Curriculum Comparison of Waldorf Essentials and Live Education Grade 5

While I haven’t used the Waldorf Essentials curriculum, I’m sharing a comparison of what each curriculum offers. This is a visual comparison with my thoughts on our experience with the Live Education curriculum. We have used Live Education Waldorf curriculum for 20 years. You can find Melisa at Waldorf Essentials all over Social media and on the Waldorf Essentials website. https://www.waldorfessentials.com Find the complete Live Education Waldorf curriculum from KG to grade 8 on the Live Education website. https://www.live-education.com I compared the Live Education Grade 5 curriculum, which I have used for about twenty years, with the newly updated Waldorf Essentials Class 5 curriculum created by Melissa for Waldorf Essentials. Live Education was written by Waldorf-trained classroom teachers and follows the traditional Waldorf pedagogy very closely, offering extensive teacher content and support. Waldorf Essentials is written by a homeschooling Waldorf parent and is designed to be beautiful, practical, and user-friendly, with guidance, coaching, and a digital option that makes it easier to access and apply at home. I have used Live Education through many grades with my four children, so I know it well. Although I have not taught from Waldorf Essentials (nor do I plan to), you can see that it feels more approachable for a homeschooling family and for teachers/parents who have less familiarity with Waldorf education. Live Education is very thorough, more intensive and assumes that the parent or teacher has a strong background in the Waldorf approach. Waldorf education as a whole is based on the child’s developmental stages, not just on academic skill level. The stories are the foundation of the lessons, and academics are built around them. I plan my school year rhythmically: head subjects like math and grammar in the fall, history and writing in the winter, and science in the spring. Each main lesson unfolds over several days so the material can rest and deepen. I prefer a three-day lesson rhythm where I tell the story one day, revisit it with writing or drawing the next, and complete it with an activity on the third. Although the Waldorf ideal is oral storytelling, I often read directly from the lesson books, especially when I have limited time. Find me here:   / pepperandpine     / pepperandpine     / pepperandpine   https://www.pepperandpine.com