In most Waldorf Elementary or Grades programs, the children are given weekly lessons and practice in as many as ten different arts.  Much of this artistic material is brought by the Class Teacher.  Certain subjects, however, are often taught by "Specialty" or "Subject Teachers".   These subjects commonly include Foriegn Language, Music, Handwork, Eurythmy, Woodworking or Manual Arts, as well as others, depending on the size and character of each Waldorf School.
At the Whidbey Island Waldorf School, we are fortunate to have three highly qualified full-time Subject Teachers: Handwork, Eurythmy, and Spanish.
Below are brief descriptions of how these subjects weave into and support  the rest of the remarkable Waldorf curriculum that we offer.

Whidbey Island Waldorf School Handwork Curriculum

The handwork curriculum in Waldorf schools aims to weave a rich tapestry of healthy and meaningful experiences for children throughout their stages of development by focusing on their hands.  Working with ones hands, each child is outwardly learning skills in fine motor work. Inwardly, they are developing virtues such as respect for human creativity, the natural world and their own processes of struggles and accomplishments, as well as developing their minds to connect the left and right sides of their brains.

Students in first through eighth grade receive a full handwork curriculum throughout their education. An hour and a half a week set aside for focused handwork activities supports the thinking, feeling, and willing of the developing child that positively affects all other endeavors in academics, social skills, personal confidence, and reverence.

Useful and beautiful projects are chosen that support ever increasing focus for detail, finger dexterity, and individual creativity.
First graders knit flute cases and stuffed animals. 
Second graders add purling to their knitting experience to create dolls, pencil pouches and stuffed animals. 
Third graders learn to crochet while making flute cases, hats and puppets. 
Fourth graders work with cross-stitch to create a pincushion as well as embroidery stitches on a variety of projects. 
Fifth graders return to knitting, learning how to knit in the round to create hats, stockings, and socks. 
Sixth graders learn to make felt animals by designing their own patterns. 
Seventh graders hand-sew a doll along with its clothes. 
Eighth graders learn to use sewing machines to create a variety of projects, from quilts to clothing.

With eight years of opportunities to create, students have a sincere knowledge and intimate relationship with handcrafts.  This enables them to appreciate and participate in human endeavors far beyond the initial skills they’ve acquired; they become active members in building the creative forces much needed in the world.