313: Elements of Grade 4: Over two hundred full-color pages from main lesson books, form drawings, and paintings illustrate the richness and variety of the fourth grade curriculum. Eugene Schwartz's week-by-week description of what is taught in main lesson blocks gives helpful background and a practical guide to this grade level. The play Thor Triumphant is also included on this CD-ROM for Windows and for Mac. $17.50

200: Science in the Waldorf School: Grades 4 – 8

is a “virtual student exhibition” which embodies the full range of science teaching in the elementary school years.  Over 230 pages from main lesson books, accompanied by thousands of words of explanation and commentary by Eugene Schwartz, appear in vivid color on 170 PowerPoint “slides.” These slides may be viewed on an individual computer screen, or, like photographic slides, they may be projected on a screen to be viewed by an audience.  $17.50

The challenges of “classroom management” grow more daunting each year. The pervasive influence of the media, the lack of rhythm and structure at home, and the dizzying speed of modern life all contribute to making today’s children more nervous, insecure and needy than ever. In this lecture Eugene views “difficult children” as mirrors of our difficult times, from whom teachers and parents have much to learn.  $17.50

The “Four Temperaments” have recently been “rediscovered” by Jerome Kagan of Harvard. This lecture provides an experiential approach to this valuable path of understanding children and bringing greater harmony into the home and classroom settings.  $17.50                                                               

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is believed to affect anywhere from 10% to 30% of American schoolchildren. Eugene Schwartz has worked directly with ADHD children and has served as a consultant to Waldorf school teachers, public school teachers and child psychologists struggling with this contemporary challenge. He surveys the prevalent mainstream schools of thought concerning ADHD, and explores the means by which Waldorf methods can help.  $17.50

The many children’s stories written by Eugene Schwartz – some of which appear in his book, Why the Setting Sun Turns Red and Other Stories for Children – are perennial favorites in Waldorf schools.  In this lecture, advice is given to parents and teachers on creative ways to answer the questions posed by young children, and imaginative, narrative approaches to difficult behavioral and social challenges in the home and the classroom.   $17.50                                                               

In this introductory lecture Eugene examines in detail the volatile interplay of etheric and astral forces that underlie the challenges facing all fourth graders. He explores the difference between “temperament” and “personality,” and examines their importance in the constitution of the classroom. This is an essential lecture for anyone taking on a fourth grade class. $17.50

Learning fractions, which Eugene calls the “end of arithmetic” in the lower school, also marks an important threshold in the life of the child. This lecture looks at ways in which earlier arithmetic skills can be reviewed and solidified  through “secret numbers” and “patterns” without simply repeating the rhythmical exercises of grades 1 – 3.   $17.50

This lecture begins with a discussion of the importance of studying factors as preparation for factors, and then suggests numerous perspectives from which fractions themselves may be approached.  $17.50

It is hard to understand how important the Norse myths are to the fourth grader without understanding the Norse gods from an esoteric standpoint, which is presented in depth in this lecture. The role of “hindering beings” and “sacrificing beings” and the intimate connection of gods such as Odin and Thor with humanity are examined in relation to the fourth grader’s astral nature.  $17.50

Eugene suggests some approaches to teaching about the Norse gods, and points to the “fourth grade archetypes” that live in the Norse stories. He models the way a Norse story should be told, and explains why these myths are the “moral equivalent of childhood illnesses.”  $17.50