LittleLeaf School llc.
>>Caring for the Heads, Hearts, and Hands of 2-8 year olds through the Arts, Nature, and a Warm Home Atmosphere!<<
Homeschool Grade Classes
Two days a week
Mondays and Tuesdays
designed for 12 students that are
almost 6 years old to 7 years old
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NEW FOR FALL 2010
Tayberry Grade Class
Two days a week
Wednesdays and Thursdays
designed for a class of 6 students
ages 5 to 6 years old
who share their day with a group of 6 younger children
in a mixed age setting.
This is a first grade class of students who will have
main lessons, handwork, arts, circle, music, and farm lessons
in the Waldorf Tradition of Education.
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Each class meets from
9am - 2:30pm
Through the warm home-like atmosphere:
children learn to prepare healthy organic snacks & household tasks become alive and fun.
Experiencing language arts, arithmetic & form drawing through stories in main lesson blocks
connects the child to a deep level of understanding and promotes an intrinsic love of learning.
Creative hands-on art projects are the foundations for learning.
Discipline is created by gently guiding the child through developmentally appropriate social skills,
there are no punitive punishments or time-outs.
Nature, reverence for the earth, and time outdoors exploring are a large part of the daily rhythm.
All activities are hands-on and done with an experienced energetic teacher.
There will be no television or computer time.
Every moment is an opportunity for growth and nurturing.
The Idea behind this Class
A sense of continuity, community, breadth, and warmth are such an intrinsic part of who they are
and the secure people we hope our children to be.
This class was born out of the wish to offer homeschooling children a classroom of peers that would stay the course for a few years together. Thus imparting a deep connection and bond with a 'class' or 'community' of peers that meets weekly,
without taking away from an amazing homeschooling connection with family and friends for the other days in the week.
My dream is to take this class of 5 to almost 8 year olds and travel with them through
the main lessons, stories, farm work, arts, handwork, music, and fun for a few years.
(Although, I do not ask for that commitment as a requirement, so don't worry.)
When the class graduates, I would like to circle back around and start a new class.
I am open to sharing the lessons with the families so that you may (if you wish) continue similar themes and work at home too.
Curriculum
In some respects, Form Drawing is the most important subject that your child will study, for it provides a good foundation for the letter recognition that is so central to reading, as well as numerical/spatial relationships that are so essential in arithmetic.
Important ideas that scaffold in Form Drawings are:
Concentration
Eye/hand coordination
Understanding the relationship of the part to the whole
Neatness and balance
Symmetry
Metamorphosis
ARITHMETIC
The Qualities of Numbers, Counting, Rhythm, Times-Tables, Numbers as Signifiers, Place Value, Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers, The Four Operations, Measurement, ...
LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading and Writing:
Movement from the STORY (which is heard), to the PICTURE, to the HIEROGLYPH or IDEOGRAM stage, to the final
LETTER {I have done these lessons with children who already knew how to read quite well and they were taken to a new, deeper
understanding of the letters and were so full of joy during the lessons}
Daily Recitation, Circle, Punctuation, Capitalization, Class Composed Books,
(Eventually, Cursive Writing, Grammar, writing their own short compositions)
{Reading is done in a very low-key and non-pressured atmosphere, for at this age it is less important that the children begin to read right away than that they become certain that, in time, they will actively be reading. For those who simply come to reading sooner, a number of books are always available which they could read aloud to their friends, or to themselves.}
FARM WORK
Animal Husbandry, Gardening, Shelter and Housebuiding, Importance of the Cycle, Seven Grains, Drying, Canning, and Freezing of freshly harvested fruits and vegetables.
Recorder will be played daily as well as a daily circle, out of doors time, and games.
Daily Rhythm for School Class
9:00am - 9:30am
Out of Doors
9:30am - 9:50am
Class Circle
Verse, singing, movement,
poetry recitation, games
9:50am - 10:10am
Snack
10:10am - 11:50am
Main Lesson
Recorder, Story, and Main Lesson
Listening and by ear and imitation of music,
Seasonal/Folk/Fairy Tale Learning Story followed by
Integrated Artistic Expression:
drawing, painting, modeling,
cooperative projects, seasonal crafts,
and/or writing.
Lunch
Recess! Out of Doors
hikes, building, gardening, play
1:30pm-2:30pm
Arts
Painting, handwork, sculpture:
Projects range from felting, sewing,
knitting, cross-stitch, clay, found object,
woodwork, natural art.
Age/skill appropriate projects.
Caring for the Children
Attaining knowledge is one purpose of the learning process, but just as important is to educate the heart and the will of the child, so that knowledge is joined with reverence and action. This is accomplished through seasonal observation, festivals, and fairy tales that reveal a graceful pattern, through music, art, and dance that open the heart to the beauty of creations, social interactions, and through the reverence that the teacher brings to the learning process itself.
Weekly Rhythm consists of the seasonal Crafts, Arts, Handwork, and Earth based activities. As well as, the snacks that we all help prepare and eat at Tea Time (or Snack Time) each day.
Monthly Rhythm celebrates the seasonal changes and festivals that are celebrated in each month. For example; birthdays are very special, Lantern Walk in November, Winter Spiral in December and so on.
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