The Spiritual Syllabus Series is by far the most comprehensive catalogue of the Rudolf Steiner teaching program ever produced. There are approximately 50 teaching units detailed in each year – each usually taught in the 3-week ‘block’ system (as opposed to ‘period’ teaching) of from 23 to 30 hours. For instance, in the Class 3 and 4 Language book below, Logios, the ’12 Points of Punctuation’ refers to a whole 30-hour unit, as does every other annotation. The books cover the four main academic strands of modern schooling. In the spirit of balance, so important in Steiner Education; these are Language; Maths; Social Studies; Science there are 24 books, 6 in each of 4 subject streams. These provide a full Steiner academic curriculum from Class 1 to 12.

Plus TWENTY SIX OTHER TITLES by Golden Beetle Books including A Steiner Homeschool, books by Susan Whitehead – Little Story and Picture handbooks for the Under-7’s, and General Educational titles.

ABOUT ALAN WHITEHEAD

ALAN WHITEHEAD has enjoyed a career in Steiner Education for over three decades. He received his teacher-education at

GLENAEON SCHOOL under the tutelage of Miss Sylvia Brose. There he was privileged, in 1967, to be one of the founding teachers of Australia’s first Steiner High School, where he was a Class Guardian and Specialist Art Teacher. He was also a principal founder, and pioneer teacher (of both the Primary and High Schools) at Australia’s second Steiner school, LORIEN NOVALIS, in Dural, Sydney. He was Chairman of the school from its 1971 inception, until he left in 1985. As well, he founded, and was the Director of, the first full-time Steiner teacher-training facility in Australia, the LORIEN NOVALIS COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION. He was Convenor of RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA – AN ASSOCIATION, the current national body of Steiner Education, framing the initial policies and principles. He now works with his wife Susan (Under-7s and Life Movement- Eurythmy) as an author, social commentator and consultant on Spiritual Science in general, and Rudolf Steiner Education in particular.

ABOUT SUSAN WHITEHEAD

SUSAN WHITEHEAD has over three decades experience in the luminous world of small children. As well as having a husband and two children, she entered a world of teaching and training at DALCROSS/GLENAEON STEINER SCHOOL at Pymble in 1968. In 1971 she was a co-founder of LORIEN NOVALIS SCHOOL for Rudolf Steiner Education in Dural, Sydney. She was a director of the school for nearly fifteen years and held other positions, including Primary Co-ordinator. Susan both established and was Director and Guardian of the Children’s Garden (Kindergarten) at Lorien Novalis. In this homely environment she pioneered the creation of songs, stories and poems in the world of her Under-7s, telling tales relevant to Australia and The Spirit of the Times. She assisted in the creation of the LORIEN NOVALIS TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM, establishing courses for Story Content (their telling and creation), Kindergarten and Child Development. She was also the convenor of the school’s Adult Evening Courses. Always her love of the arts went alongside her day-to-day tasks, and she was particularly active in painting, speech and especially the Art of Life Movement (Eurythmy) all of which she considers a necessity to enhance her work with small children and as an essential element in the student teacher program. From 1986 she has carried forward the creative impulse in teacher education and Parental Imaginative Care of Under-7s. All this she is presently engaged in, as well as writing, consulting and conducting courses in The Art Of Life Movement both in Australia and Overseas.

Alan and Susan Whitehead are members of the Anthroposophical Society.

Contact Alan and Susan directly at: goldenbeetlebooks@bigpond.com

Parents Reviews:

We loved Coco and Lono! We did an entire lesson block on it and you could easily do much more than that. I think we may revisit it each fall as there are so many activity ideas in it I can see how my kids would love to grow with it. I don’t have the winter one but I am thinking about buying the Spring one. The only thing that caught me off guard when I got it was the size, it’s tiny, but PACKED with the story, songs, and activities. ~Melisa

Kytka’s Reviews:

I strongly encourage you to visit their website and to purchase and collect as many of their products as you can! Reading their materials is better than attending a conference or a workshop because you can read at your leisure time and time again!

Touch the Earth Gently: Games & Sport Class 1 – 12, Dance Class 1 – 7
This is a wonderful 112 page book which is truly a treasure trove of information, inspiration and lesson ideas & plans. The content include headings such as: The Class Trip, Family Fun, Play, Games & Sport, Primary Games, Water Games, Facilities, Ball Games, 7 Movement Children, Gymnastics, 4 Temperaments, Bush Games, Field Games, Indoor Games, Equipment Games, High School Sport, Sport Physiology, SCUBA Diving, Martial Arts, Sport’s a Joke!, Fishing, Clean-up Australia, Hunting, Dancing, Steiner as Sportsperson, and a complete Class 1- 7 outline for a Dance curriculum. (Which for those of us who are home schooling, provides a wonderful alternative to Eurythmy!). Like all of the Whitehead’s books, the book is literally overflowing with information. The resources are so vast, it’s truly difficult to write a review as the scope of what is covered on these pages is so immense. However, please don’t take that to mean that each subject is touched upon briefly – rather it seems that they have found a way to condense information to make it both understandable to the reader and yet vast in it’s scope of where it can go… Filled with black and white and color photographs, as well as illustrations, drawings and a few comic strips – this book is the best manual I have found to date on Movement and Dance in a Waldorf Curriculum. I highly recommend it for EVERY home school.
Kytka’s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Alan Discusses Main, Middle and Block lessons, click here.

More reviews, Geneii of Language, click here