For this unit study on trees and plants, we are going to stick pretty close to the Live-Education Waldorf curriculum for the Botany Main Lesson. The Waldorf curriculum is fairly complete with just a few suggested supplement books. You will need your main lesson book, some color pencils or another art medium and a pencil.

How does our Main Lesson block differ from a unit study? With a unit study, I'll use a variety of books and projects and design my own curriculum. I'll figure out which books to read when and assign literature to my student if possible

Instead of tackling the big nature unit I had intended for the spring, I'm breaking it up into smaller units. This one was going to be a unit on the Rainforest, but I decided to add a few lessons from our Botany Main Lesson block from last year that we didn't get to. So this unit will have two focuses.

Springtime is the perfect time to depart the classroom and school in the field. What better place than outdoors in nature? I schedule our units so that our science units are in the spring when my kids and I just can't sit or focus and we all need to get out and get our bodies moving so our minds can move.

This spring unit is similar to ones we did in the past. 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. Sounds easy, but it's not always so simple. This time around, I have several new books and a couple new kits I'm looking forward to trying

Every Spring we eagerly begin our science units. Sometimes we are doing Waldorf Main Lesson Blocks, other times we are doing unit studies. This Bee Unit Study is one we’ve done a couple times so there are plenty of resources and projects available. Curious on how to put together a Bee Unit Study? Start Here to get ideas and see the books and projects to support a Spring Science Unit.

We did a Bee Unit study twice! Once in 2017 (smaller unit) and again in 2019. Whenever we do an updated unit or block, we tend to use new and existing books, we may even do similar projects, but overall, I like to approach the new unit with new activities and projects.

There's always excitement when I put together a new unit. It's the same excitement you might feel at the start of the new homeschool year. I love looking for new resources and assembling a nice balance of books and activities. It's not always fun though. Sometimes I hit creative roadblocks or in other cases, I'm overwhelmed by too many choices.

If you watched my Nature Unit planning video, you know I scheduled a lot for this spring! It didn't work out though. It was too broad and too hard to plan, so I broke up that big unit into weekly units and it's been perfect!

Anatomy the Waldorf way is comprised of three main topic areas: Health and the Human Body, Nutrition and Physiology and Muscles and Bones, Anatomy. It's not correct to call this an Anatomy Main Lesson Block, as anatomy is only one aspect of it.

Additionally, I have a separate video that shows all the resources we are using to put together an anatomy unit study. You may wonder why the two separate videos and separate set of resources.

If a Waldorf approach to Astronomy isn’t what you’re looking for, maybe a unit study is just right. You may choose any duration for a unit study. You may choose to include other resources or subject areas to make your unit study holistic, or you may choose to keep it focused.

Astronomy can be a compelling and imaginative study in which even young children can delight. Putting together a unit study for elementary aged student may include a variety of picture books and simple hands-on projects, but you may also want to include some biographies and games as well.

Putting together a new unit is always fun, but I have to admit that as the years go by and we circle back to familiar units, a new problem seems to emerge. Choice. What items from my own collection do I choose this time around?

These are the books and resources I'm using to put together our Waldorf Main Lesson Block for Chemistry starting in grade 7 and continuing to grade 8. While I recommend 1-2 chemistry resource books for the teacher to familiarize herself with scientific concepts, this is not meant to be used in delivering the lesson or for the student.

What's the difference between Waldorf chemistry resources and these resources? Primarily, it's in the scientific content. You'll find all the science that's been discovered through years and years of science exploration in chemistry and beyond collected and organized in the following resources. You will also find experiment suggestions.

Before the school year began, my daughter asked to study horses. So from that request came a thrilling unit that has me so thankful she asked! In addition to picture books, we have historical fiction, The Winter Horse and The Perfect Horse, both set in World War II time and Reckless also set in that time, but based on a true story about a horse and his championing heroism.

I'm sharing some of our most recent Mineralogy resources we are using for our homeschooling lessons while using our Live Education Waldorf Main Lesson on Mineralogy. This main lesson block is intended to last about 3-4 weeks however, our blocks always last much longer. March 27, 2024

New units are always filled with prospect and excitement. Collecting the material from the school room, library or elsewhere is definitely fun, but it can be overwhelming. I'm showing you the materials I'm using for our Mineralogy Main Lesson block. December 1, 2017

We are doing a unit on geology, and I thought I'd share the process of putting together this unit. First I decide what we are going to study. I use the Waldorf curriculum from Live-Education as our default curriculum, so if I'm at a loss, I can always refer back to it as inspiration. You can choose a topic you are interested in, or you can expand on something in your current curriculum and turn it into a unit. August 29, 2016

It's time to start a new unit and this time around I'm writing my own main lesson block for a study on the ocean. Ocean study is broad, so I'm focusing our work on local coastal plant and animal life, tide pool, tides, the Native tribes of the region, and the explorers who first discovered the Pacific coast. I've made this main lesson block both broad and specific, encompassing science, history, geometry and poetry.

Welcome to our mini unit on Sea Turtles. This was truly a mini unit lasting less than a week and specifically only 2 days. goes here

Welcome to our unit study on Whales! Or as we've learned, cetaceans. We are diving into this unit to study a select few marine mammals and to do so, we've sourced a variety of books that we are thrilled to share with you. We may not use all these books, in fact, for sure we won't be using some books in their entirety. Be sure to check back at the review video for a complete review of these books and resources.

Are you looking for a small unit study on owls? I've got you covered! I know my unit studies tend to be long, involved and contain a lot of books, but this one is small, with a few beautiful books, a couple projects and a game to start off the lessons.

I'm really excited to dive into this Waldorf Physics main lesson block. This is the first time we are getting materials from the science vendor Ward's Science. While I'm more familiar with vendors that cater to the natural sciences, I'm excited to explore these vendors and start to build our physics and chemistry units.

What child isn't captivated by dinosaurs?! I've known children who can tell me more about dinosaurs, or sharks, or trains than adults can or even some books. Capture that curiosity with a unit dedicated to this aspect of science.

I'm sharing some resources for a Reptiles unit study. While some of these resources were previously used for a unit on sea turtles, I'm sharing them here even though I wouldn't necessarily use them as deeply as we used them before. Some books are still readily available while others are dated and hard to find.

The mini unit study on evolution comprises of just three books at the moment. I've included this mini unit as part of a greater Dinosaurs, Reptiles and Evolution unit, but it could be added to a number of science units.