Hi all,
I have been thinking about those of you planning your Waldorf homeschooling Grade Two experience. I have been speaking with several mothers locally and via email.
One thing that has come to my mind is that whilst the theme of Waldorf Grade Two is this notion of the duality of man (as shown in the lesser traits in some of the animal fables and the higher traits shown in those other-worldly Saint stories) , sometimes it is easy for the year to feel a bit disjointed.
One thing that I think will assist you is to think of what you would like to predominate in your Second Grade experience – folk tales? American tall tales? Saint/hero tales? Fables? and build the majority of your blocks around that.
Thoughts from anyone out there planning Grade Two?
Many blessings,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
I’m planning Grade 2.
I took a smattering of everything! 2 weeks of American Folklore, saints scattered all over the place, 2 weeks of Jataka tales, 3 weeks Aesop and lots of other nature stories pulled from the above and other resources. I am really looking forward to next year!
For us second grade is sort of an animal year. We do the fables along with our phonics and then I try to find Saint stories that involve animals as well.
So we are learning about animal homes(science/nature), silly animals that do stupid stuff and get in trouble (fables) and animals who interact with noble people (Saints).
I think this sort of pulls everything together and shows the child different sides of the same story. The real, the silly and the noble.
I’m trying to pull the animal stories and saint stories that go with our seasonal themes. It is difficult knowing WHAT i want to do but not knowing all the stories and subject matter by heart. I ordered all the books I’ve been wanting from amazon and am pouring through them.
I do feel much more confident and easy about this year.
I’m having trouble find a resource for math 1-3grades.
We really enjoy making 12 pointed stars and such but I need a little inspiration for more. Any suggestions?
Sherene,
If you type in Second Grade in the search engine or use the category button, you will see all my Second Grade posts with all the resources I used listed….there really is a lot out there!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Hello Carrie,
i have decided to go ahead and school my daughter at home next year and she will be in year 2. i am using melissa neilson as a consultant for the year and also her curriculum. what i am interested in is actually looking at someones plan for the year. i just cant seem to get a mental picture of what it looks like. i have read some of your years 2 posts and the resources but i would love to see it actually on paper. is there someone i can find that might give a visual of their years plan? im sure once i start consulting with melissa she may help with this but for now if you could point me to somewhere on this blog or another just for me to have look that would be great. thanks Carissa
Hi Carissa,
Congratulations on your decision to homeschool your daughter this year. How exciting!
I am sure Melisa will help you plan all of this out for your family…There really are not many second grade blogs out there to look at on the Internet. I hope some mothers who are doing second grade this fall will consider blogging about it to help other mothers. You could look in Marsha Johnson’s free files to see how she lays out a block (her files are through her Waldorf Yahoo!Group waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com), and you can also peek at the pictures of work from homeschoolers here: http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/resources-for-waldorf-homeschooling-and-conscious-parenting/gallery-of-student-work/2nd-grade.html (free) and here:http://millennialchild.com/CDCatalog/Resources/WaldorfElements.html http://millennialchild.com/CDCatalog/Resources/WaldorfElements.html but none of these will really give you a day by day plan but rather a peek at work done in different blocks.
Every homeschool looks different, and I think that is the challenge for folks new to homeschooling. Your homeschool might start with a walk; mine might start with singing. You might do a math block first; I may start with a form drawing block. I may do “King of Ireland’s Son” as a read-aloud only, and you may choose to really do a Main Lesson Block on it.
Some of the back posts about blocks, science blocks in grade one and two (oh, there’s an example of one I did lay out pretty completely: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/08/18/an-example-of-a-first-grade-science-block/ This is grade one, but it still gives you an idea!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Hi Carrie, All those books on my list are from yours!! I’ll look back to pull some math resources. It has been so exciting having so many hardcopy resources coming into my hands. My library here is very focused on the local school system ( one of the “best” library and school system in the country) so not the resources I need. They are very helpful and order things from elsewhere ( got many Steiner lectures that way). But its comforting to be developing my own library. And I know that there are many younger families coming up behind us that will find the books helpful.
Hi!,
We are starting second grade with my twin girls and I am so very excited! I am just in the planning stages now, reading through some fables and legend stories to figure out what “themes” I want to bring to my children. I will be blogging our journey if anyone else wants to follow at http://www.schoolforallseasons.blogspot.com. I will be using a mix of Melisa’s Little Garden Flower, Eric Fairman’s A Path of Discovery and some Live Ed resources, as well as my own twist.
P.s. I also have Melisa’s Math book which is a wonderful resource for 1-5th grade!
🙂
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