Roy Wilkinson Curriculum Guides

Curriculum of the Rudolf Steiner School

Wilkinson's captures the essence of subject, timing, and approach for grades 1 through 12 in Waldorf education. You'll find a remarkable tour of the 1919 curriculum, with modern commentary and suggestions, in under 60 pages!

Commonsense Schooling

Wilkinson's masterful skill at conveying complex things with clarifying brevity really shines in this book and makes it an outstanding introduction to Waldorf education. When Commonsense Schooling was first published, the London Times Education Supplement said of "this structured and well-written account" that "it translates Steiner's educational thought and methodology into practical English terms." The response to Wilkinson's work has more than justified this opinion. A great place to begin learning about Waldorf education!

The Temperaments in Education

This is an extremely conscise, highly useful explanation of the temperaments and how to work with them to the advantage of all students in a classroom. Filled with anecdotes, examples, even illutrations of the different drawing styles of each temperament, any parent or teacher will find this to be the sort of book you pull out again and again.

Questions and Answers on Rudolf Steiner Education

The author tackles a potent list of FAQ's about Waldorf Education. In so doing, he simultaneous presents a very lively picture of Waldorf schools and the education itself.

Interpretation of Fairy Tales

Interesting and useful, Wilkinson offers interpretations of the most beloved of the Grimm's fairy tales.

Fairy Tales considered are:

• Hansel and Gretel
• Mother Holle
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• The Elves and the Shoemaker
• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Golden Goose
• Strong Hans
• The Travelling Musicians
• The Frog Prince
• The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Valiant Little Tailor
• The Billy Goats Gruff
• Jack and the Beanstalk
• The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces
• The Fisherman and His Wife
• Tom Thumb
• Snow-White and Rose-Red
• The Queen Bee
• Cinderella
• The Table, the Donkey and the Stick
• The White Snake
• The Three Languages
• Iron Henry
• King Thrushbeard
• Star Money
• The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs
• The Shroud
• The Water of Life
• Rapunzel
• The Goose Girl at the Well
• The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat
• The Golden Bird
• Hans in Luck
• The Crystal Ball
• Simeli Mountain
• The Sleeping Beauty
• Spindle, Shuttle and Needle
• The Three Little Men in the Wood

Plays for Puppets

This little gem contains dialogues and diagrams fro handpuppet productions that can be performed by two puppeteers, perhaps with the help of an assistant. Notes are also given on performing these plays with groups of children.

The plays are:

• The Billy Goats Gruff
• The Owl
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Travelling Musicians
• The Dragon and the Boy with the Flute
• The Donkey, the Table and the Stick

Miscellany

Contents include:

• "The Golden Key" - a play for Eurythmy
• Verses for small children (useful also in Eurythmy)
• "The Alphabet" - a poem
• "Thor's Journey to Giantland" - an alliterative poem
• "Prometheus" - a poem in the Hexameter rhythm
• "The Nose Competition" - a play for a party occasion (Translated from the German of Hans Sachs)
• "Verses for Gymnastics" - with a note on teaching

Teaching Mathematics

At long last, teachers, parents, and most importantly, the students in their charge can again benefit from Roy Wilkinson's insights into teaching mathematics.

Here, in his typically concise and complete style, Wilkinson has shared the basics of the Waldorf approach to teaching mathematics in Grades 1 through 8. Each page is packed with direction, examples, and a world of understanding. This is an outstanding resource for anyone wanting to know more about the art of teaching as it applies to the world of numbers.

Contents:

• Class 1 & 2: From the whole to the parts - Number symbols - Pictorial introduction to the four processes - Rhythms - Number games - Geometry in drawing and movement
• Class 3 - Measurement - Derivation of terms
• Class 4 - Fractions - Factors - Ratio and proportion
• Class 5 - Families of numbers - Decimals
• Class 6 - Squaring, cubing, square and cube roots - Geometrical figures - Pi - Percentage and interest
• Class 7 - Algebra - Graphs - Golden ratio - Progressions - Pythagorean theorem
• Class 8 - Platonic solids - Algebraic fractions

Old Testament Stories

Wilkenson retells the main stories from the Old Testament (from the Creation to the Twelve Prophets), rendering them in "just right" for third graders while retaining the upright beauty of the King James translation. Wonderful for retelling to a class or for homeschool.

Commentary on Old Testament Stories

Mr. Wilkenson summarizes the stories in an easily readable manner and then comments very concisely on their more significant aspects. Rudolf Steiner gave many indications about the Old Testament but they are scattered throughout his work and Mr. Wilkenson has "digested" these and related them to the appropriate stories. He also refers to valuable non-biblical sources such as the legends surrounding the birth of Abraham. He relates the events to contemporary happenings in other cultures, for example that the Exodus from Egypt took place at about the same time as the fall of Troy.

- an appreciative reader

Teaching Practical Activities

Nine- and ten-year-olds are at a stage where they feel suddenly separated from the greater world of nature. They may feel exhilarated by this fresh breath of independence, but also a bit lost as the natural world which they previously felt at one with becomes more distant to them.

One of the ways Waldorf education meets this developmental change is by introducing practical activities, ways in which we humans, now distant from nature, can nonetheless befriend and work with the natural world.

Wilkinson does a lovely job of gifting the teacher or parent with everything needed to sustain the newly-independent 3rd or 4th grader. He includes poetry and prayers that in older days people used to keep themselves at home in the world yet connected to heaven. And of course, he also shows you how to teach the basics of the subjects at hand.

This is one of his warmest books.

Contents:

• Introduction
• The Plowman's Charm
• Väinämöinen's Sowing
• Farming and Gardening
• Healthy Soil or the Story of Willy the Worm
• Cultivating Soil
• Types of Soil
• Manuring
• Tools
• Sunnyside Farm
• A Diversion
• The Year on the Farm
• Housebuilding
• Bricks
• Timber
• Glass
• Concrete and Mortar
• Pipes and Wires
• Furnishings and Equipment
• Bibliography

Teaching Geography - Wilkinson

Contents Include:

• Introduction
• The Playground of the Winds
• The Story of Leeds
• The Story of Edenbridge
• Discussions of content, approach, method by students' age from 10 to 18 years

The Human Being and the Animal World

Up to age nine, children do not differentiate clearly between their own inner life and the world outside. They experience the animals as brothers and sisters who can speak and act as human beings. Types of animals have been characterized in the fables which Waldorf students have heard in their early years. At age nine, the student experiences the separation of him/herself from the world. Teaching students about the relationship of animals to human beings rebuilds the bridge between the student and the world.

Contents include:

• Rudolf Steiner's Ideas on Evolution
• The Human Being and the Animal Compared
• The Group Soul
• The Threefold Human Being
• The Cow
• The Horse
• The Elephant
• The Lion
• The Camel
• The Dog
• Birds and Fish

The Norse Stories and Their Significance

At first sight, the Norse stories appear to be a weird and wonderful collection of tales, illogical in sequence and with no coherent theme. . . . However that may be, there is in the Norse stories a great depth of knowledge and, fragmentary as they are, they are probably relics of old Mystery wisdom. They present a picture of evolution, of the creation and development of the human being and his connection with higher beings; they show the human being's struggle with adverse powers, the fading of the old world conception and the birth of the ego which leads to new powers of perception.

- Roy Wilkinson

Contains 28 stories, beautifully retold, with commentary by the author.

Teaching History - Volume 1

The History curriculum for 5th and 6th grades in a Waldorf school follows the thread of development of the post-Atlantean cultures through Ancient India, Persia, Egypt and Chaldea, Greece and Rome. This provides a picture of the changing human consciousness from ancient clairvoyance to the loss of spiritual vision and, with it, the awakening of independent awareness and materialism. Wilkinson guides the teacher to a deeper understanding of the spiritual significance of mythologies and great epics, and shows how the ancient world points the way to the future.

Contents include:

• Ancient India - The Ramayana, Krishna, Buddha
• Ancient Persia - Zarathustra
• Egypt and Babylon - Isis and Osiris, Gilgamesh
• Greece - The Illiad, Theseus, Demeter and Persephone, The Odyssey, The Argonauts, Hercules, Prometheus, City-states, Biographies
• Rome - Political development, Development of Christianity, Conquests and collapse, Biographies

Teaching History - Volume 2

In the History curriculum for 7th and 8th Grades in a Waldorf school, the focus is on the developing individual human biography and consciousness, from the Renaissance and Age of Discovery to the great upheavals and new inventions in modern times. At any given time there are both backward-looking and forward-looking elements. This books follows a timeline through the history of Europe and North America. References suggest ways to weave in similar material from other cultures. These can also be included in Geography and Literature studies if the History period allotment is too confining.

Contents include:

• Middle Ages - Teutons, Arab expansion, Charlemagne, Feudalism, Crusades, Church and State, Towns, Universities, Natural Science, Nationalism, Religion, England, Knights and Chivalry, Monasteries (6th Grade)
• Renaissance - Art, Literature, Learning (Erasmus), Politics, Social Life, Discoveries, Commerce, Science, Biographies (7th Grade)
• Age of Rationalism - Thirty Years' War, Louis XIV, Civil War in England, Russia, and America, Science and Culture, Prussia (Frederick the Great), Industrial Revolution, Colonization, American War of Independence, French Revolution (8th Grade)
• 19th & 20th Centuries - Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, Trade with the Far East, Empire building, Scientific investigation and its impact, Russian Revolution, Biographies, Capitalism and Communism (8th grade)

Teaching Physics and Chemistry

A remarkably comprehensive and concise detailing of the subject matter and methods to be used for science blocks in Waldorf 7th and 8th grades. Includes instructions for demonstrations and experiments, along with explanatory line drawings.

Contents include:

• Introduction
• Sound
• Light and Colour
• Heat
• Magnetism and Electricity
• Mechanics
• Hydraulics
• Pneumatics
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Combustion
• Salts and Salt-Formation
• The Metals
• The Organic World
• The Nature of Substance

Nutrition, Health, Anthropology

At around the age of thirteen, students become increasingly aware of their physical body and they should, therefore, learn something about nutrition, conditions of health, their own bodily structure and their relationship to the world generally.

- Roy Wilkinson

Themes touched on in this book include: feelings and experiences related to food, ways of growing crops and raising animals, medicinal uses of plants, life forces in plants, elements of a healthy diet, chemical fertilizers and food additives, bread making, raw and cooked foods, digestion, food for the soul, breathing and blood circulation, conditions of health, the human skeleton, threefoldness in the human form, the human being and the universe.