you burn daily is red, pink or coral colored. Or the silks that you draped from your windows are warm tones. Or you create a space within your homeschool space or classroom that is filled with colors and fabrics that represent the Grade 1 experience.

As the Grade 1 student is ready for formal education, they may not be ready for the rigors of academic learning. The first main lesson block the student will engage with form drawing. Form drawing forms the basis of the mechanics for drawing and writing. While the students’ fine motor skills are still developing, form drawing helps the students experience smooth measured and intentional drawing using a large stick crayon or thick colored pencil. Form drawing comes before the first math main lesson block as well as the first language arts main lesson block. While form drawing has its own main lesson block in the younger years, it is a practice that continues throughout the grades and even into high school. Following the main lesson block in form drawing is the main lesson blocks on the introduction of the letters of the alphabet and later the quality of numbers.

It’s likely students have previously been exposed to numbers and letters as we live in a literate society, but the introduction to them in an academic sense focuses on the quality of letters and sounds rather than the mechanics of reading. And the math main lesson block focuses on the quality of numbers rather than the quantity. Curiously, students have an internal reverence for the quality of numbers before even being taught the quality in the main lesson block.

Often parents will desire to skip over the language arts main lesson block on the introduction of the letters of the alphabet and their sounds citing that their children already know how to read. But the introduction of the letters isn’t simply for students to be formally introduced to their sounds, it’s also to expose the child to a living lesson in the form of a story and a reverence for the quality of the letter. Often stories have deep lessons express through archetypal characters. These lessons are timeless and may be revisited over and again each time the student relating to the story in a new and profound way.

Once the sounds and letters are introduced, students move to writing before reading. The idea of learning how to read what one writes is a unique aspect of the Waldorf pedagogy. Now that the students know the sounds of the letters they may begin to write simple words, and from this writing process, they will form their own readers. As there are no textbooks or worksheets in a Waldorf setting, students create their own workbooks in the form of a main lesson book.

Learning, the quality of numbers is an ancient tradition that has been lost and replaced with the soulless quantity of numbers. In classical and historical educational models, the quality of numbers was foundational and universally understood.

Another unique aspect of the Waldorf pedagogy is the introduction of the four mathematical processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in Grade 1. Even these mathematical operations have a quality as well. And stories of knights and kings are told to teach these for math processes. Counting through clapping and skipping or stepping stones help students on their path to mastering the times tables. In all lessons, reverence and appreciation for beauty is infused not just in the lesson presentation, but the lesson work as well.

In Grade 1, students also have specialty classes in music, handwork, eurythmy, and foreign language. Outdoor play is still very important and breaks and recesses throughout the day allows children to play and move about. In music, the children will learn the Pentatonic songs on the flute, lyre or recorder. In handwork students will learn how to knit in the English style which promotes cross body action which helps with brain development. In foreign language, students will learn the language by listening as an introduction to the written language will not be for a few years.

A 2- or 3-day learning cycle begins in Grade 1. The introduction of the lesson is on the first day, revisiting or reviewing the lesson occurs the following day. It is in the review that the lesson really takes hold with a child and the learning deepens. On the second and third day of the lesson, students may begin the lesson work in their main lesson book. Often lessons include a written and illustrated portion. As students are still young and unable to write, the written portion may simply be the letter of the alphabet that they are studying. On the third day, the previous days lesson is reviewed and the lesson from the first day is put into an artistic representation of that lesson in the main lesson book. In this way, new learning, review learning and main lesson work is done daily.

Daily weekly and seasonal rhythm is still of paramount importance at this age. In Grade 1 with the introduction of formal academics, daily rhythm needs to balance in-breath work and out-breath work. In-breath and out-breath is the rhythm that will help a student have the stamina to make it through not just a day of school but a week, a month and a year of school. In-breath and out-breath is a concept of looking at lessons that provide rejuvenation or lessons that require work. Each temperament is unique. Each child is unique. And for some children, artistic work is an in-breath whereas recess is an out-breath, and in other cases for some students, artistic work is an out-breath where as circle time is an in-breath. Often math and grammar are considered in-breath activities which require a decompression afterwards like playtime or art. Thankfully, throughout the day there is a balance between these lessons so that students may find time to be inspired and rejuvenated by lessons as well as have an outpouring of work that requires concentration and cognition with the lessons.

By the time the student is in Grade 1, age 7, the ether life forces that have been used to build the child’s physical body in the first seven years of life is now being transformed and becomes available for memory, imagination and symbolic or purposeful thought. Instruction is still pictorial and artistic and imbued with imagination. The child still learns through image, rhythm and imitation. They are not ready for logic, critical thinking or analysis. But the very first hints of abstract thought will be introduced in Grade 1 when we represent the number one as “1” for both quality and a quantity.

1st Grade Waldorf Curriculum

First grade in a Waldorf school begins at seven years of age, after the change of teeth has begun. Other notable differences about a the first grade curriculum is the story aspect of each lesson, even when you present the child with her first recorder, you present it along with a story. Stories are an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. It's what connects the child to the information. The information comes to life through the story told by the teacher. You may also notice an absence of textbooks, workbooks and even picture or chapter books. There are no textbooks because the teacher teaches the material (she does her research prior to teaching), there are no workbooks because the students make their own as the lessons progress by copying the chalk drawings on the chalkboard made by the teacher and adding a sentence or two copied from the board or dictated to the student. The students make their first readers with drawings and complete simple sentences which they then read themselves. The world of numbers is also introduced with stories to complement the introduction of each number.

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1st Grade Homeschool Supplies | Grade 1

First grade supplies for a Waldorf curriculum are so beautiful and inspiring. Typical materials you'll find are watercolors, watercolor paper, block and stick crayons, a recorder, beeswax, yarn and wool.

These are the first-grade materials we use in our Waldorf-inspired homeschool, starting with music and open-ended play. First grade is when we begin the recorder, and while I also showed our glockenspiel, it isn’t required, it’s just a lovely, approachable instrument that can grow with the children. We want to shift our “toys” mindset toward natural, imaginative materials: Sarah’s Silks for forts and dress-up, hardy beanbags for lively morning mental math toss games, and simple peg dolls and finger puppets that double as playful props and gentle learning tools (we label ours with lowercase and uppercase letters). Natural materials matter. They mend, age beautifully, and invite imagination.

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Waldorf Teacher Haul | Grade 1

I can’t think of more gorgeous school supplies than Waldorf supplies. But these aren’t for me. I teamed up with A Child’s Dream to arrange a special gift for a new Waldorf teacher who just started work at a Waldorf charter school that is only in its second year and still has a lot of growing pains ahead.

To help ease the transition for this teacher from conventional school to Waldorf school, I contact A Child’s Dream and asked if they would gift school supplies for this teacher through me so I can share it with you. Now this teacher has some treasured supplies to start the new year off with.

Abig thank you to Debbie for generously gifting everything I requested. All the materials you see are ones I have purchased throughout the years of homeschooling and have used extensively so I am hoping my selections will be just right for this new Waldorf teacher. And who is this new Waldorf teacher? It’s none other than my sister Aurelia who has been a teacher for 10 years and is now embarking on her Waldorf training and Waldorf teacher journey.

While these materials are typical for a Waldorf school, I think they are enriching additions to any school setting whether you do Waldorf or not. . You can follow my sisters as a Waldorf teacher in training as she navigates her way through this new teaching journey Aurelia. Oh! And be sure to send Debbie at A Child’s Dream some love for spreading joy ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

When starting out on your Waldorf journey, you might want to begin with a Waldorf inspired curriculum if you are home educating. While I can’t say from experience how the following curricula fair, I can tell you that since 2004, we’ve been relying on Live Education! Waldorf curriculum for our needs. You can also explore Lavender Blue, Christopherus, and Waldorf Essentials or Oak Meadow if you want more traditional with just a hint of Waldorf. For more Waldorf vendors who specialize in curriculum or resources, there’s a section at the bottom of this post with more information. Once you have settled on a curriculum, you may want to turn your attention to some of the essentials like papers, pencils, crayons and chalks. Main lesson books are used so that students have a place to record their lessons. Typically the main lesson books are large for Grade 1 and they get progressively smaller as the students move from grade to grade. Main lesson books for the younger years are large notebooks with blank good quality paper. Often you may see them with onion sheets separating the two sheets of paper.

To go along with the main lesson books, you can add Stockmar Block and Stick crayons. These crayons are made from beeswax and come in a rainbow of colors. Typically students in Grade 1 begin with just the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Together with those colors, students create the secondary and tertiary colors and soon they are able to add those crayons to their crayon case. Stick crayons are used for form drawings and even beginning writing while block crayons come in handy for landscape drawings and filling in white spaces in their drawings. Block crayons are also used for making borders in their main lesson books. To help you on your crayon drawing journey, you may want to check out Coloring with Block Crayons. It’s a wonderful resource for beginners and veterans alike.

When looking to add teacher resources to your materials, I have to say that I’m loving the books by Angela Lord! Her books are colorful, informative and must-have resources especially if you are not relying on a Waldorf inspired curriculum. The ones I chose to include here (though she has several more), are Colour Dynamics and Form Drawing. If you could only choose one, I would highly recommend Form Drawing. Form Drawing is a main lesson you’re going to find in Waldorf school starting in Grade 1. I have included some aspects of form drawing in lessons all the way through Grade 8. Form drawing is the first main lesson block in Grade 1. It helps a student with basic hand eye coordination, centering his or her work within the page, fine and gross motor skills, pre-writing skills, artistry and patterns. Form drawing is therapeutic and meditative at times and therefore a good addition to any school setting and is especially helpful for students who struggle with attention and handwriting.

Once you’ve completed your first main lesson block, you may choose to move to a Language or Math main lesson block. If you embark on your Language main lesson block, you may want to add LMNOP Book and Wall Posters to your resource wish list. The book LMNOP is a collection of poems and illustrations that take you through the letters of the alphabet. The posters may be used as classroom decorations or art inspiration for your own chalk drawings. Incidentally, the book’s illustrated, Bruce Bischof, is also the author and illustrator of the Live Education curriculum! Bruce passed away in 2025 after a 5 year battle with cancer.

If art inspiration is not a top need for you, but you are looking for ways to hone your storytelling skills, I have found joy in using eeboo’s Storytelling Cards. These cards are brightly illustrated and can be used to help jumpstart a story individually or as a group. While I didn’t show the following book, I did find it very helpful early in my homeschool journey. Storytelling and the Art of Imagination by Nancy Melon (Amazon affiliate link for book) really helped me as I had not idea what things made up a story. I needed a book to break it down, down to the simplest steps like characters, plot and setting, etc. Of course this book takes it to a different level by adding Waldorf elements that will be helpful in the classroom or homeschool setting.

Your next block may be math and if so, the book King Maximo and the Number Knights may be a good addition especially if you are not using a Waldorf inspired curriculum. Because all four math operations are taught in Grade 1, you may wish to bring in some math finger puppets or math gnomes to help your students grasp these math concepts. You can make your own peg dolls and finger puppets with peg dolls, Lyra Opaque Watercolors, Holland wool felt, and Lamb’s pride yarn (for hair). We have made so many over the years and they are treasured toys in our homeschool that help facilitate open ended pretend play or with storytelling.

Then next block you might focus on in Grade 1 is watercoloring. While watercoloring doesn’t need to be a block per say, as it can be included in other blocks, it is a good idea to have some basic principles understood before embarking on watercoloring with your students as the Waldorf method is unique is a few aspects. To start with, images that are drawn or watercolor painted are soft, undefined and have blurred edges or rather the edges of the images are not sharply defined. Young students at that age don’t see the world as we do and their illustrations reflect that.

The teacher strives to provide drawings that have soft edges with less detail and when it comes to watercoloring, using a wet on wet technique is a great way to ensure that colors move across the page and blend into one another and thus keep the edges soft and ethereal. To achieve this, use high quality watercolor paper. I like Strathmore 140 lb. Watercolor paper. Though the this pad is 9’x12″, I recommend using larger sheets for Grade 1, though the smaller sheets are great for practice work or free painting. Stockmar watercolors are concentrated paints that need to be diluted with water. They have clear bright colors that mix well to produce secondary and tertiary colors. Grade 1 paint brushes are wide and flat and made from all-natural materials like squirrel hair and wood barrels.

Watercolor paint holders make spillage a thing of the past, but if all you need are the jars, you can buy them separately or repurpose yogurt jars. If you are brand new to Waldorf watercoloring, the book Colour Dynamics by Angela Lord will be a great help along the way. If you are inspired by that book and want to join a course I have on my site in which I do live lessons with my daughter inspired by images in this book, you can join the course by tapping on the button below.

While the main lesson (Morning Lesson) teacher doesn’t teach music, handwork, and other subjects, it helps to have a familiarity with music as songs are included in circle time, opening activities or other lessons. While there are many instruments to choose from, traditionally the classroom will have a piano and the teacher may hone her skills with a recorder or glockenspiel.

The pentatonic music book by David Darcy is a great resource for the musically challenged and possibly the veteran! Having never excelled in the signing or music, I can’t tell if that resource is too basic for someone who already has a music background. If you struggle with music (as I did), you may enjoy Come Follow Me which is a collection of songs you can sing in class. Growing your collection of poems and verses for all occasions happens naturally over the years. Give yourself some inspiration with Wynstone Books for each of the seasons, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. These books are full of seasonally ideas and music to enrich your school day season by season.

Handwork in Grade 1

Handwork is a Waldorf subject area that’s close to my heart so I have given it a lot of attention through the years. While I’ve never progressed very far in the field, I have found that even basic knitting and sewing provide a wealth of developmental benefits. Knitting is taught in Grade 1 as a means to help develop the important brain function of the two hemispheres communicating with each other. the cross body movement of knitting is what awakens and strengthens that brain development. The cross body action is repeated in eurythmy and movement math as well as other areas. While it is far easier to introduce knitting over spatial dynamics and eurythmy, all areas are equally important to the developing child. When it comes to handwork, Grade 1 focuses on casting on, knitting, binding off and creating simply projects with practice squares and rectangles the student has knit.

One book that is tremendously helpful to the Grade 1 teacher in teaching how to knit the Waldorf way, which is rich in storytelling, is Jane and Jeremy learn to knit by Elizabeth Seward. The book is filled with stories and simply projects like how to knit a bunny. The book also shares how to make your own knitting needles. I had the honor of visiting Elizabeth in her Los Angeles home to knit with her and she taught my daughter how to make her own knitting needles. A year later, I made my own using dowels and oven bake clay to make mushroom topped knitting needles.

While they are cute, they are longer than what a Grade 1 student will feel comfortable using. Keep needles to about 9-10 inches for ease in use. To start off, students use size 10 knitting needles and bulky or similar type of yarn. Some teachers prefer plied yarn while other stick with the bulky. Not being a master knitter or handwork teacher, I’ve stuck with using Lamb’s Pride bulky weight yarn for all my beginner knitters and actually stuck with that yarn in worsted weight for other projects. I like the color range of yarns by Lamb’s Pride and most, if not all, of our handwork projects through the years use Lamb’s Pride yarn or Holland Felt.

Handwork is not limited to the projects that a student will do, the teacher may do many projects ahead of time to add dolls, toys or educational supplements to the classroom. Often I made peg dolls and finger puppets to add toys for the students’ imaginative play. Sometimes my older students would stitch projects that would be used to decorate the classroom or be soft toys the younger children would play with. While needle felting isn’t a handcraft that is found in the Waldorf curriculum, many have included it or in the least have included the animals and felted projects that have been needle felted. Over the years, I have settled on a few supplies that I return to over and over again for their versatile use and durability. I love the peg dolls for their possibility. While they come is all shapes and sizes, I like the standard peg doll as it can be used for a male or female or even child or adult. While the little ones and female shaped ones are nice, I don’t tend to use those as much. You can paint them with Lyra Opaque Watercolors or wool felt.

I love Holland Felt is all the gorgeous colors they carry. We have used felt for stitching projects in later grades and for sewing projects in grade 5 and beyond. In Grade 1, the teacher may use it for peg dolls, to make classroom decorations or for stitching projects she brings to the classroom. I like the collections for Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn (with Autumn being my favorite), because they are a nice assortment of colors and are just the right size for many of the projects we end up doing. Don’t forget your embroidery floss and embroidery needles!

If you wish to do some needle felting, you’ll need needle felting needles (which are very sharp!), a foam pad and wool roving. I chose three colors in the orange family to make pumpkins as they make a color addition to the classroom for fall decor.

If you are looking for opportunities to add decorations to your classroom then kite paper is a must! You can use it to make beautiful suncatchers which are stars that decorate windows. As the light comes in, the suncatchers catch the light and are illuminated beautifully depending on the folds and color layering. Another option for decorations which double as playthings are silks and cloths. My favorite are Sarah’s Silks and Cotton Play Cloths. I’ve used silks in our homeschool for ages, but recently Sarah’s Silks came out with cotton cloth which is a great alternative for Plant based families or Muslim families who have pubescent boys who still like to play dressup.

Curriculum for Grade 1

First grade in a Waldorf school begins at seven years of age, after the change of teeth has begun. Other notable differences about a the first grade curriculum is the story aspect of each lesson, even when you present the child with her first recorder, you present it along with a story. Stories are an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. It’s what connects the child to the information. The information comes to life through the story told by the teacher. You may also notice an absence of textbooks, workbooks and even picture or chapter books. There are no textbooks because the teacher teaches the material (she does her research prior to teaching), there are no workbooks because the students make their own as the lessons progress by copying the chalk drawings on the chalkboard made by the teacher and adding a sentence or two copied from the board or dictated to the student. The students make their first readers with drawings and complete simple sentences which they then read themselves. The world of numbers is also introduced with stories to complement the introduction of each number.

Does your child already know the ABC’s and the numbers before entering grade one? Probably. Most kids pick them up along the way, but don’t overlook this beautiful presentation of the numbers and letters, there’s more to the lesson than just the technical and mechanical acquisition of the numbers and letters. The value is a deeper connection to learning and sets the foundation for how information and skills will be taught and acquired throughout the grades. There is reverence and honor in every aspect of the Waldorf curriculum, down to how the crayons are used and stored to how one transitions from one activity to the next. The curriculum I am presenting today is from Live Education. Here’s a look at this Grade 1 Curriculum from Live Education.

We homeschool using many different yet congruent philosophies including Waldorf, TJed, and Charlotte Mason, but use the curriculum from Live-Education for inspiration. Some books I recommend: Children and Their Temperaments by Marieke Anschutz, Storytelling & The Art of Imagination by Nancy Mellon, Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior by Susan Perrow, You Are Your Child’s First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin, The Education of the Child by Rudolf Steiner, and The Kingdom of Childhood by Rudolf Steiner.

Grade 1 Supplies, Resources and Materials

Grade 1

1st Grade Waldorf Curriculum

First grade in a Waldorf school begins at seven years of age, after the change of teeth has begun. Other notable differences about a the first grade curriculum is the story aspect of each lesson, even when you present the child with her first recorder, you present it along with a story. Stories are an important part of the Waldorf curriculum.

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New To Waldorf | Teacher Grade 1

I can’t think of more gorgeous school supplies than Waldorf supplies. But these aren’t for me. I teamed up with @achildsdreamcrafts to arrange a special gift for a new Waldorf teacher who just started work at a Waldorf charter school that is only in its second year and still has a lot of growing pains ahead.

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1st Grade Homeschool Supplies | Grade 1

First grade supplies for a Waldorf curriculum are so beautiful and inspiring. Typical materials you'll find are watercolors, watercolor paper, block and stick crayons, a recorder, beeswax, yarn and wool.

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Waldorf Math | Living Books | Grade 1-3

Do you want to make math meaningful, educational and enjoyable? It may seem like an impossible task, but it can be achieved! I've collected a number of living books and games to enhance our math main lesson block. These materials are suitable for students grades 1-3 but can be enjoyed by older students as well.

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Transition Activities for Children from Play to Homeschool

Let them play. They won't want to when they are older, so you might as well foster it while they are young. But what kind of play am I talking about? I have specific ideas on that, and I'll share them with you because there is a lot of 'play' I don't support. First, this play is completely media-free. No ipad, video games, movies or even audio-books. In the absence of media, what will you surround your children with to play?

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Grade 1 Waldorf Essentials Curriculum Review + Comparison with Live Education

It's probably the biggest homeschooling decision you're going to make: Choosing a curriculum. When you've finally narrowed down you want to do a Waldorf approach, next you have to sort through the Waldorf curricula that are available. Today I'm walking you through the Waldorf Essentials curriculum for first grade with a comparison to the Live-Education curriculum also for grade one.

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Watercolor Lessons

Step by Step Watercolor Instruction | Primary Colors

While this may be a step by step tutorial, you'll find that I made a number of mistakes while instructing my 7-year-old daughter. This is a live lesson with no edits, so you'll see the whole process from start to finish. I show how to mix Stockmar watercolors, which paper we use, how to mount the paper and which brushes work well.

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Watercolor Lesson with Story Telling

At times this video is painfully slow and quiet. I decided to leave this as unedited as possible so you can see how a lesson proceeds from start to end with unexpected changes and challenges. At the end of the video, I share some reflections on the lesson. It seems like most recent watercolor lessons have been flops.

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Watercolor Painting Course

Lately, I've been using open glass jars for our paints and they've worked well for one surprising reason: The paint doesn't mold! Instead, the water simply evaporates and and leaves a dried cake of paint which can be rehydrated for later use. This has worked out well for this series of lessons because, while we are working through lessons almost daily, we are not using all the colors at the same time, so some of them dry out and all we need to do is add a bit of water and get painting!

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Lesson 1 Yellow

Lesson 1 is all about exploring the color yellow. It seems simple enough and yet in practice it was really challenging! I’m not sure if the challenge is universal and only felt with adults who have already spent their whole life working with colors rather than creating shades of a single one. What you might experience as you go through these lessons is that you, the teacher, are learning too.

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Lesson 2 Shades of Yellow

In lesson 2, we dive further into the color yellow. Because the Stockmar paints come with a bright yellow and a warm golden yellow, this lesson lent itself well to exploring both yellows together. While this is a suitable second lesson, you may wish to continue exploring yellow on its own during this lesson, but use the golden yellow instead.

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Lesson 3 Blue

In lesson 3, we explore the color blue. For this lesson we made arches in varying intensities of blue. You may find that some students and teachers are firm, defined and somewhat rigid. Can you tell between us which person was like that? If you look at the final paintings, you’ll see how beautifully my daughter’s shades blended into one another. Mine are so defined and in my opinion, not as beautiful to me for what I was wanting.

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Watercoloring Techniques | Waldorf

Watercoloring is one of my kids' favorite artistic outlets. I'm going to show you a few different techniques that you can do using a typical Waldorf technique called 'wet on wet' watercoloring in which the watercolor paper is first wet with water using a sponge or dipping it into a basin of water.

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Nature Study | Resources

Charlotte Mason Living Books

Everytime I think I'm done buying books, I find more I think I like. In some cases, I see other homeschoolers using these gems in their homeschool and decide we want to add them to our library. Other times, Amazon recommends books based on our purchases and what other customers bought.

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Nature Study | Botany & Zoology

Each Spring when we do our nature unit studies, we collect an assortment of nature science books in botany and zoology, coordinate projects and hands-on activities, and round it out with some picture books and games. Each year it’s similar but different as we add new books and projects.

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Life Cycle of a Frog | Chalk Drawing

I created a new chalk drawing for our main lesson board, and this time I focused on the lower right side where I illustrated the life cycle of a frog. For this project, I used my Sargent Art chalk pastels, which I love because they produce vibrant, rich colors. Over the years, we’ve worn our pastels down so much that some are just tiny nubs, so I recently added a few new ones to my collection.

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Nature Study Lessons

Charlotte Mason Nature Study

Did you know that you can do nature study in the city? You don’t need beaches, mountains or valleys to partake in nature study. In fact, when you have to search and appreciate the smallest amount of nature pushing through in a crack on a sidewalk or the relentless caw of a crow, you find that nature is a force to be reckoned with and revered. If you choose to do your nature study at the beach, forest, canyon or mountains, or anywhere else, here are a few ideas on how you can enhance the experience.

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Art & Science

Everyone has an inner artist we can all nurture. I wanted to share the tips that might help you enjoy the art process and help you be more satisfied with your artwork. These tips are pretty simple and maybe you already do some of them, but for me it was a learning process of discovery.

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Our Homeschool Day

Here's a little snippet of our homeschool day. We are working through our Live-Education Waldorf inspired curriculum for our Botany Main Lesson block and took a little detour.

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Flower Dissection

There is a deep education in being able to be present with your surroundings and having wonder and curiosity in what you see without having to understand it on an analytical basis. And that’s why I had mixed feelings about this lesson. Flower dissection is reserved for older students, but is included here as often our lessons include mixed grades.

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How To Use A Nature Journal | Nature Unit

I should know better than to expect sit down work from my boys when we are out in un-landscaped wild nature! They would rather explore, hike, forage, and make fire than sit and draw.

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Charlotte Mason Nature Study

Have you ever heard of a Micro Hike? I hadn't until I picked up the book by Joseph Bharat Cornell called Sharing Nature With Kids.

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Nature Study | Projects & Activities

How to Grow a Pine Tree from Seed

I can't tell you how much we love the kits we got from Nature-Watch. The one I'm sharing to day is a classroom kit for 25 students called Forever Forests. In addition to providing content for a lesson, this kit comes with enough supplies to plant more than 25 pine trees from seed

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Mason Jar Herb Garden

Here's a fun little project you can do so you can have fresh herbs at the ready when cooking. A big bonus is that these frosted blue mason jars look super cute on your kitchen counter. And once the herbs start growing, they add a splash of vibrant green that brightens your space and brings the outdoors in.

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Nature Watch

Self directed learning never looked so good! We got these samples from a Nature-Watch kit called Forest in a Box. It came with 20 forest specimens enclosed in zipper bags with cards describing each sample.

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How a Seed Grows | Root Observation

It's a quintessential rite of passage to grow plants from seeds, and now you can watch the growth of the roots with this Root Observation kit from Nature-Watch.

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How to Make a Pine Needle Basket

For our Nature unit we studied conifers. As part of the lesson activities we decided to weave pine needle baskets. This is a great activity for a nature unit study or for an Indigenous People.

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How to Make a Nature Journal

Want to make a quick and easy nature journal? You don't need many supplies. I made these using watercolor paper, drawing paper, a long reach stapler and a paper trimmer. It was a lot of fun watercoloring the paper.

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How to Make Hiking Sticks

Join me as we learn how to make hiking sticks from found branches and sticks. We cut them down to size, removed protruding parts and sanded them down using a power sander, metal file or sandpaper.

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How to Play Wildcraft! | An Herbal Adventure Game

I think games are a great way to learn or review. Want to play a cooperative board game with your kids while learning about herbs and their medicinal qualities? Check out this video. It's especially enjoyable for kids under puberty as there is no competition nor strategy. It's pleasantly informative and fun to play and the cards and board game are a work of art.

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Into The Forest

Games and hands-on projects are a staple in our learning environment. Into The Forest is a nature game we used to play in our Opening Activities and as inspiration for art projects.

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How to Make Paper | Nature Unit

We love making things! This paper making kit from Acorn Naturalists comes with everything you need to make homemade paper (except the paper scraps). The DVD and paper directions were easy to follow.

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How to Compost

There are two ways to compost: The right way and my way ;) I don't compost with the intention of balancing nutrients; I compost primarily to keep our kitchen waste from ending up in the landfill.

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Fairy House | Doll House | PRETEND PLAY

Make a charming nature inspired doll house for fairies, finger puppets or gnomes. Find all the material you need for this project in nature or at your local craft store. You can also find assembled kits at A Child’s Dream.

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How to Make a Wind Car

This is another awesome kit from Pied Piper Crafts. This wind car kit is designed for kids eight years an d up and comes with everything you need to make one wind car. The only thing you'll need is a pair of pliers. The best part: It actually works!

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How to Make a Sailboat

I'm so pleased with the kits by Pied Piper. This sailboat kit comes with everything you need to make a real working sailboat. The only tool you need is a hammer. It's perfect for children ages six and up, though you may need to help young children.

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What's in a Nature Bag?

I shared what we keep in our nature bag when we go to the park for our nature study lessons. We use a simple backpack, and in the main compartment I usually pack water, snacks, and a few tools like a compass, shovel, binoculars, and a magnifying glass. I also bring Kleenex, lavender essential oil for cuts or stings, and a small activity booklet with nature questions to start conversations.

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Exploring Nature With Kids

Join us as we explore the beautiful Santa Ana mountains in search of the seasonal vernal pools. Being in our fourth year of drought, the vernal pools haven't had water in them for years, but don't worry the shrimp (eggs) that are unique to this area can survive decades in this area without water.

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How to Make Paper | Natural Colors

I'm using my Arnold Grummer's Paper Mill kit which is one of the better kits I've used. While it comes with high quality materials, it does not include the large water tray which we had separately. However, I found that you could easily make paper without that tray, and simply use a baking tray instead. You will also need a towel to dry your paper and a blender to turn your scraps into paper pulp.

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Form Drawing Lessons

How I Teach Form Drawing | Live Lesson

With minimal video edits, you get to see from start to finish how I teach a form drawing lesson. This lesson works with my 6-year-old's skill set, but also works for my 11-year-old's ocean studies unit. Plus form drawing is a relaxing meditative activity that has far reaching benefits.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 1

Lesson one was the introduction of the straight and curved line. Filming while doing a lesson is an unusually thing for us, and trying to orient all our main lesson books for the camera is unnatural. It's harder to write this way, and it's definitely not remotely ideal for my 6-year-old daughter who needs to do these lesson not just for the artistry, but for the hand mechanics of learning drawing and pre-writing skills.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 2

Lesson two is patterns with straight lines. In today’s lesson, we worked with long and short lines, and later we did patterns with increasing and decreasing lengths and lines going in horizontal and vertical orientations. We also introduced varying colors.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 3

Lesson three focused on straight lines of varying lengths. We chose to do some embroidery as well as another representation of the form we drew. We used embroidery hoops, spare cloth and embroidery thread.

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Tactile Form Drawing

Here’s a tutorial for a tactile pre-lesson activity we did for our Form Drawing main lesson block. This activity was easy to do, but it did take about 30 minutes to prepare. You can do this project independently of the form drawing lesson or along with it and have the children help make these tactile projects.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 4

Lesson four introduced nesting half circles similar to a rainbow. This would be an ideal opportunity to share a story about the rain, sunshine and rainbows. We alternated colors, made rainbows, and worked on small semi-circular shapes.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 5

Lesson 5 continues the the semi-circular shape from lesson four. We continued to use our pre-lesson hand-on material we created in our previous lesson.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 6

Lesson 6 focuses on half circles that nest and radiate out from the center of the page to fill the whole paper.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 7

Lesson 7 continues the curved line with variations on the rainbow shape and curved lines that look like hills.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 8

Lesson 8 introduces loops of various sizes that are all connected of various heights and widths.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 9

This is officially lesson 9 for this main lesson block.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 10

After taking a long break, we are back at doing our Live Form Drawing Tutorials. We picked up where we left off which might not have been ideal. After taking so much time off, my now 8-year-old daughter was hastey and out of practice.

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Form Drawing | Lesson 11

Lesson 11 focuses on undulating waves.

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Handwork Projects| Grade 1

Pompom

Making Pompoms is a simple handwork project that’s ideal for Kindergarten or Grade 1 prior to formal instruction in knitting. Often setting the students to simple, repetitive tasks they can do independently, frees up time and attention for teaching knitting to each student individually.

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Knitting Needles

Did you know that making your own knitting needles isn't that hard or complicated? With a few materials and a little time, you can create one of a kind needles that you will no doubt cherish and love using.

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Knitting Needles

This introductory handwork project is intended for grade 1 students, but if you are working with older students who didn’t get a chance to make their own needles, I think they would appreciate the task.

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Knitting Needles

Did you know that making your own knitting needles isn't that hard or complicated? With a few materials and a little time, you can create one of a kind needles that you will no doubt cherish and love using.

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How to Make a Knitted Bunny

This bunny project is a great first project because it's easy, fast, and forgiving. It's just right for a brand new knitter because you can take the practice piece of knitting and turn it into an adorable little animal for the child to cherish.

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Knitted Pumpkin

Every fall, we seem to add a new autumn inspired project to our repertoire, and this year we are knitting pumpkins! This tutorial is for beginners, but children and adults of all ages may enjoy this project.

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Pocket Dolly

This pocket dolly is easy and makes a great first project. The original pocket dolly project can be found in Elizabeth Seward’s book. However, I found that unless a child could sew the head, it required a lot of extra effort from the teacher.

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Knitted Octopus

How adorable is this little octopus?! What's great about it, it that it's super easy, easy enough for a brand new knitter. In fact, if you don't know how knit, I walk you through the basics, from one novice knitter to another ;)

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Grade 1

1st Grade Waldorf Curriculum

First grade in a Waldorf school begins at seven years of age, after the change of teeth has begun. Other notable differences about a the first grade curriculum is the story aspect of each lesson, even when you present the child with her first recorder, you present it along with a story. Stories are an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. It's what connects the child to the information. The information comes to life through the story told by the teacher. You may also notice an absence of textbooks, workbooks and even picture or chapter books. There are no textbooks because the teacher teaches the material (she does her research prior to teaching), there are no workbooks because the students make their own as the lessons progress by copying the chalk drawings on the chalkboard made by the teacher and adding a sentence or two copied from the board or dictated to the student. The students make their first readers with drawings and complete simple sentences which they then read themselves. The world of numbers is also introduced with stories to complement the introduction of each number.

Does your child already know the ABC's and the numbers before entering grade one? Probably. Most kids pick them up along the way, but don't overlook this beautiful presentation of the numbers and letters, there's more to the lesson than just the technical and mechanical acquisition of the numbers and letters. The value is a deeper connection to learning and sets the foundation for how information and skills will be taught and acquired throughout the grades. There is reverence and honor in every aspect of the Waldorf curriculum, down to how the crayons are used and stored to how one transitions from one activity to the next.

The curriculum I am presenting to day is from Live-Education.

We homeschool using many different yet congruent philosophies including Waldorf, TJed, and Charlotte Mason, but use the curriculum from Live-Education for inspiration.

Some books I recommend:

Children and Their Temperaments by Marieke Anschutz

Storytelling & The Art of Imagination by Nancy Mellon

Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior by Susan Perrow

You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin

The Education of the Child by Rudolf Steiner

The Kingdom of Childhood by Rudolf Steiner