Unit Studies and Main Lesson Blocks are not the same. A main lesson block is typically associated with the Waldorf approach with specific main lesson blocks for each grade. The unit study approach is a more general concept that is represented in a variety of ways. In the younger grades, it may be interest lead, in the older grades it may be something that serves multiple grades and multiple students, and as a curriculum approach, it may serve the family who chooses to use library books as the main resource for their education, or family school with all students partaking in a single lesson specially designed for all students.

What’s the difference between a Main Lesson Block and a Unit Study?

Main lesson blocks in a Waldorf school will be for core subjects, lasting a duration of 3 to 4 weeks. If the block is longer than four weeks, it’s recommended that it is broken up into two blocks, separated by a different main lesson block in between. Sometimes a particular main lesson block is recommended to come before other main lesson blocks like Form Drawing before Quality of Numbers in Grade 1 or Chemistry before Anatomy in Grade 8. There may be other recommendations on where to place the main lesson blocks throughout the year; however, in general, the teacher has tremendous freedom and organizing the main lesson box for the year. Main lesson blocks.

What is block rotation?

Typically I prefer to start the year with math or grammar so that we may spend the year practicing the new skills learned for that year. In talking with other Waldorf teachers, they actually do the opposite. They may hold off on presenting the main lesson for math until the students are older and have become proficient in the math from the previous year. As I tend to introduce subjects a bit later than even the Waldorf curriculum, introducing the math block at the beginning of the year makes sense developmentally for us, whereas for the Waldorf teacher in a school where children may be a little bit younger, it also makes sense developmentally to introduce that main lesson block at the close of the year.

Main lesson blocks rotate throughout the year, whereas daily lessons occurred daily or biweekly. For instance, foreign language, is a subject that is daily in Waldorf schools or twice a week. Same with music instruction, handwork and eurythmy. These lessons tend to be shorter last 45 to 60 minutes whereas the main lesson is first thing in the morning with a 2-hour block of time.

The Main Lesson

The main lesson is about two hours long and includes opening activities, review of the previous lesson, main lesson work, which includes illustration, narration, and or an activity, with the conclusion being the new lesson of the day. A main lesson and main lesson block approach are unique to Waldorf education; however, the concept can be applied to a unit study or traditional curriculum.

A main lesson block is a focused period of time in which one subject area is explored in depth. Every day, the same subject is taught for the duration of the main lesson block. Once the main lesson block is over, that subject is not revisited unless the block itself has been broken up into two main lesson blocks. Of course yearly there will be a math main lesson block, but the content of the block will develop over the years.

When doing a main lesson block there isn’t an effort made to include other subject areas into that main lesson block as you might notice with the unit study approach. For instance, if it is a history block on the Middle Ages, an effort to include science, reading, and math are not specifically intertwined into the lesson unless it occurs naturally. However, the main lesson blocks do relate to one another and create cohesion within the year and within the context of the previous and following year.

Reading and writing are part of nearly every main lesson and main lesson block. The students write original narrations, which includes their writing, and their reading, as they proofread their written work and make corrections. Copywork and dictation are common in the younger years, but by 4th grade copywork and dictation has tapered off. Naturally reading, writing, spelling, and grammar are practiced daily, but grammar does not begin until Grade 3 after the Nine-Year-Change.

Often times with a history block, geography is naturally going to be included. So, there is a natural inclusion of other subject areas within the main lesson block, but the main lesson block is not constructed specifically to include other new learning and other subject areas. Main main lesson blocks coordinate with one another each year so that there is cohesion throughout the year. daily work in math and grammar occur outside of the main lesson block, yet there are times when a specific math main lesson block or language arts main lesson block is included. Personally, I like to include our math and grammar main lesson blocks at the start of the year, so we have the remainder of the year to practice the new concepts and become proficient in them. In other cases, I’ve heard of teachers who do the new math learning at the end of the year when they feel their students have matured enough to understand those concepts. I think this is a great approach, especially in the classroom studying where students might be a little bit younger when they receive those students for that grade level versus when I’m teaching those same grades to my students. Since I tend to start approximately a year behind traditional and conventional schooling, my students tend to be older for their grade level, making it easier for them to comprehend and master concepts.

The Unit Study Approach

The unit study approach can be applied to any existing curriculum, which makes it a versatile way of teaching. Suppose you are working with your science curriculum, and you come upon a particular subject area that you want to spend more time on. Applying the unit study approach in that case means that you can depart from your existing curriculum for a period of time and dive into that particular subject area. The freedom to include other subject areas into your unit study can enrich the experience for you and your students. With a little bit of forethought you can include other subject areas, including math and language arts into your unit study for holistic organic learning. Unit studies can be the standalone curriculum in some cases. You can take the subjects that you want to cover in the year and trim them into unit studies where you spend a concentrated period of time diving into that particular subject area. The kind of work you show for your unit study can vary from student to student and family to family, making the unit study approach customizable. 

Another added benefit to the unit study approach is that it serves the homeschooling family exceptionally well. Through the unit study approach you can teach multiple children of multiple ages or grades or abilities easily within one unit. By way of using an assortment of resources and expecting ability-appropriate work from each student means that one lesson can be delivered to all of your students whereas the work they produce reflects their capabilities and comprehension. A balance between main lesson blocks and unit studies can work very well for the homeschooling family. In practice it may look like this: a specific main lesson block for your grade one student who is just entering formal education with special blocks dedicated to reading, writing and math, followed by a unit study approach in history or science to meet the needs of all of your students at once. We practiced this often in our homeschool with some students getting a specific grade appropriate main lessons balanced by a unit study approach that could serve all of my students.

Another benefit of the unit study approach is the ability to use current resources, Living books, library books, or any other media to present the lessons. Rather than being locked in with a particular curriculum, unit study approach allows you to have more freedom in the resources to put together your lessons.