I shared some of my original thoughts on Jack's third grade year here. I was considering the heart of it to be those three blocks of grains, fibers and shelters that I was going to link together in a magical and enlivening manner. Except, nothing was working. I couldn't really wrap my head around how to actually DO it. I felt like because I couldn't get these blocks stablized in my planning I couldn't move forward and plan ANYTHING for either child. I was good and stuck and I took my freaking out over to Homespun Waldorf. Where thankfully, there was someone to talk me back from the ledge. Enter the calm and thoughtful Cypress:
"Ok...I'm prepared to see your foot come flying through the screen here to knock me off my chair (because I know you've been working for ages on this already), but I'm going to venture an opinion:
I think you are mis-using your mama/teacher superpowers by funneling so much energy into trying create stories to link a region with a grain, shelter, and textile.
It seems to me that this will press you into a focus on culture when what's really wanted in 3rd grade is a focus on doing. Linking the Far East with silk, rice, and thatched earth shelters or the Near East with wheat, linen and flat, mudbrick houses (is that even right?!) will come with the studies of Ancient Civ. And consider... the grains and fibers are not exclusive to any one region. My understanding is that 3rd grade means hands-on work that can always relate right back to Jack (rather than out to our big world family).
My dream 3rd grade would involve separate blocks for grain, fiber, and shelter...a sort of rich immersion into each of those elements. The planning would involve lots of gathering of materials and lots of co-ordinating around the growing season so that we could produce and process a wee bit of barley, wheat, corn, cotton, and flax, do a sheep-to-shawl project, make and use a spindle, dig clay and build bricks (maybe miniature for model building), dye some fabric, raise some silkworms, and do a hundred other things while we eat our home-canned veggies and chat about the shenanigans of Old Testament folk in the shelter of our hand-built tree house (or hobbit hole...or houseboat..whatever)."
So smart and just what I needed to hear to shake my head out of a muddle. Besides all the reminders to be "doing" (which is what I said I wanted for third grade, right?), I especially like this: "My understanding is that 3rd grade means hands-on work that can always relate right back to Jack (rather than out to our big world family)." Of course! We start with the CHILD and then move out into the world. I was leaving the child out of the process. Once I gave up the grand scheme I had concocted and simplified my ideas the planning just started flowing out of me.
My original plan was to do a Grains block for our first block. I'm changing this to a block I'm calling "Bringing in the Harvest". It will be a short three week block and we will cover three ways to preserve food: drying, canning and pickling/fermenting. I feel like I need to input here for people unfamiliar with Waldorf that this is not ALL we'll be doing during this block. Still plenty of time for math, reading and such! Here's a link to my simple plan for this main lesson. Lots of doing, I think Jack is really going to enjoy this. Plus our pantry will hopefully be a little fuller by the end of it.
