The morning unfolds with a two-hour lesson taught by the class teacher. Academic subjects are addressed at this time, when the children are the most attentive. Each subject is focused on for a block of three or four weeks to allow the student to become deeply immersed in the subject. Themes underlying the curriculum start with fairy tales in grade one and then move on through historical evolution and into current times by the eighth grade. Later in the day the students are engaged in music, arts, movement, French and Japanese language, handwork, nature walks and physical education.
The academic curriculum covers all the subject matter required by the B.C. Ministry of Education, but the timing and emphasis may vary in order to best match the development of the children at a given age. For instance, children learn to write before they read. In mathematics, the four processes, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all introduced in grade one, with students doing fairly advanced geometry and algebra in the late elementary grades. Science is introduced in the younger grades through nature studies, with gardening leading into botany; and nature stories and fables leading into the later study of zoology and physiology. The early building, cooking and other practical activities prepare for mechanics, physics and chemistry in grade seven and eight. By grade eight, the geography curriculum has encompassed the world, as has literature and history. The students are now ready to use their escalating intellectual capacities to explore the challenges of our modern world.
In Waldorf education, teaching is regarded as an art as well as a science.
