A Sample First Term for a Waldorf-Inspired Co-op, Week by Week

One way to plan the first term of a Waldorf-inspired co-op is 12 weeks, split into three blocks of 4. The morning stays the same every week, and the festivals are the landmarks along the way. In a northern autumn term, that puts Michaelmas near the start, a harvest in October, Martinmas lanterns in November and an Advent spiral at the end. Below is that term, week by week. It's an example, not a rule: move the weeks, drop a festival, and make it fit your families.

Before you plan the weeks

This plan sits on top of a co-op morning that doesn't change. The children arrive and play, then come circle, a story, snack and time outside, painting or handwork, and a closing verse. If you haven't settled that yet, the Waldorf co-op day schedule has a sample morning with times. Who leads each part is in how a co-op teaching rotation works. This article is about what fills those parts, week after week.

The Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) explains why the morning should stay steady. "Adults crave variety; young children crave repetition," it says. Young children need a stable sequence of events in their day, their week and their year. So the plan below changes slowly. A circle is sung for a whole block, and a story runs for four weeks.

Four weeks isn't an accident. Davis Waldorf School teaches each subject in main lesson for three to four weeks at a time. A co-op can't be a main lesson, and the real teaching stays at home. But it can borrow the shape: one story, told in parts, for one block. What is a main lesson block? explains the idea.

A sample autumn term

This is written for a group meeting once a week from mid-September to mid-December, with children roughly 4 to 9. The dates of Michaelmas (29 September) and Martinmas (11 November) are fixed, so check where they land in your own weeks and shift the plan.

Week	Story and circle	Art	Festival or event
1	New autumn circle, same verse all block. Story begins.	Free painting with one color	None. Learn the rhythm.
2	Circle repeats. Story continues.	Finger knitting starts	Plan Michaelmas together
3	Story reaches the dragon	Paint a dragon in red and yellow	Michaelmas: bake dragon bread
4	Story ends. Retell it together.	Leaf rubbings for a harvest table	Harvest: each family brings something
5	New circle, new story	Wet-on-wet painting	Optional outing: a farm or orchard walk
6	Story continues	Handwork carries on
7	Story continues	Begin lanterns	Learn the lantern songs
8	Story ends	Finish lanterns	Break week, if you need one
9	The story of St Martin	Beeswax modeling	Martinmas lantern walk at dusk
10	Quieter circle, winter songs	Handwork gifts
11	Story continues	Window stars or candles	Advent spiral
12	Story ends	Finish gifts	Last morning and a small shared meal

Here's what each block is for.

Block 1 (weeks 1 to 4): settling in and Michaelmas

Week 1 should be almost boring. The children are meeting a new room, new adults and each other. Sing the new circle, tell the first part of the story, paint freely with one color, eat together and go home. Don't add a festival to the first morning.

In weeks 2 and 3, the same circle and the same verse come back, and the children start joining in. Tell a story that builds towards courage: a knight, a dragon, a small child who does a brave thing. Davis Waldorf School marks Michaelmas in late September with a play about "courage, transformation, and facing a troublesome dragon". A co-op can keep it much smaller. Bake the dragon bread from our Michaelmas page during the morning, and let the story end with the dragon tamed.

In week 4, turn to the harvest. Ask each family to bring one thing from a garden, a market or a walk: apples, a marrow, a jar of seeds. Lay them on a cloth as a harvest table, and eat some at snack. The harvest festival page has a braided loaf and a harvest mandala if you want more.

Block 2 (weeks 5 to 8): the long autumn and the lanterns

Start the block with a new circle and a new story. Leaves falling, animals getting ready for winter and the farmer's year all suit this stretch. Painting and handwork carry on, alternating by week.

An outing fits well in week 5, while the weather still holds. A farm or an orchard walk replaces the morning, with the circle said outside before you set off. Say clearly that it's optional.

By week 7, start the lanterns. A glass jar covered in torn tissue paper is simple enough for a 3-year-old to help with, and Waldorf seasonal crafts walks through it. Learn the lantern songs in circle for the two weeks before, so the children know them by heart on the night.

If your group needs a week off, this is a good place for it, especially if your families have a half-term or a holiday in these weeks. Count the break inside the 12 weeks so the end date doesn't move.

Block 3 (weeks 9 to 12): Martinmas, then the quiet weeks

Week 9 is Martinmas, or near it. Tell the story of St Martin, who cut his cloak in two to share it with a beggar in the cold. Davis Waldorf School describes the festival as a celebration of "the light and warmth shining inside each one of us". The lantern walk belongs at dusk, so it's often an evening gathering with whole families, separate from the co-op morning. The Martinmas page has the songs and a soup to share afterwards.

After Martinmas, let the mornings grow quieter. Slower songs, a candle lit a little longer at circle, handwork gifts that children make for someone at home. In week 11, if your dates allow, walk an Advent spiral. Lay a spiral of evergreen branches in a darkened room, and let each child walk in alone to light a candle set in an apple. Davis Waldorf School holds its winter spirals in late November or early December. Paper window stars make a good quiet craft for the same weeks.

Week 12 is the last morning. Finish the gifts, tell the end of the story, and share a meal. Keep it simple, so the term ends gently.

Planning notes that save trouble

• Write down the dates first. Mark the weeks you meet, the break, and where each festival falls. Everything else follows from that list.
• Choose all three stories before week 1. The parent telling each one needs time to learn it.
• Order materials once. Paper, paints, wool, beeswax, jars and candles for the whole term, bought together. Keep one box for each block.
• Put festival evenings on the calendar early. A lantern walk needs families free after dark, and some need a few weeks' warning.
• Book a meeting for after week 12. Half an hour with the parents to talk about what worked. The next term is easier to plan with that conversation behind you.

If you'd rather not start from a blank page, Starpath gives a co-op a shared Waldorf-inspired program of main lesson blocks, stories, crafts and the festival year. It comes with a group calendar and a job schedule. Running your co-op on it is free.

If you're in the southern hemisphere

In Australia and New Zealand, an autumn term starts in February, not September. Steiner schools there don't all solve this the same way. Chrysalis Steiner School in New South Wales holds an autumn harvest festival early in its year, describing it as a celebration of "the 'Michaelic' spirit as we move into the cooler months", and carries lanterns in a winter festival mid-year. West Coast Steiner School in Perth keeps Michaelmas at the end of its third term, in September, as it moves into spring. Vera Hoffmann, a Waldorf class teacher writing for Waldorf Resources, notes that in the south the Christian festivals and the seasons don't match as closely as in the north.

So choose one approach for your group and keep to it. A February term could open with settling in, reach a harvest and courage festival in late March or April, and save the lanterns for the dark of June. Most of our festival pages have notes for the southern hemisphere.

If you're starting in a different term

The shape works in any season. Keep three blocks, a plain first week and one or two festivals as landmarks. A northern winter term might carry Candlemas candles and end with a spring festival. A spring term could close with May Day crowns. Two festivals are plenty for a first term, and one is fine.

If you haven't found your families yet, how to start a Waldorf homeschool co-op comes first.