OUR PROGRAMS
“Every education is self-education, and as teachers we can only provide the environment for children’s self-education. We have to provide the most favourable conditions where, through our agency, children can educate themselves according to their own destinies.” Rudolf Steiner
PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS
Young children see beauty and purpose in everything and are naturally curious about all that comes to meet them. It is this sense of wonder that opens them to the wonders of the world. Their safety and well-being come from well-established routines. The repetition of daily, weekly and seasonal activities softly transitioned with songs and movements help them to adapt and understand the changes in life.
KINDERGARTEN-GRADE 7
“The heart of the Waldorf method is that education is an art-it must speak to the child's experience. To educate the whole child, his heart and his will must be reached, as well as the mind”.
Rudolf Steiner
Kindergarten
Starting around 5 ½ years old, children develop their imagination and fantasy. They can listen to fairy tales and make up their own narratives while playing. The daily rhythms on our play-based program, supports the children's development of focus while encouraging the growth of their healthy social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills. All the activities are an invitation to learning while having fun. Painting, modelling, and circles games develop coordination and dexterity, language improvements, and memory growth. Storytelling creates the foundation for long-term literacy and cultivates patience. Cooking builds understanding of mathematical concepts and refines their sense of taste and smell. By 6 years old they are able to do more complex activities such as finger knitting and telling a story with beginning, middle and end.
Grade 1
In Class One, fairy tales, folk tales, and nature stories are the literature base. Students prepare to read by first discovering the forms of the letters in nature and related visual images and through writing. In their Main Lesson books that are their own textbooks, crayoned pictures of mountains and trees metamorphose into the letters M and T. The students experience the qualities of numbers and the four operations in arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). They learn to knit and play the Pentatonic Flute in first grade.
Grade 2
In Class Two, the students hear fables, legends and stories of saints and heroes from different cultures as they continue their academic work in writing, reading, and arithmetic. This year the children begin cursive writing from a solid foundation of form drawing, which develops eye hand coordination and mental flexibility.
Grade 3
In Class Three, the students study the ancient stories of the Old Testament. The study of practical life includes farming, gardening, housing, wool spinning and weaving. Through many and varied practical activities, students experience how human beings in many different cultures and climates transform the raw materials of nature to meet their needs. In Mathematics, measurement, time, weights, and money are learned. Grammar and composition now enter the curriculum. Students learn to play the recorder.
Grade 4
Class Four students hear the epic tales of the North, the Finnish Kalevala and Norse mythology. Zoology, local geography and map-making, as well as local history of First Nations peoples and early settlers are central to this year’s themes. Fractions are added to earlier math skills. A holistic approach to the study of the animal kingdom occurs over the year. In form drawing, students draw complicated weaving forms such as Celtic motifs.
Grade 5
Class Five students study the history and mythology of the ancient cultures of India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, and Greece, as well as the geography of Canada. This year, students study the science of botany and in math, are introduced to decimal fractions. They learn to knit with four needles, play 3 recorders (alto, tenor, and soprano). The students of Class Five participate in a Waldorf Olympiad with other regional Waldorf schools.
Grade 6
Class Six students embark on a diverse curriculum. In addition to their first Physics lessons (sound, light, heat, static electricity, and magnetism), the students study Geology, Roman and Medieval History, Astronomy, Geometry, Business Math (interest and percentage), and ratio and proportion.
Grade 7
Coming Soon
TESTIMONIALS
"We are so glad that we chose Lakeside school!My children absolutely love to go to school. The small class sizes, respectful attention to each child and quality of wholistic learning is unmatched in the Okanagen. This School and the community that have gathered around it are real gems"
Sarada E
"The smallest school with the biggest heart. I have been part of this school community for 8 years now. My children have received a very well rounded and rigorous education in a helathy loving environment. I am so grateful for this wholistic approach to education
Theresa W