Today I’d love to share with you some resources for adding Waldorf into your homeschool.
While our family isn’t a 100% Waldorf homeschool; I use a lot of Waldorf books and resources, especially in the early years. I would say about 1/3 of our homeschooling is Waldorf inspired.
How we ventured into Waldorf
It was evident when we began homeschooling that our eldest wasn’t interested in the ‘conventional’ ways of learning.
She has an artist soul and is a great story teller, but trying to get her to mindlessly copy the same letters or concentrate on anything ‘school like’ was challenging.
When I started looking into homeschooling philosophies I loved many aspects of the Waldorf education.
When I first read about the first 7 years of a child’s development with the Waldorf education philosophy, it spoke to me greatly with the observations I was seeing.
I loved that art and stories are incorporated into all subjects.
Head, Heart, Hands.
All lessons focus on multi sensory learning approach to focus on the whole child and inner being. It’s not just about learning, it’s about growth of the individual.
Our eldest was perfect for the slower unfolding into academics.
Since then I’ve managed to gently introduce her to language arts (mostly Charlotte Mason or Brave Writer inspired) but I try to spend some focus on incorporating art into many lessons in a Waldorf inspired way.
My favorite Waldorf books & where to buy Waldorf Curriculum
Where to Buy Waldorf Curriculum
I borrowed a Christopherus homeschool curriculum for kinder and grade 1. Below are a few websites where you can buy high quality Waldorf curriculum. If you have others please let me know in the comments 🙂
- Lavender Blue Homeschool
- Live! Education
- Christopherus Homeschool Resources
- Waldorf Essentials
- BE Earth Institute
Waldorf Inspired
Teacher Guides
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- The Main Lesson Book
- The Tasks and Content of the Steiner-Waldorf Curriculum
- Making Math Meaningful
- Geometry Lessons in the Waldorf School Grades 4 & 5
- Creative Form Drawing: With Children Aged 6-10 Workbook 1
- Charles Kovacs offers great lessons in storytelling form in his book series. So far I’ve only used Astronomy and Geology, but I really like it.
My favorite Waldorf Books
We use a lot of seasonal inspired Waldorf books for crafts, recipes, songs and creating holistic homeschooling. I love being in the kitchen with the kids and love the stories and recipes in these books. I also add lots of kids nature books.
Waldorf Story Telling
Waldorf uses a lot of the Brother’s Grimm tales. Also common are the tales of Tiptoes lightly (a fairy) and Pine Cone and Pepper Pot (two gnomes). Stories are also seasonally inspired and full of nature. Our kids love ‘Tell me a Story’
Waldorf Art Supplies & Books
I picked up Painting and Drawing in Waldorf schools but didn’t end up doing much with it. I’d like to add form drawing into our homeschooling because I’ve read it’s wonderful for development. We’ve loved modelling with beeswax, watercolors, using beeswax crayons and making things with clay. Our kids really love making peg dolls, especially during the winter months.
If you’re new to Waldorf art there are some wonderful lessons (you can do some for free) from Waldorf.ish
Waldorf Words & Math
Our kids loved (and giggled non stop) at Pine Cone and Pepper Pots introduction to the Alphabet in this book.
Waldorf likes to integrate math with stories which I love. I never had much success implementing it myself, but I love the math gnomes. There are some great stores on Etsy like GoodFaithToys that sell math gnomes and other peg dolls. You can also make your own.
Do you have any favorite Waldorf Homeschool Books, Curriculum or Resources?
Hi Isis, thank you for this post. I will be starting Waldorf in the fall with my 7 and 10 year old kids. I’ve been doing Charlotte Mason for 2 years but I love that Waldorf incorporates several subjects into 1 main lesson. Do you have any other books suggestions for main lesson blocks for 4th grade in a Waldorf setting?
What I did was browse Waldforf curriculum websites and see what subjects they teach each year. We’re doing a building and house unit for our grade 3 this fall, we did a norse mythology with my grade 4 this year and will be doing Botany for grade 5. I have a couple of Charles Kovacs books as a guideline, he was a teacher and it’s in story format and he has books for all the grades for sciences or history taught. I believe Lavender Blue Homeschool just began selling main lesson blocks this year so you don’t have to buy the whole year and can choose, she has up to grades 4 I think . I hope that helps! Best of luck 🙂
I am extremely new to the idea of homeschool but am diving in to it with my incoming 1st Grader and 3.5yr old preschooler this year. My oldest did not do well in public kindergarten. She has trouble focusing and needs more 1 on 1 instruction due to that and her fear of being wrong. The poor kid shuts down if she doesn’t know something immediately. The distance/at home learning at the end of the 2019 school year REALLY helped her get on track with where she should be according to public school standards. Due to the above, I don’t feel that she thrives in a strict and rigorous academic environment. I am looking at Waldorf, Charlotte Mason, and nature based programs hoping that it will inspire her more. Have you heard of Blossom & Root (it is CM based and very in to nature learning but offers other approaches as well). Any opinion on that curriculum with some of your above Waldorf touches added in?
I am so happy you were able to observe your daughter and that she might need a quieter environment to learn. Our oldest gets overwhelmed quite easily (she’s in grade 5 now) but I recall K and grade 1 challenging as I didn’t know how to approach things slowly and also quit when she started to tear up. I love the book the Brave Learner as an approach to homeschooling the individual child and making things work for you https://amzn.to/30s82a8
I love the look and approach of Blossom and Root but haven’t used it yet. I think I might try a science level or buy the level K so that I can experience it and review it as so many people have asked me that question! I like adding in form drawing and some of the Waldorf seasonal art and celebrations at the younger grades.
Hope that helps and best of luck with home learning in the fall 🙂
We will be starting second grade this year, so exciting! After using various Waldorf curriculum over the last three years I can say we really love the curriculum from BE Earth Institute. It’s less expensive that many oyhers, and comprehensive. Even including things like sheet music and foreign languate.
After having a disappointing experience I wouldn’t recommend Waldorf Essentials. But that is a matter of personal opinion, as many seem to really like it.
I haven’t heard of that BE Earth Institute, thx for letting me know so I can add it to this list of Waldorf resources. 🙂
We love everything we have purchased from Treasures from Jennifer (especially the calendar!), but especially related to your list of Waldorf resources are her books “Fairy Mail” and “The Gnomes Gemstones.”
https://www.treasuresfromjennifer.com/collections/all