South African curriculum

In Waldorf, in each grade, we study certain things. So in grade 1 it is Fairy Tales. Grade 2 Nature Stories and The Saints. Grade 3 Old Testament, clothing, fibre and housing etc.

As we live in South Africa we will study our local tribes and history instead of Native American. When the children are older we will study Native Americans. I think it is very important to learn about one's own country - to understand our roots.

I have bought a South African curriculum called Little Footprints. The age suggestion is 4 to 8. I think it is way too academic for that age and use it, spread it out over grade 2 and 3. I do not use it as a stand alone curriculum, but use it as local geography and history blocks. The story books are fantastic.
For grade 4, 5 and 6 I bought Footprints on our Land. It is a very good curriculum. The draw back is that it is very expensive for what you get. The books are all "home" printed in black and white. The covers are a very light weight cardboard, that pick up stains and dirt easily. The teachers guide is also black and white. The cover has a plastic sheet to keep it clean. It is not much more expensive for the producers to have laminated the front cover instead. The binding is also inferior, so you have to be very careful when using your teachers manual. For maybe R20 more the producers could have used the metal ring binding and laminated the front cover.

But after all that I would still buy the Footprints on our Land curriculum for the content alone. The curriculum is a literature based curriculum. It consists of 24 books. I do the first 8 books in grade 4, the next 8 books in grade 5 and the last 8 books in grade 6.

I will be buying the Footprints into the 21 st Century for grade 7 and 8.