Live Education! Review: A Traditional Waldorf Curriculum, K-8

Live Education! is a good choice if you want to teach the way a Waldorf class teacher does, and you're ready to study the books and prepare each main lesson yourself. It covers kindergarten to grade 8, with a full set of printed teacher books for each grade, written by teachers with Waldorf training and years in the classroom. It suits parents who already know a little Waldorf, or want to learn it properly. If you'd rather order online in five minutes, want a return policy, or need written handwork and music lessons, look elsewhere.

We make Starpath, a Waldorf-inspired curriculum, so read our view with that in mind.

Who writes it

Rainbow Rosenbloom founded Live Education! in the fall of 1997. He studied Waldorf education at Emerson College in England and taught in several Waldorf schools. Later he directed a Waldorf charter school program in Monterey, California, for three years.

Bruce Bischof joined in 1998 as the principal writer and artist of the curriculum. He trained at Rudolf Steiner College in 1983 and taught a Waldorf class for 14 years. Much of what you'll hold in your hands is his writing and his drawings. Bruce passed away in 2025, and the site has a page remembering him. It doesn't say who writes new material now, so if revisions matter to you, ask when you call.

The team page also lists Jen Rosenstein, a consultant since 2021, who has taught grades 1 to 8 in Waldorf schools and was a founding kindergarten teacher at the St. Louis Waldorf School.

Live Education! says teachers in more than 150 Waldorf schools use its curriculum. Its own FAQ puts it plainly: it's "for the Waldorf purist."

What you get in a grade package

Each grade is a stack of books, not a single guide. Live Education! writes, illustrates and publishes all of them itself.

Kindergarten ($425) comes as seven books. There's an introduction on child development and the kindergarten day, and one book for each season. A book of folk and fairy tales and The First Seven Years, on Steiner's picture of the young child, complete the set. The seasonal books hold finger knitting, dollmaking and candle dipping in winter. Spring brings colored eggs and hot cross buns, and summer has Midsummer and birthday ideas.

Grade 1 ($445) has eight books:

• An introduction to the first year, with the block rotation, the daily rhythm and the art supplies you'll need.
• The Art of the Fairy Tale, the stories behind the language arts blocks.
• From Moving and Speaking to Writing and Reading, the teacher's manual for three language blocks.
• From Imagination to Form: The Letters A to Z, its illustrated companion. Each letter gets a picture, story ideas, verses and tongue twisters.
• World of Numbers, which introduces each number with a story and four characters for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
• Beginning with Form Drawing, the ribbon forms for grades 1 and 2.
• Lessons in the Arts, on crayon drawing and watercolor for grades 1 to 4.
• Beginning Recorder Drama and Poetry, which teaches you the recorder before you teach your child.

Grade 2 ($445) is built around three sets of stories: the Jataka tales, legends of saints from many cultures, and more than 80 animal fables. Other books cover cursive and grammar, drawing animals, and a three-week nature science block with Native American legends.

Grade 3 ($455) follows the Hebrew stories and the stories of ancient Sumer and Akkad. Three practical blocks cover housebuilding, farming and clothmaking. Two more books teach measurement and money, and grammar and spelling.

Every grade page lets you read a sample lesson and the table of contents for each book before you order. That's the best way to see whether the voice and the drawings suit you.

How the year is laid out

Each grade's introduction book gives you a block rotation for the whole year and a typical day. Inside each main lesson book, you'll find the content for each day's lesson with a suggested activity for your child. The FAQ talks about blocks of about three weeks.

Live Education! doesn't tell you how long to spend on each lesson. If your child wants to stay with the farming block another week, you can. Its aim is to spare you the feeling of being behind or ahead of a set schedule.

You'll need a few books from the library too. Each year lists suggested reading, like Grimm's fairy tales in grade 1.

Consultations and support

This is what sets Live Education! apart. Every package includes:

• An initial consultation by phone. It's required, for assessment. Live Education! uses it, along with a family questionnaire, to shape the package around your child. You can mix books from two grades if your child sits between them, and it consults with families teaching siblings together. The FAQ names grades 2 and 4 as a good pair.
• Short phone and email help through the year. Email is for questions that fit in a paragraph. Anything longer goes to the phone.
• A second, longer consultation later in the year, on homeschooling, Waldorf questions and artistic work.

You ask for consultations when you want them. The site says setting one up can take up to a couple of weeks, and a first reply may take up to a week. You can't buy the books without the consultations; Live Education! sees them as part of the curriculum.

The Community Center

Every purchase includes membership in the Community Center, an online members' area. It has two parts: a directory of families, where you can look for other Live Education! families living near you, and a discussion forum shared with families and teachers using the curriculum around the world. The directory and forum open once you've sent in your questionnaire and placed your first order.

How ordering works

Ordering is slower than most, on purpose.

1. Register on the website and fill in the family questionnaire.
2. Pay the $35 initial consultation fee. It's credited to your order if you buy within a month.
3. Have your consultation, then place the order by phone with a credit card. US families can also send a check or money order.

Returning families can reorder through their account. Charter school families paying by purchase order skip the $35 fee, and Live Education! is an approved vendor for many charter schools and independent study programs.

The digital option. The site has a page of digital PDF bundles for every grade, for a single download on one device. Live Education! suggests printing them, since the books are made to be read on paper. When we checked in September 2026, every bundle was marked out of stock, and two pages listed slightly different prices ($440 and $445 for grade 1). Ask on the phone before you count on it.

Prices

Prices checked September 2026, from the Live Education! pricing page.

Grade	Package price	US shipping and printing
Kindergarten	$425	$65
Grade 1	$445	$65
Grade 2	$445	$65
Grade 3	$455	$65
Grades 4 and 5	$465	$65
Grade 6	$495	$65
Grade 7	$555	$65
Grade 8	$595	$65

International shipping is $125 per grade. Returning families get $50 off, and there's a $100 multi-package discount on request. Neither applies to digital downloads.

What to weigh before you order

No returns. Live Education! doesn't offer a return policy. In the occasional exception, it keeps the consultation fee, shipping and a 15% restocking fee. Read the sample lessons first.

No written specialty lessons. Live Education! doesn't provide written materials for eurythmy, foreign language, physical education or handwork. It helps you plan how to fit them in, but if you want knitting patterns and a handwork sequence in the box, you'll need another source.

It asks a lot of you. The books are written to train you as a class teacher. You read ahead, learn the stories, practise the drawing and the recorder, and bring each lesson to your child. That's the heart of it, and it takes time.

The phone step. If you work odd hours or find phone calls hard, the ordering process may feel slow.

Who it suits

A strong fit: a parent who'd like to teach close to a Waldorf classroom and likes having a person to talk to. A package shaped around your child is a real plus here. Families teaching two children can get real help combining grades.

A weaker fit: families who want to start next week, who want a return policy, or who need handwork and music lessons written out.

Alternatives worth comparing

Prices checked September 2026.

Waldorf Essentials runs from early childhood to Class 8 and you order online. Class 1 is $200 digital or $575 with a year of mentoring and coaching. It runs free Zoom office hours twice a month, and all sales are final. Our Waldorf Essentials vs Live Education! page compares the two directly.

Christopherus covers the early years to grade 8 and is written by Donna Simmons, who trained as a Waldorf teacher. The First Grade Curriculum is $260, a 376-page spiral-bound book, and all sales are final.

Oak Meadow is PreK-12, secular and Waldorf-inspired. It uses weekly lessons rather than main lesson blocks and runs an accredited distance school.

Starpath is Waldorf-inspired and written by Sophie, a Waldorf class teacher with more than 10 years' experience. Grades 1 to 3 are complete and grade 4 is being added; there's no kindergarten. Main lesson blocks run two to four weeks. You can buy single blocks for $19, or everything for $47 a month, with a 14-day trial for $7. A planner, portfolio and compliance tools are built in, and there's a parent community. There's no coaching.

For a side-by-side of every option, see our Waldorf homeschool curriculum comparison. By grade: kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3.