Prairie Moon Waldorf Middle School 

Enroll Now—9 Spaces Left!

Enrolling for Fall 2015, the 6th/7th grades combined class will inaugurate the Prairie Moon Waldorf Middle School. As one grade is added each year, Fall 2016 will enroll a 7th/8th grades class and a stand-alone 8th grade class will begin in Fall of 2017. Students will remain on the Prairie Moon campus for the first two years, thus remaining a part of the school community as a whole.

Overview of Curricular Subjects
(Main Lessons) by Grade

Sixth Grade

The sixth grade curriculum sees a transition in outlook from a compliant, energetic class which is ready to tackle anything put before them, to one that begins to question many aspects of their world, especially authority.  The questioning affects every relationship; those with adults in particular and the perennial “why” begins to creep into their daily lives. While looking for confirmation of authority in their lives, they look for cracks therein as well as in the general meting out of just and fair responses. They are particularly keen on discovering how their own behavior affects those around them. The curriculum expressly addresses these themes through main lesson blocks such as the rise and fall of democracy in Rome (justice and authority), physics, light and shadow drawing, and business math (cause and effect), as well as geology, geometry, astronomy, and essay writing (structure and order).

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade is a challenging year academically and is often the time in which students who, until now, have been lagging, find their strengths in academia—a catharsis that often translates into gains in other areas, such as social relationships. As with an increased capacity for knowledge, the adolescent also feels the pull of independence more keenly. The adults in their lives, as well as their rules, are suspect and fodder for criticism. Simultaneously, they absolutely count on those adults to be there, holding the boundaries for them. There is a tendency to become fixated on the self and passions therein run hot (and high and low). The curriculum seeks to match these quickly changing children with subjects of great import which, in and of themselves, upended the status quo: the Ages of Discovery, Reformation, and Renaissance.  Inorganic chemistry and mechanical physics literally transform matter while anatomy and health and nutrition speak of the very body undergoing so many changes. Mathematics is squarely centered in algebra, where debate cannot exist and there is only the certainty of a single answer—a relief in tumultuous times. In order to draw the gaze of the student away from self-consumption, perspective drawing forms an important part of their artistic endeavors, while creative writing allows them freedom of thought and imagination.

Eighth Grade

The metamorphosis of the adolescent continues strongly in the eighth grade. However, what begins to emerge at this time is a young person who has begun to reach equilibrium within themselves in the three main areas discussed above: academic, emotional, and physical. Although the change is far from complete, they are now developing a capacity for a more even-tempered observation of and participation in the world.  Their capacity for critical thinking is far more developed, allowing them to present coherent points of view, understand subtleties such as intention in both language and in action, and an ability to view and judge polarities. These come into play in academia through writing research papers, reading and recitation of epic poetry and literature, and the study of culturo-political histories. Their study of themselves continues with physiology, while other sciences such as chemistry and physics advance. A desire to rebel and reinvent is still strongly present and is addressed though meteorology and the industrial revolution. Mathematics expands and deepens through advanced algebra and geometry. Throughout all, they work to build their capacities for both judgment and self-responsibility, which is often taken up through service work.

Main Lesson Subjects by Grade

 

Specialty Classes Offered Throughout Middle School

Woodworking
Choral and Instrumental Music
Handwork
Movement and Games

Art and Theatre

As in the lower grades, art and the acquisition of artistic skills, run as an undercurrent through all curricular endeavors. Not only do students learn valuable lessons in art, but they also acquire self-discipline, patience, determination to see projects through and the art of self critique (and forgiveness). Theatre is also a strong part of the curriculum, and serves as a vehicle to impart large parts of the year’s learning in a dramatized context.

Service Work

In addition to the academic piece, students develop their humanitarian skills through service work. This includes tasks within the school community to regional projects (i.e. wetlands clean up), to national and international projects (i.e. fund raising on behalf of others in need through Heifer International). This draws the student, whose natural inclination is to center on the self, to look outward toward the needs of others.

Extra Curricular Activities

Extracurricular activities include forming sports and other theme-related groups in order to continue their skills in group cooperation. It also includes class trips, both short and extended, that develop the students’ independence as well as address curricular themes in a real world setting. This year, for example, the sixth grade class will travel to the Badlands to camp and study geology and astronomy, among other subjects. All extended class trips include a service component.

Student Support

Middle school students will have access to a student support system that addresses conflict resolution, academic and emotional support, as well as access to other care-based needs. The middle school faculty and, in part, the administrative staff, will serve in this capacity.

 

Why a Waldorf Middle School?

For years, there has been a growing desire among the parent body of the terminal grades (5th/6th) class to begin a middle school, so that their children could continue in the Waldorf method of education. Interest has also grown in the immediate region from parents who have felt concern over the direction that public elementary and middle school education has taken over the last few years. Prairie Moon Waldorf School’s decade-long development into a strong and dynamic grades program that honors the whole child has created the necessary foundation from which a middle school can arise.

As with early childhood and the grades, the middle school ethic revolves around the appropriate developmental stages (physically, emotionally and academically) of the child, hence a continuance of the lower school idea of educating the whole child. The principle focus for middle school is on the developing adolescent. This period often begins with a questioning of authority and a growing consciousness of individual thought and desire, both of which often clash with a previously accepted daily paradigm implemented through both parent and teacher relationships. A Waldorf middle school carries the intention of honoring the necessary changes and upheavals that accompany this age but within an environment that exerts strong and clear boundaries for the student, coupled with appropriately challenging academic experiences.

Waldorf education has identified major themes present in and sought out by the newly developing adolescent and it seeks to meet these needs through its curriculum, service work, extra-curricular activities, and student support systems.  Some of these themes are:  cause and effect (what will happen if I…?); justice (fair, non-hypocritical behavior by peers and adults); a need for structure and order; a desire to jettison old rules for new ones of their own making; a keen need for independence while still needing adult role models; understanding intentions behind words and actions; an enhanced capacity for judgment; and a desire to take on more responsibility.

If this sounds like the program for you and your emerging adolescent, please contact the school to schedule a tour at info@prairemoon.org or call (785) 841 8800.