Why Does Waldorf Teach Old Testament Stories in Grade 3?

Waldorf teachers bring the Hebrew Bible stories in grade 3 because of who the child is at eight and nine. The stories tell of people leaving a garden, wandering, making mistakes and building a home on earth, and many teachers say that's close to what a nine-year-old is going through inside. They're told as great stories, not taught as religion. The year moves from Creation to the Patriarchs, then Moses, then the Kings. Families of every faith, and of none, find their own way to hold them.

Why are Old Testament stories taught in Waldorf grade 3?

The reasons Waldorf teachers give come back to one thing: the nine-year change. Around this age, many children notice for the first time that they're separate from their parents and from the world. They question adults more. Some feel a new loneliness they can't name. (Our guide to the nine-year change goes through the signs.)

The Hebrew stories begin with that same step. Adam and Eve live in a garden where everything is given, eat the fruit, see themselves and leave. What follows is a long story of people finding their way. Noah builds. Abraham leaves his home for a land he's never seen. Moses leads his people out of slavery and through the desert.

The Parenting Passageway, a long-running Waldorf homeschool blog, describes the stories as being about "a people and their relationship to authority" and about a people trying to make a home on earth. A nine-year-old is asking the same questions. The same writer passes on Steiner's view that the Patriarch stories picture a shift from group consciousness to individual consciousness, which is the shift many teachers see in the child.

There's also a simpler reason. After two years of fairy tales, fables and saints, the grade 3 child is ready for stories about real, flawed people. Jacob tricks his father. Joseph's brothers sell him. Moses stammers and argues. David wins against a giant and later does great wrong. A child who is starting to see that adults aren't perfect can find something honest in these stories.

What Old Testament stories are in Waldorf grade 3?

Most Waldorf curricula follow the same broad arc, from the opening of Genesis to the early kings. Mountain Laurel Waldorf School describes children hearing stories from the Hebrew Bible and writing passages from them in their main lesson books. Starpath's grade 3 follows the same arc in four blocks, below, each with a free guide you can read.

Creation. The seven days, Eden, the Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, the Tower of Babel. See the Hebrew Creation Story guide.

The Patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The block opens with young Abraham and King Nimrod, a story from Jewish legend rather than from the text of Genesis. See the Patriarchs guide.

Moses. The basket in the Nile, the burning bush, the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments and the first sight of the Promised Land. See the Moses guide.

The Kings. Joshua at Jericho, the Judges including Samson, then Saul, David and Solomon. See the Kings guide.

Some curricula go further. Live Education!'s grade 3 material also brings in figures such as Job and Esther and the Jewish festivals.

Is the Waldorf grade 3 Old Testament religious?

Waldorf teachers are clear that it isn't meant to be. The Parenting Passageway says the stories "are not dealt with from a religious perspective" in Waldorf, while families who are Christian or Jewish are free to add that at home. Rev Bowen of Simply Waldorf makes a useful comparison: grade 4 children hear the Norse myths with the same care, and nobody expects them to start believing in Odin.

In practice, the teacher tells the story and lets it stand. The block guides linked above give the same advice: tell the stories as you would tell a great myth, and don't explain what they mean. The child doesn't need a lesson drawn out of Noah. They need to hear the rain, see the ark and draw it in their main lesson book the next morning.

If you're weighing up Waldorf more broadly, Is Waldorf education religious? covers anthroposophy, the festivals and how curricula differ.

How families of different faiths handle it

There's no single right way. These are the ways families tend to go.

Christian families often find these stories already familiar from church and home. Some keep the Waldorf telling for main lesson and bring their own faith to the stories in family prayer or Sunday school. The Parenting Passageway writes from a Christian point of view and describes reading the stories in the light of the New Testament at home.

Jewish families are hearing their own stories, from the Torah and the wider Hebrew Bible. Many prefer "Hebrew Bible" or "Tanakh" to "Old Testament", and you can simply use those words. Some bring in the midrash and legends of their tradition, which Live Education! also draws on. The block can sit alongside Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot or Passover in your own year.

Muslim families will know many of these people as prophets: Ibrahim, Ishaq, Yaqub, Yusuf, Musa, Dawud and Sulayman. Some families tell the Waldorf version and then share how the Qur'an tells the same story. Others tell it from their own tradition from the start.

Secular families and families of other faiths often tell the stories as literature and cultural history, the way they'd tell the Greek or Norse myths. The Creation guide suggests opening the block by telling the child that these are one culture's stories of creation and that they'll meet others in later years. Some families add a creation story from their own heritage beside it. Others choose a secular curriculum that draws its grade 3 stories from many cultures.

Whichever you choose, one small thing helps: tell the story with care. Rev Bowen describes a parent from a non-traditional spiritual background whose child took the stories literally at first and later moved past that on her own. Children this age often do.

How long is the Old Testament block in grade 3?

It's rarely one block. The stories usually run through the year, broken up by farming, building, measurement and money. In the four blocks above:

• Hebrew Creation Story: 15 days
• The Patriarchs: 20 days
• Moses: 15 days
• The Kings: 15 days

That's 65 lesson days. Each morning follows the same shape: review yesterday's story, new skills work, bookwork, then today's story, told with the books put away.

What your child does besides listen

In many Waldorf classrooms, grade 3 language work grows out of these stories, and the four blocks above do the same. The Creation block starts cursive forms, weekly spelling and homophones. The Patriarchs block brings nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, color-coded in the main lesson book. Moses brings past and present tense, and the Kings bring being and helping verbs.

So if you leave a story block out, plan another way to cover its grammar. How Waldorf teaches grammar in grade 3 goes through it in more detail.

What to do this week

1. Read the first story yourself, the night before. Ten minutes is enough.
2. Decide which words you'll use: Old Testament, Hebrew Bible or Hebrew stories.
3. Tell it the next morning without the book, with a candle lit if that's your rhythm.
4. The following day, let your child retell it and draw one picture from it.

The Waldorf grade 3 curriculum guide sets these blocks beside farming, building and fibre arts. Choosing a grade 3 curriculum compares how each one handles the scripture blocks.