Roseway Waldorf

This is an age in which uncertainty becomes an ever greater reality and the mundane realities of everyday life outweighs the colourful world of imagination that has until now held the child. We often refer to this developmental stage as an experience of 'the expulsion from Paradise.' The nine year-old 'crisis' is met in the building and farming projects that form an integral part of Class Three. In studying farming the children are exposed to the production of food, coupled with responsibility for the earth and an appreciation for the cycles of nature - the days, the seasons, the rains and the droughts. A feeling of wonder and thankfulness for the working together of all things that live in the world is fostered. A vegetable garden is dug, composted and planted to involve the children fully and practically. In studying building the children are exposed to homes in different parts of the world. Again there is a practical focus, with modeling, visiting a local building site and the building of a simple structure.

Stories of God's order, authority and power taken from the Old Testament provide a reassuring structure to the developing world of the nine year old!