A Waldorf Physics curriculum for homeschool & classroom educators.
Welcome to the home of our Waldorfish Middle Grades Physics program!
What's Included?
Between 16-20 lesson videos per grade (6, 7 or 8) that model HOW to guide your child through a phenomenologically-based Physics block (*Phenome-whut? See our helpful video, below!)
Ongoing discussions w/ teacher Ari Magruder & demonstrations for adults covering:
Step-by-step demonstrations showing HOW to do each lesson with your child
How and why to create rhythm in the lessons
Easy-to-implement ideas for DIY-ing some of the necessary supplies
sample Main Lesson pages
PDF templates for collecting data for many of the experiments
sample block schedule
ongoing access to Ari inside the classroom for questions, ideas and inspiration!
Details:
Like our other Waldorfish courses, this program is video-based, and accessible inside our online classroom.
After enrollment you will get immediate access to all the lessons – this will allow for planning ahead, and working through the lessons at your own pace!
As with all of our other courses, once you have paid in full, you get unlimited access to the lessons, forever. They will continue to be accessible whether or not you are able to watch them right away or not.
In this video, we talk with Ari about what a “phenomenon-based” science curriculum looks like in Waldorf education. This will help answer many questions, including “who are these courses for?” This video is about 18 minutes long – pour yourself a cuppa and settle in!
Ready to enroll?
(refund policy is in the FAQ section of this page.)
The 6th grade physics course introduces the topics of acoustics, optics, thermodynamics, magnetism, and static electricity. Caregivers and teachers will learn how to bring these topics in a hands-on, developmentally appropriate manner. A few highlights include: harnessing the power of the sun with a magnifying glass, exploring what happens to various substances when they are heated, and the field of force surrounding a magnet.
The 7th grade physics course builds upon the foundations that were brought in 6th grade. Caregivers and teachers will learn how to guide their students to deepen their observational and investigational skills, while continuing to introduce concepts in an accessible and hands-on manner. This grade expands the studies of optics, moves from the ideas that were brought with magnetism and static electricity into the realm of current electricity and electromagnetism, and introduces the subject of mechanics through the study of the six simple machines. Highlights of the 7th grade curriculum include: exploring the law of the lever with teeter-totters, a Rube Goldberg-inspired project, and the creation of the simplest of motors through the use of electromagnetism.
The 8th grade physics course is the culmination of middle school physics studies. Caregivers and teachers will learn how to meet the growing abilities of their 8th graders, while continuing to bring concepts in an active, engaging, and developmentally appropriate manner. Students complete their 8th grade year ready for the ever-deepening curriculum of high school and beyond. The 8th grade course covers the topics of fluid and aero mechanics, density, and electricity. Highlights of the 8th grade physics curriculum include: playing with the concepts brought in fluid and aero mechanics through the creation of Cartesian divers, exploring density with a hot air balloon, and using electromagnetism to build a simple telegraph machine.
Bundle Pricing Notes:
*Customers using charter funds may not use Bundle pricing. Please use individual course prices. This includes Charter Schools purchasing directly with a credit card.
• Bundled price for 2 Physics grades includes a 15% discount of the regular price. $270.30 v. $318
• Bundled price for all 3 Physics grades includes a 20% discount off the regular price. $382 v. $477
If you would like to Bundle 2 Physics grades OR a mixture of Physics and other courses, please contact us, here.
Please include the course names, grades, and preferred email address for us to enroll you with. We will send you a payment link - once paid, we will manually add you to your courses and notify you via email.
*Mixed Bundle pricing:
2 courses purchased at the same time = 15% discount
3 courses = 20%
4 courses = 25%
5 courses = 30%
*Bundle pricing cannot be applied retroactively.
*Payment plans available through Afterpay and PayPal Pay Later.Supplies:
Part of teaching science in an experience-based way involves the use of a variety of supplies.
After registration, you will receive a detailed supply list inside your classroom.
Ari explains everything she uses, and also offers DIY & alternative options for materials.
Be prepared to watch through the lesson videos prior to teaching this block, in order to plan your supplies ahead of time. This is not an “open and go” program!
“Purchasing your 6th grade physics course made all the difference. The videos showed me how easily I could perform the experiments and the sample main lesson pages helped me see the whole process. You turned this into an absolute joy for us! ”
Your Guide:
Our program has been built in partnership with Waldorf teacher, Ari Magruder. Ari is currently the middle school science and math teacher at Sacramento Waldorf School. She also contributed to the teacher education and summer Art of Teaching programs at Rudolf Steiner College for many years.
Frequently Asked Questions:
-
We encourage families to think of our science courses as "Levels" - they are designed to match the science content typically taught in specific grades at Waldorf schools - however, if a child is in a different grade but has never done any Physics or Chemistry, we encourage you to start as close to the beginning of the series as possible. The benefits of our lessons are cumulative, with each lesson building on the knowledge that came in previous lessons.
-
Each Physics course contains 16-20 lessons. Each lesson contains, on average, 1-2 videos. The videos vary in length, however, they average out to about 10-12 minutes each.
Some families use the lessons in a typical Waldorf "block", which means they will cover a single grade in about 3-4 weeks. Other families spread the lessons from one grade out over the whole school year, doing 1 lesson every week or so.
There's a lot of freedom around how you choose to use them, and you could definitely cover more than one grade in a year if you wanted to.
-
Yes, all videos are high quality, so you will need a fairly high-speed Internet connection to view them. The videos are a vital part of the content of this course, so please do consider this. We are not able to provide alternative viewing options for people on dial-up or on very slow connections (and we cannot give refunds if you are having issues viewing the videos due to your internet connection). Therefore, please bear this in mind when registering. If you have regular broadband, you should be fine. The videos in this course are *not* downloadable.
If you are easily able to use any of our sample lessons with your current wi-fi/internet setup, then you're good to go!
-
Families can view course content from any recently updated web browser or mobile device.
-
Forever! Once your course is paid in full, you get access to the lessons for as long as you need them.
-
Due to the digital nature and immediate access of course materials we do NOT offer refunds.
*Contact us within 24 hours of purchasing your course if you need to request a grade switch.
-
This course is sold to be used 1 per household. If you would like to use this course in a homeschool group or class, please contact us first to discuss price & permission.
*I’m still not sure if this course is right for me.
Uncertain if this is the right course for your family? Send us an email! We'll help you sort it out :)