Must every child take art, movement, handwork, music, and foreign language?
Yes. At The Waldorf School, art is not a separate class, but an integral part of the day’s lessons. Students in every grade are expected to illustrate their books and papers with free-hand drawings. Students in an anatomy class, for instance, may be asked to make life-size charcoal drawings of a human skull while students in a geometry class may make origami-like sculptures out of paper. All students do watercolor painting once a week and attend handwork class twice a week. Music instruction begins in first grade with singing and simple flute playing. By third grade, all students are playing recorder and continue to do so through eighth grade. In fourth grade, students begin formal twice-a-week instruction with instrumental music teachers. They begin with a string instrument (either violin, viola, or cello) and may choose to switch to a wind instrument in fifth grade. Students who enter the school in seventh grade and do not yet play an instrument participate in the school’s handbell c
