Middle School

In the middle grades, Waldorf students truly become people of initiative who are competent communicators and have empathy for others. Through ambitious hands-on projects and experiential learning of physics, chemistry and physiology, students hone their ability to observe carefully, to ask questions and to think critically. This careful study lays the foundation for advanced academic work in high school and college.

Highlights of our middle-grades curriculum include:

Sixth graders create and run their own business. From vision to processes to outcomes, the class works together to actualize their business plan, often donating profits to a community organization. Around the same time, students create a home budget with an imaginary job and salary, and learn about paying bills and saving or investing money.

Seventh graders study chemistry, with a primary focus on understanding combustion and the effects of heat. In one beloved experiment, students use Bunsen burners to heat a wood chip in a test tube, watching the wood smoke but never ignite. As the heat continues, a clear liquid begins to collect towards the top of the test tube, a thicker brown and black liquid collects near the wood chip, and the wood begins to blacken. The question arises: Where is the flame?

Before any lecturing or memorization, students simply observe the phenomena, and experience awe when they hold a match up to the vent with smoke coming out and find that it quickly ignites. In the end, students examine the charcoal left from the experiment. They also draw the experiment, strengthening their understanding of the scientific method by encouraging careful observation and recording. This all occurs before a discussion in which they learn about the chemical byproducts.

Eighth graders complete intensive Individual Research Projects. Students spend months researching and developing these ambitious, self-directed projects, after which they present their projects to the student body. They devote sustained effort and discipline toward this “passion project,” developing skills in research, organization, problem-solving and public presentation.

In recent years, students have used their projects to study the practice and history of comedy; to repurpose materials, using the leg of a table to make a lamp or an old piano top to make an elegant table; and to learn to weld, using that skill to make thoughtful and whimsical sculptures.

Students in all middle grades learn history by reading and discussing biographies rather than simply memorizing facts and dates, creating a larger context for their understanding of the world and the past.

While studying botany in fifth grade, students read about George Washington Carver, who fought for his own education, and went on to teach a nation to heal the land using crop rotation, especially the peanut plant, after years of depletion by the cotton plant.

When learning about the rise and fall of Roman civilization, sixth-graders read about Zhang Qian, who mapped out the nomadic pathways through the mountains that led to great markets, especially the well-traveled Silk Road.