New vs. Old Preschool Curriculum
updated January 5, 2020
New Recommended Preschool Booklist
The most Waldorf-y of curriculums is written by Live Education!
However, I prefer to take that money and put it into more specific books, spending the same amount of cash
but receiving much much more detailed information. Actually the same amount of money spent at
Bob & Nancy's Bookshop (a popular Waldorf bookstore) and
Amazon.com
(a great place to find used books) gets you hundreds and hundreds of pages worth of curriculum ideas! I have estimated a $300.00 cost to set up a preschool program,
including a dozen books and the initial art & craft supplies you'd need.
How much more you spend depends, of course, on what you choose for your activities each day.
Having done Waldorf with my small children for a while, here is the list
of essential preschool books I recommend to families who ask what they should buy just
starting out.
By purchasing the 12 books listed, you will have an excellent group of Waldorf resource books and you can blend them together to give you everything you need. I can help with the transition if you aren't sure how to put them together but you will receive...
a description of a preschool daily schedule ideas on how to set up the classroom recipes verses to use throughout the day many seasonal projects finger plays and games directions for making all the toys you'll need specific painting lessons songs to sing ideas for celebrating the festivals of the year beginning eurythmy lessons parenting suggestions child development information and much more!
Original Preschool Curriculum
Here's the older stuff. This was my first try at Waldorf.
This site records my journey. I hope my honesty is encouraging and helps break down some barriers that may prevent people from trying Waldorf methods. Because this is an ongoing site documenting my curriculum planning and ideas, some materials are more Waldorf-y than others. Please feel free to take what you like and leave the rest.
When my oldest daughter turned 2 1/2 I began to look around for homeschooling options. I chose Waldorf
education because it was clearly the best of the best. However, even though I was trained in Reggio Emilia and interested in Montessori and had a B.A. in
Philosophy and held a teaching certificate in Early Childhood Education, I knew
nothing about Waldorf. I purchased the Oak Meadow Preschool package and dove in. I began to read everything
I could get my hands on and I worked on gradually transitioning our home and my parenting and teaching style over to Waldorf.
These units and newsletters were what I wrote as a part of my transition. They are not necessarily what
I would recommend now because I know more now. But they are authentic to my journey and where I was at the time. I have
kept them online in case they help others who are going through the same transition.
Please always feel free to substitute my stories and ideas with what you have. They were just what I had in front
of me at the time.
And please be aware
that these lesson notes are descriptive and not prescriptive; at all times Waldorf education emphasizes responding to the unique
individual child who is in front of you.
There is not and never will be a prescriptive Waldorf curriculum which you can
purchase in binder form and turn to page 1 and begin. Why? Because of anthroposophy, the philosophy about human development which undergirds the Steiner/Waldorf method.
The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy by Rudolf Steiner
- essential reading
School "Subjects"
Music & Movement
Art
Nature
Cooking
Play
Handwork
Helping
Stories
To go with this I like this plan book.
 
Unit #9 - Rhythms
 Download
This unit is designed to be taught during the Spring.
Art: The art focus for this unit is clay.
Educating the Will - by Michael Howard
The Great Clay Adventure: Creative Handbuilding Projects For Young Artists - by Ellen Kong
Educating the Feeling-will in the Kindergarten article
Handwork:The handwork focus is
more advanced fine motor skills & projects, transitioning into Kindergarten.
Spring: Nature Activities for Children - by Irmgard Kutsch and Brigitte Walden
The Nature Corner: Celebrating the Year's Cycle with Seasonal Tableaux - by M v Leeuwen & J Moeskops
Nature: The nature focus is the rhythms of the outside world.
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children
- by Sharon Lovejoy
~ ~ ~ see the complete booklist ~ ~ ~
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