4Real Forums: History: Classical? Waldorf? Montessori?

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Across Time and Place
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Topic: History: Classical? Waldorf? Montessori?

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CKwasniewski
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Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 10:38am \| IP Logged

I have been thinking about the 4 year history cycle of the "classical" approach and wondering how it compares to other programs.

The "Classical" 4 year spiral just goes on without regard to the child's growth....

Those of you who have done Waldorf for a while--have you found that the history/literature really does mirror your child's inner development?

Anybody know what the Montessori history program looks like, through high school?

Thanks for your help!
Blessings,
ck

eta: I didn't mean to say that the 4-year cycle/spiral didn't change in depth or how history is approached. Rather, that the same TIME PERIODS are studied (more deeply)in chronological order, without respect to their relevance to the child's development.

hereinantwerp
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Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 2:56pm \| IP Logged

In the 4 year "spiral" you do history at very different levels---eg. simple books and stories, hands on projects and drawing, etc. for primary, introducing outlining and more writing for middle grades, in high school really looking at causes and effects, comparing different primary sources, long, polished essays or arguments-------

I looked long and hard at doing history the Waldorf way and read a lot about how the Main Lesson topics correlate with the child's development, etc. I found it very interesting but maybe a bit too----"rigid" for my comfort zone?? For instance if a child studies ancients in grade 6 vs. 5, does it really make that much difference? And also I started to find it very difficult as a mom to plan when you have kids at very different age levels. I started drowning in the planning and my efforts to "create an ideal curriculum", and for my own sake, decided to get back on a track that was more simple and sequential! (I am using Ambleside). This is just sharing my personal experience, though I did find much of my Waldorf reading insightful and helpful in other ways!!!

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Angela Nelson

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Willa
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Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 9:55pm \| IP Logged

Also, the 4-year spiral is just one program's interpretation of the "classical" method. It is relatively recent -- there were no chronological cycles in traditional classical education.

I sort of liked the way Waldorf tried to suit the chronological time period to a theme connected with the child's development -- but at the same time, found it sometimes a bit contrived, as Angela said.

I found this Montessori history scope and sequence(PDF) -- it doesn't look like a chronological scope and sequence is followed? But probably someone else knows more about this than I do!

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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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