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Copyright © 2017 Donna Simmons 1

A Rough Guide to Sixth Grade

Welcome to our Rough Guide to Sixth Grade. Now, in 2017, we are in the midst of creating a series of new Christopherus materials especially for the middle grades. This means that our thinking about the flow of main lesson and other subjects has changed.

If you have an older edition of this Rough Guide, you will see that this new one is substantially different, so as to allow for new thinking, research and writing for our middle grades customers. We are excited about these changes and feel that our curriculum materials are now far more coherent.

As 2017 fades into 2018, there will also be new content on our website, including free podcasts which will be relevant to parents of middle grades children.

Please check the Christopherus Bookstore frequently to see what new publications are available. If you subscribe to our free monthly email newsletter, The Homeschool Journey, you will be kept abreast with all these changes.

Don’t forget to visit our Amazon Store where you can purchase most of the books referred to in the following pages.

Copyright © 2017 Donna Simmns 2

The following is an excerpt from our Fifth Grade Syllabus as we thought it would be helpful to you as you plan for sixth grade. We have removed specific references to fifth grade. Some of this will be relevant to you, some will not, depending on how you structure your child’s at-home learning.

Key to the Year’s Schedule

Daily Warm-up Time — The need to move and get the blood moving remains as important as in earlier years. So a daily walk or bike ride or some sort of personal-best warm-up time is in order. Now that your child is a bit older, more disciplined movement such as martial arts or yoga could also be appropriate.

Music — We recommend that you schedule specific time for music lessons. This can be time for practicing the recorder or another instrument or, if you are able, for you to instruct your child in music. Further practice will probably take place outside the “school schedule”. Fit in singing where you can.

Games — Play games with your child on a regular basis. Board games, card games, strategy games and outdoor games are all possible — anything other than computer games, basically! And save math games for math lessons.

Cooking — Spend time during your study of geography cooking specialties from the countries that you study.

Modeling and Painting — These activities can take place during main lesson or Extra Main Lesson. Either tie your work in with main lesson content or come up with other ideas for subjects to paint or model during scheduled slots. Don’t forget to allow time for a free painting (child’s choice) after he does what he is meant to be focused on. And do open your modeling lessons with some of the exercises from Learning About the World Through Modeling which will continue to be an invaluable guide through the middle grades. Never worry about repeating exercises or subjects from earlier years.

Handwork and Crafts — Schedule these as seems best but do make sure that projects get finished and that there is a sensible progression of work throughout the year.

Gardening — This can take place during various times in the year. If possible, tie in geology and biomes lessons with your gardening work.

Health and Social Studies — Refer to the notes to follow to decide what you need to do about these topics, if anything at all.

Extra Main Lesson — All Waldorf schools have Extra Main Lesson time built into the schedules from about fourth grade on so as to give the children enough time to finish what they were working on in the morning.


Five Day Week — Our main lesson schedules assume a four-day teacher/student week plus one day a week when the child does some work alone. For ease of scheduling, we make this a Friday, though there is no particular reason why your “Day Five” should be a Friday. If this fifth day is your co-op day, then make sure your child has an hour before you leave the house to do some lessons. Perhaps he also has further work to do when you get home in the afternoon. Tasks for the fifth day could include: finishing up main lesson work from the day before; reading; worksheets; doing handwork or finishing a craft project; music practice; copying something into a notebook. Keep an Assignment Book, a fairly small notebook in which to clearly write what your child should be doing each Friday (or Day Five). Make headings and keep it simple. Your child can check off work as he finishes and show you at the end of the day. More independent homeschooling in later years will rely heavily on processes like this.

Daily Read Aloud — Ideally, you will read aloud to your child every day. The daily reading is not bedtime reading which should really continue to be more peaceful and conducive to getting off to sleep. Daily reading is stories which are more challenging, gripping or exciting and many relate to main lesson content. We realize that those of you with several children will need to make some compromises. A read-aloud time that includes everyone should be geared toward younger children. You big sixth grader can listen in — and perhaps he will have to read most of the suggested read-alouds to himself. That’s just one of the things one has to do when one homeschools. And perhaps, there are special times when just he gets read to.

Rest Time — Yup, rest time for twelve-year-olds. Human beings need a bit of a rest after eating and children also need a bit of a rest after a full morning’s work. It is no longer necessary that your child rest on her bed, but she should be in her room or perhaps curled up on the couch. Reading might be OK but guard that this doesn’t morph into other activities. This is rest time — and rest does not mean doing things! I have heard too many parents say that their child needs to do something during down time. That may be true — but it means there is then a problem and that needs to be tackled. Every human being needs to develop the capacity to rest and go inward. Music tapes do not constitute rest though one might find them restful. Help your child with this — she is too young to completely decide this for herself.

Field Trips — Field trips would be great during your geology studies, when you need to spend time looking at local geographic features of where you live. A trip to a science museum can support further geology work as well as physics and studies of biomes. A trip to an art museum to look at Roman, Islamic art as well as art from Europe in the Middle Ages would be great. Do spend a little time comparing what you see with a look at the Greek and Chinese art you might have looked at last year.

We suggest you consider scheduling in a “finishing up week” at the end of the year. This week will give you time to ensure that there are no projects left hanging or main lesson books sitting on a shelf unfinished. It is very healthy for children to have a sense of completion and of drawing their work to a close. Rudolf Steiner recommended that at the end of the year the class teacher, together with the children, think back over the year and verbally recapitulate what they did together. Touch on all subjects; on


projects, field trips and artwork; on highs and on lows. Don’t rush. Perhaps spend two mornings on this. Use this time also as preparation for an end-of-year celebration.

Having an end of year celebration to enjoy and review what was accomplished over the year is a terrific thing to do — and something that homeschooled children can miss out on. Invite family, friends, neighbors — join with other homeschoolers and put on a big show! Why not? They would at school!

Daily Schedule8:00 Warm-up Time, chores or daily walk

9:00 Main Lesson (open with a candle and verse)

10:15 Snack

10:30 Lesson A

11:00 Lesson B

11:30 Lunch prep, play, lunch and rest time

1:00 Read Aloud

1:30 Lesson C 200 Lesson D

Finish school at 3pm

“After school” — play, movement, music lessons, sports, free time to draw, hang out, read, do nothing, cook, etc. Working with the rhythm of head, heart and hands, the head is engaged in the morning, with an academic slant to lessons. Late morning is the time for the heart, with more artistic lessons scheduled. (Obviously there is overlap here as head, heart and hands are also elements within each lesson as well. Nevertheless, one should give some thought to when different lessons are scheduled.)

Lessons C and D are for hands where possible — This is the time when, ideally, to strengthen your child for intellectual work, training such qualities as perseverance, planning, observation, coordination, forethought and mindfulness in the course of gardening, crafts and handwork lessons.

You need to be very organized in order to homeschool: if you haven’t figured that out yet, here’s your chance! And the more children you have, the more you have to be, on the one hand, rigorously well-organized and, on the other, relaxed. It’s a question of balance — when to let go and when to make sure it happens, whatever it is!


Language Arts We strongly suggest that you consider changing the way you approach language arts with your child this year. We suggest that you schedule one 1 hour lesson and one 30 minute lesson per week, instead of three 30 minute periods as in past years. This will give you and your child a longer uninterrupted period during which you can work in-depth on a paper and discuss relevant points about grammar, spelling or so on. During the shorter lessons your child can work in a workbook or copy things into his English Notebook as in past years. Remember, you will also have plenty of time to address language arts issues during most of your main lessons.

Here is a rough sequence of goals and expectations for language arts this year. Much of this is review from last year:

Poems/Verses Find suitable poems or verses for your child to memorize this year. Excerpts from speeches made by appropriate historical figures or excerpts from pays (such as Shakespeare) or other historical documents are possible alternatives. Some can be copied into main lesson books. Try to ensure that your child has an opportunity to memorize at least one really long piece this year.

Oral Reports Make sure your child has an opportunity to give at least one oral report this year. If possible, this should be given to a small audience. Your child should not read aloud a paper he has written, but should be able to speak clearly and in a lively and comfortable way about a subject. He should have a clear ending and beginning.

Read Aloud (child) Your child should continue to read aloud to you — 15 minutes once every two weeks should be sufficient.

Read Aloud (you) Ideally you should read aloud to your child every day. If you have more than one child, most reading should geared more toward the younger children though it would be good to have occasionally times when you are reading grade appropriate material just to your sixth grader. This simply does not always work out in all families!

Reading Please check our Amazon Store page Great Read Alouds Age 12 — 14 for suggestions. We have many suggestions in both our Roman History and Medieval History books.


Spelling Devise worksheets and various exercises to support weaknesses in spelling; have occasional or weekly spelling “Bees”; play games such as Boggle, Quiddler, Scrabble; address most spelling issues via correcting of student writing together. If your child would benefit from an orderly spelling program, do consider Spectrum workbooks. Have a look at the books for fourth and fifth grade as well as sixth. And do be aware that the books include other Language Arts lessons which might not blend smoothly with the approach you’ve taken with your child thus far.

Spelling Made Simple by Stephen V. Ross or Painless Spelling by Mary Elizabeth Podhaizer are decent resources for you, the teacher, to ensure that you cover an orderly progression of spelling lessons if that is what you feel your child needs. The latter book also has a few rather interesting ways to approach spelling. But…these books are for you — not for your child as far as I’m concerned! Use with care!

Writing Science reports; creative descriptions and narratives; copying your writing or that of an author’s; dictation; writing summaries from history lessons or of stories you tell or your child reads; working together to write short pieces as well as a couple of biographies.

This year pay special attention to use of dialogue; and ensuring your child is sensitive to point of view both when reading and writing.

Continue to take a fairly low-key approach this year. There is more on writing in both our Roman History and Medieval History books.

Other kinds of writing suggestions will also be found in our sixth grade science publications, Physics and Earth Science.

Using a dictionary and thesaurus; Vocabulary Be sure that your child has reason, on occasion, to consult a dictionary and thesaurus. Review how to use these tools. Pay special attention to necessary vocabulary when focused on science subjects (more on this in our publications, Physics and Earth Science.)

Abbreviations and Contractions Your child should know what common abbreviations and contractions stand for when he encounters them in reading and should be able to use them appropriately when writing.

Letter-writing As in past years, make sure your child has several opportunities to write to businesses, perhaps requesting a catalogue or for other reasons (perhaps in connection with business


math?). These should be proper letters, not emails. Knowing how to graciously write thank you and other letters and cards should also be part of every child’s education.

Grammar Review the four types of sentences, parts of speech; antonyms, homonyms and synonyms; use of possessives; capitalization and punctuation; verb tenses; and the use of active and passive voice from last year. Move ahead with work on verb phrases and awareness of the use of linking verbs; compound sentences; direct and indirect objects; subject and predicate; and the use of speech marks in dialogue. Draw your child’s attention to the use of quotations in books you read or look at but do not expect him to be able to use quotes or examples in his writing yet.

If you are a bit rusty on grammar rules and so on, it might be a good idea for you to get a good guide for your own use. Everything You Need to Know About English Homework by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly is one such possibility, but with a strong caveat that this book is for your use and do not give it to your child for her own use. Further, please do NOT think that you should subject your child to any of the paragraph building exercises outlined. Really, you should just ignore the sections on writing (and that holds for just about every other writing/composition book on the market except for books by Gabriel Aquilevich which we sell in the Christopherus Bookstore). But you might find this book useful to brush up on your own English skills (do you know what an adverbial phrase is?) and to become aware of what otherly-educated children are doing. This book is also a good guide to help you see what areas of language arts you might or might not have yet covered.

Grammar Skills grades 4 – 5 by Rosemary Allen (World Teachers Press) is ok. The graphics are pretty horrible and some of the exercises are pretty dumb but it covers the bases and so could be a good guide for you as you design exercises for your child. Grammar Practice Simplified gr 5 -6 from Essential Learning Products is also okish.

History

Do purchase our Roman History book as well as our Medieval History book to help you plan and create your two history main lessons this year.

In both books you will find long detailed lists of various books you might wish to purchase (check our Amazon Store) or borrow from your public library. In addition, you might also want to give some thought to what general history resources you have in your family library as these books will become increasingly important in the years to come. I highly recommend the multi-volume The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant. Though not all parts of the world get the treatment they deserve, these books are some of the most brilliant, entertaining, scholarly yet accessible history books available.

8 Copyright © 2017

Geography This year’s focus is on Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Some of the preparation for this block will have taken place in your earlier geology/biomes/meteorology block when you talked about the face of the Earth and how it presents itself across the globe. You can introduce your geography lesson by starting at that point, as almost all of the earth’s biomes are represented in this geographical region.

Start then with looking at the land itself and making maps. You could try to make a giant map stretching from the far North in Europe down to North Africa — that would be a wonderful project. You could also do one or more smaller raised paper mache or similar maps of various smaller regions, of perhaps Europe.

From looking at the whole of this area, you can then spend the rest of the main lesson looking more closely at the various regions and countries. Try always to tie in how people live (or lived) with the land. Do also refresh your and your child’s memories of past lessons in fourth and fifth grade focused on the myths and legends of people from this area. You will also have had your Roman History and Medieval History main lessons, so do revisit as appropriate.

Here are some further things to consider:

• as always, look at the land, plants, animals, water, weather, and humanculture/industry

• look at the vast variety of languages and where languages are the same —for instance,ask your child if she remembers or can think why Arabic is the language of such a vastpart of the land you are studying.

• Tell or read stories and myths from various countries and look for ways that similarstories traveled from one culture to another

• Do not make a main lesson book for this block. Instead, make a portfolio, collage,scrapbook or other way of recording what your child has done.

• Your child can, with your help, write a short report on one country. It could be nice ifthat report is based at least in part on a conversation your child has with someone fromthat country (with you present helping keep track of information and organizing notetaking – your child is too young to take notes whilst having a conversation).

• Create a variety of folk crafts from various countries/regions. There are zillions ofbooks in any public library which can help with this. Resources for regional recipeswill also be plentiful!

9 Copyright © 2017 Donna Simmons

• As with last year’s geography lessons, you should create a quiz for your child. Sheshould have to name the countries and their capitals and/or fill in blank maps with thecorrect names of the countries. Learning a few major rivers and other waterways andfeatures (mountain ranges, deserts) is also important.

• Do help your child understand that maps change and are created by people —they arepolitical and often have little to do with the realities of the land or of the human liveswhich they separate or bind together. Spend some time looking at historical maps andhow, especially in Europe, boundaries changed frequently over time. And that inplaces like Africa, map lines weren’t even drawn by the people who lived there, but bymen meeting in Europe who desired to strengthen their influence over the globe.This can get pretty heavy, but it is time that such lessons be gently introduced.

Handwork, Crafts and Art The most important handwork project created by 6th graders in Waldorf schools is a 3dimensional stuffed animal. The child decides what animal he wishes to make and then he has to create the pattern for it. Thus he is challenged to think 3-dimensionally! This is a wonderful thinking exercise. It can be very easy to imagine how to create a flat stuffed animal — but to create a 3-dimensional one involves being able to visualize the animal from all directions. How do I make the tummy, the back, the head? The child sketches the animal from all angles and then has to create the pattern.

Handwork

Usually children create a cross-stitch pillow in 5th grade in Waldorf schools. We didn’t get to that in our curriculum so maybe your child can make one now. A wet felting project could be good, too. Maybe a bag? Slippers come next year.

Crafts

The children in a fully staffed Waldorf middle school have woodwork lessons in 6th

grade. Here they are given an opportunity to push against matter, to really exert their wills. This can be quite a challenge for many youngsters of this age who are inclined to be sluggish. Projects include carving a wooden bowl from a block of wood, whilst respecting the grain and demands of the wood itself. Another lovely project is to make a salad spoon and fork, again, carved from a single piece of wood. This is not whittling — the child is using tools such as a gauge, rasp and possibly plane.

A wonderful resource with some clear directions for such projects is Educating the Will by Michael Howard. This book also gives profound insight into some of the deepest and most significant aspects of Waldorf education. It is absolutely brilliant.


Your child could also carve soapstone but the wonder of handling the wood and getting to know something of the qualities of different woods is missing from this experience. Another possibility is to make a few projects carved from balsa wood first, before tackling hardwoods.

Toys

This is a great year to make simple mechanical toys, picking up on themes from the mechanics main lesson. Refer to Earth, Water, Fire and Air by Walter Kraul for suggestions. This book and some of these toy/craft ideas will feature in your second physics main lesson on simple machines (see more in our book, Physics).

You could really go to town with this theme of mechanical toys and make a set of marionettes and a stage!

Art

Learning About the World through Modeling by Arthur Auer and Painting in Waldorf Education by Dick Bruin and Attie Lichthart continue to be your main resources for these two disciplines. Do remember that there are sections on drawing and charcoal drawing in the latter book, including specific lessons for sixth grade.

The use of charcoal in drawing is a healing balm to children of this age. Caught up in the agony of early adolescence, most 12 year olds tend to look at the world in extremes: something is black, or it is white. By using charcoal, the children can explore these polarities and also see that much in art —and in life — lies in the middle, in the grey areas.

Charcoal drawing can mainly focus on the creation of shadows. Take a series of strongly shaped objects (a box, a ball and something pyramidal) and place them on a white surface and shine a strong lamp light on them in a darkened room. Draw the shapes and the shadows they cast. Experiment with the position of the light and the differing shadows created. There is the possibility of tying this in with geometry lessons as one explores how shapes change.

You can also use charcoal to draw landscapes and still life pictures.

Please note that there are specific charcoal drawing lessons in our Physics book as part of your child’s investigations into light and darkness.

Science As of spring 2017, we now have material for two main lessons on physics, the first on sound, heat, light, color and darkness; the second on simple machines. Themes from this latter main lesson are picked up on in our astronomy materials (due Fall 2017), A Year of Astronomy. Though astronomy proper is a seventh grade topic in our curriculum for a number of reasons, we suggest that astronomy, because of its nature, be regarded as a year-long subject, and not be


squashed into the normal main lesson format. Our A Year of Astronomy can either be begun at the end of sixth grade and carry on for a year, through the summer and throughout seventh grade; or one can begin it at the commencement of seventh grade and carry on until the beginning of eighth grade.

Summer 2017 also sees the publication of our earth science materials. This book will give your child a solid grounding in geology, meteorology and the study of ecological themes such as biomes. Seventh grade chemistry will pick up on some of these themes.

Further help with science this year:

Here’s a rather old but still relevant article about teaching about color during 6th grade physics lessons. It appears in the articles section of the Christopherus website:

Introducing Physics by Hans Gebert

Here are links to articles on the Waldorf library website (and there are many more to find if

you have the time to really go through all the Waldorf science teaching journals):

http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/firstscience.pdf

http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/PHENOMENOLOGY.pdf

http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/teachsciencehumanely.pdf

http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/edwardsscience.pdf

Okay — so if I was to choose one of these articles as the most important, as the one that you MUST read if you want to approach a Waldorf way to teach and think about science, then it’s this one, by the amazing Craig Holdrege of the Nature Institute:

http://www.janushead.org/8-1/Holdrege.pdf

I strongly recommend that you read the above articles and take your time in digesting them. The Waldorf approach to science is fundamentally different from the way science is taught in conventional education in many significant ways. I also strongly suggest that you purchase my audio download on Goethean (ie Waldorf) science:

Christopherus Audio Downloads

I also strongly recommend that you purchase our science book, From Nature Stories to Natural Science to get a good picture of the flow and context for middle grades science.


Mathematics and Geometry Make sure you begin by having a quick peek at our Christopherus overview of math through the grades

Here is a wonderful article written by one of the original Waldorf school teachers on why we teach mathematics. Much food for thought: The Teaching of Mathematics by Hans Gerbert

Please refer to our various resources first of all to decide how to proceed with math. You might need to purchase some of our fifth grade math resources if your child is behind in math.

Mathematic Lessons for Sixth Grade is the main text for 6th grade math which focuses on business math. It has examples in it, but you’ll need a selection of Key To math workbooks for practice and drill, unless you are willing to create all the extra problems yourself!

Here is our guide to selecting the appropriate Key To books: A Guide to Key To Math Workbooks grades 6 - 8

You also need String, Straightedge & Shadow which you used last year, assuming you used our fifth grade materials. If not, work through the book with your child, including the sections on the Pythagorean theorem. Go easy, though — your child will have many opportunities over the next few years to grasp the full implications of the Pythagorean Theorem.

The Key To geometry books provide an introduction to proofs and to the language and a way of thinking necessary to be at ease with geometry. In Waldorf education, the beauty and grace of geometry are never forfeited. Here is a book which provides step-by-step guidance on how to construct a variety of beautiful geometric forms: Compass Drawings

This year we move from free hand geometry to working with a compass and possibly protractor (though some people might wait until next year for that). Get the best compass you can afford. Do not, on any account, get one of those cheapo ones which close as you use them! You need a proper compass with a mechanism, probably a wheel, that keeps the compass open to where you want it. Office Depot sells good compasses along with other architectural tools.


Business Math

This is your child’s main focus for math this year. I scheduled this main lesson early on in the year so that you can use it as a foundation and starting point — and then carry on with this theme for the rest of the year.

One of the great things about homeschooling is that you can do things with your child that simply aren’t possible in the classroom. One of these things is helping your child launch a business, as a practical project for his business math studies.

It is best that this is a real business — babysitting, mowing lawns, selling eggs, whatever. The requirements are that your child (with your help) has to:

• make a business plan and budget• keep a business bank account (which you might have to do with or for him)• keep accounts (with a book, not a computer please!)• have real experience with loans, interest and paying off a debt• understand something of concepts such as overhead, wages, expenses and capital

investment

Now, this is obviously pretty sophisticated and your child is, after all, only 12! It is not important that your child fully grasp all of these concepts and their ramifications. But she needs to have a working experience of them and to be exposed to the issues around, for instance, fair wages and questions of debt and credit. But this is sixth grade, not high school, so don’t get too complex with either these issues or the business structure you help your child set up.

You can also help your child consider issues such as fair trade/fair wages and issues around charity and tithing.

Use the business you and your child establish to carry as many of your child’s lessons in decimals, fractions and percents as possible this year. Refer to the Schuberth book for ideas.

Geometry

A challenge for geometry this year is to keep its beauty intact and not let it get too fragmented by the approach Key To (good as they might be) takes. You might like to consider these few thoughts:

The true goal of a study of geometry is to get closer to the universality of Truth, Beauty and Goodness.


Through a high level of thinking we meet each other in Truth — there is no difference

of opinion or relativity here, only Truth. However, there are many ways to get to Truth.

Our souls delight in the Beauty of geometry, its grace, lawfulness and harmony.

The world is Good because it can be understood and because there is both Truth and Beauty in it.

Geometry Main Lesson

Pick up where you left off last year in String, Straightedge, & Shadow. Do not hesitate to once again draw, trace, cut out and generally approach what Diggins describes in as many hands-on ways as possible. And then also take things a few steps further.

Work out a sensible sequence to follow using both the Key To geometry workbooks and the compass drawing book. Your child’s main lesson books can have things from the Diggins book; forms drawn from the compass drawing book; and key concepts from the Key To workbooks such as definitions of straight lines; how to bisect a line and so on.

Your child can spend part of main lesson working on more hands-on type geometry ideas. Paper crafts which are based on geometry could be a good idea. Create more window stars from last year or take this further, doing stars your child could not manage last year.

Your child can also copy some of the beautiful compass drawings he makes into folded card to make beautiful greeting cards.

Math Notes:

• Make sure your child learns this year, if she hasn’t already, that she must show all herwork! Yes, it is tedious and yes, some children get really upset about thisrequirement. But it is crucial for further success in math. Once your child gets intoreally complicated mathematics, she must be able to tell you how she worked out heranswer. And this means that she can then discover where she might have gone wrong.So many problems children have with math are directly due to sloppy work habits.Don’t let your child fall victim to this!

• Sixth grade marks the beginning of a new phase in your child’s education: she is nowlearning to think logically. She needs to learn to be systematic in her thinking and notsimply rely on flashes of brilliance — which are wonderful but lead to a person beingone-sided and therefore limited. Showing her work when she does her problems isone way of countering this. Another is insisting that she take a step by step approachwith, for instance, learning the early steps in geometry.


• None of the resources we currently sell do much of a job providing word problemsand mental math. You must find other sources for this or devise such problemsyourself as they are an essential component of a strong middle grades math program.

• Make sure you revisit Roman numerals this year — perhaps during or after yourchild’s history block on Rome.

• Your child’s focus on practical math can also extend into his cooking lessons. Helphim shop and compare prices, figuring out if buying bulk really saves money andhow much. Do the same with coupons and other savings.

The following is reprinted from our Fifth Grade Syllabus :

ResourcesGeometry for Every Kid, Janice VanCleave VanCleave’s books are universally adored by conventional homeschoolers. Me? Well… not adored by me. Grudgingly used and somewhat admired for the clearness of presentation — but definitely not adored. VanCleave merrily chops up the various subjects she addresses in her books, failing to show any common thread or meaningful progression which unifies her subject matter, thereby draining a subject such as geometry of all its beauty and holistic majesty. But she is a master at presenting her concepts very clearly and, because she breaks things down, in making a subject such as geometry appear manageable. So her books can be useful.

I recommend this book but only for you, the adult, the teacher. Read it through, brush up on your own understanding of geometry, and then figure out how you can teach some of what she brings in a more holistic and living way to your child. And I should also say that this book is quite useful for sixth grade when your child will be doing constructions (though these will be thoroughly explained in the texts we are selling). Nevertheless, this book can be useful to those homeschooling parents who do not excel at geometry. And there are a couple of quite decent exercises and activities which she recommends which you might feel would benefit your child.

A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe: the Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art and Science, Michael S. Schneider A wonderful, respectful and very clear guide to the mysteries of numbers and the forms (geometry) they create or express. This book will give you a new appreciation of the Quality of Numbers main lesson you taught your child way back in first grade! This is a wonderful book to help you really prepare inwardly for the teaching of geometry over the next several years.


As mentioned elsewhere, do consider getting Claudia Zaslavsky’s lively and enjoyable books, Math Games and Activities from Around the World and More Math Games and Activities from Around the World. Just don’t use a compass or graph paper and no tracing templates!

The above books are all available from our Amazon Store. And while you’re on our website, do have a look at some of our sixth grade math and geometry materials as these will help you see where you are heading with your child.

Other Lessons

Form Drawing

Last year was your child’s last year of form drawing. Having said that, if this is a discipline that really speaks to your child, then by all means find time to continue with it! One really good resource for very complex forms is Rudolf Kuntzli’s Creative Form Drawings.

Otherwise, one way to continue with various elements of form drawing is to work with Roman geometric designs during your Roman history block and with Islamic designs during your Middle Ages block. We sell two books which you can use for these:

Geometric Patterns from Roman Designs and Geometric Patterns from Islamic Designs, both by Robert Field. There is a third book in this series based on the arches and patterns found in cathedrals and churches — this is best left until 7th grade.

Try whenever possible to get your child to approach these drawings freehand. Though it is okay to use graph paper from time to time, one then loses some of the therapeutic benefits of form drawing. It is the inner picturing of the straight or curved lines and the discipline of the will to make those lines correctly which is so healthful.

And don’t ever hesitate to return to form drawings from past years. My very form drawing-resistant son was thrilled in 6th grade to attempt drawings from 2nd and 3rd grade, noting how much he had improved and how much easier he now found these “impossible” forms to be. If form drawing is new to your child, do consider purchasing our Form Drawing for Beginners. The only difference in using this with an older child is that you would move a long at a much faster pace than with a little one.

Forms can be drawn for their own sake or as decoration for the borders of main lesson book pages. Some can also be carefully drawn onto colored card and then glued onto note cards to make attractive greeting cards.


Foreign Language

If your child has been having lessons in a foreign language or you’ve been teaching her, do carry on. At this point your child should be reading short texts and begin (with help) to translate them She should also be learning a bit about grammar.

Your child might express a desire to learn another language at this point in his education. It could be that this is in addition to the other foreign language he studies or it could be that he wants to change languages. In general, I would recommend studying two languages over dropping the first language unless there are compelling logistical reasons for doing so.

Another possibility is that your child studies Latin this year. This could grow out of his studies of Roman history. Your child’s relationship to English (and to Romance languages) will greatly benefit from any studies of Latin. However, Latin is a dead language and does not carry a living picture of a vibrant culture and so there are definite drawbacks.

Movement/Sports

Try to bring some variety to your child’s exploration of sports and movement. See what your community offers or if you can organize a homeschool class in….line dancing, yoga, circus skills, gymnastics or some sport that your child hasn’t yet tried.

Twelve year olds can be extremely sluggish — they can become very bogged down by the weight of gravity at this age and their resistance to movement (outside the favored sport or two) can be overwhelming. Don’t give up!

Social Studies

You should have no problem in meeting any state requirements for social studies as geography, history and business math will amply satisfy any criteria. The only exception might be if you are required to show that your child has studied American history this year. If that is the case, you could add an element of American business to his main lesson on business math; look at the establishment of the National Park system during your biomes studies; and note down any books your child reads which are focused on American themes.

Health & Safety

Health & Safety is obviously a very important subject and one can easily see why it is required by most education authorities. However, health and safety is clearly the kind of thing that lends itself most readily and sensibly to informal instruction at home, rather than contrived lessons at school. For us, then, the point is to live one’s life with one’s children and to do what every parent does — to teach little ones not to stick things in light sockets; to show an older child how to use a knife; and to talk about sensible use of


medicines, disinfectants and other potentially dangerous substances as the need arises. Some of you will live in places where you need to document such lessons.

You can spend time specifically covering some of the following content areas or you can simply work in health or safety considerations during appropriate lessons. So, for instance, when you make a point of having a conversation with your daughter about stretches she should do before she plays basketball, document it! You can put down such a conversation both for Health & Safety and for Phy Ed (Physical Education for you nonYanks!).

During cooking lessons you could also spend time teaching your child about food hygiene.

Here is how we feel this subject could progress without compromising what is appropriate for children at different stages of development (this document is found in our syllabuses for the various grades):

First Grade • Knowing name, address and telephone number• Basic hygiene — brushing teeth, caring for hair, using the toilet, when to wash

hands• Traffic awareness

Second Grade • Safety around animals (avoiding being kicked, bitten, scratched) and what to do if

something happens • Bicycle safety (and skating, skateboarding etc.)• Traffic awareness• Stranger danger as appropriate

Third Grade • Health and safety in the kitchen, around the house and in the yard and garage• Using tools safely• Weather safety

Fourth Grade • Learning to be safe around knives, guns, slingshots, etc.• Learning to be alone (for a while) at the library, mall, on the land, etc. and being

safe• Who to turn to for help• Safety in sports: the need to warm up and cool down


Fifth Grade • Working with herbs and simple herbal remedies (teas, etc.)• What to do in an emergency — fire, hurricane, accident, etc.

Sixth Grade • First aid• Personal goals in fitness and health• The need for relaxation (learning techniques) and good eating and sleeping habits

Seventh Grade • Cycles of life (sex education)• More sophisticated food safety/hygiene issues• Nutrition• What is health? What is disease?• Anatomy and Physiology• Learning about emotions, mine and other people’s• Conflict resolution

Eighth Grade • Taking a certified first aid course and/or babysitters’ course• The dangers of the internet and using a computer wisely• Drugs, sex and relationships• Consumer safety• Anatomy and Physiology


Music

Find ways to bring as much music as possible into your child’s education. Singing in groups, individual music lessons and group music playing are all extremely important elements of the Waldorf curriculum – and all or some take place every single day in a Waldorf school.

Cooking

Our Christopherus cooking curriculum focuses on the use of dairy products and on international cooking this year.

For the former, it would be great if you and your child could do things like make yogurt and yogurt cheese together. Making kefir and simple cheeses such as feta are also rewarding projects which are reasonably straightforward to undertake. Search the internet for advice.

If your family has milk allergies then it could be that you examine why this might be. Or that you focus your Cooking lessons on the use of alternatives to dairy products.

This year in geography you and your child will cover a huge range of cultures —and a huge range of cuisines! From the spicy hot food of Northern Africa to the mellow pasta dishes of Southern Italy; from the intricacies of Persian cuisine to the delights of Scandinavian cookery, there will be plenty to keep you busy during your cooking lessons!

Do make an effort to keep a country’s cuisine tied in with historical and geographical studies. As Islam spread through the Middle East, its dietary restrictions influenced what people ate — and yet there are substantial differences in the cuisines of Islamic countries. Countries that border the sea will reply heavily on seafood. Landlocked countries such as Switzerland will be based on other foods. Rice features in the cooking of Northern Italy, pasta in the South. And crescent rolls are a cultural reminder of the fact that Islam came very near to conquering Vienna, the home of the original croissants.

And do try to use some exotic ingredients as you experiment with cooking: you really must find a source of ligon berries when you make Scandinavian dishes, just as you need harissa for North African dishes and rose water for Middle Eastern!

As you study the Crusades during your Middle Ages block, do take a look at how the Crusaders brought sugar back to Europe. Before that, Europeans used honey when they wanted something sweet. Sugar had an enormous effect on Europeans and many of the Crusaders reported severe “sugar highs” in response to this alien food. Almonds and coffee were also introduced to Europe at this time.


Do take some time to look at Spanish cuisine during these studies as well. You and your child can really get a feel for the influence of the Islamic (or “Moorish”) world on the culture and cookery of Spain.

You can talk about the excesses of Roman feasts during your Rome main lesson and even try your hand at recreating a Roman feast! There’s at least one book in the Suggested Reading section of our Roman History book which focuses on Roman cookery.

Do be mindful as you look at history and cooking that your child understands that the fine cuisine which we value from various countries and from various historical periods was not, by and large, the food of the masses. This was the food of royalty and of the wealthy. Subsistence peasants did not live or eat well for most of history although some “peasant dishes” have been preserved in some ethnic cuisines.

Do use cooking lessons as a time to brush up on metric math skills which must not be forgotten. Conversion from one math system to another is a very good exercise.

Your child should be more independent in the kitchen now and most 12 year olds should be able to cook an entire meal, assuming your child has not chosen dishes which are too complex.

shortened sixth grade rough guide€¦ · assignment book, a fairly small notebook in which to...

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