Jean’s Waldorf Homeschooling Bookshelf
Here are the books that have graced my bookshelves over the years. That I’ve savored, loaned out, and come back to again and again. My top picks for homeschooling in the elementary grades from Jean’s Waldorf homeschooling bookshelf.
Don’t be intimated by this list! I do not own every one of these books. Many can be found at your local public library or gotten through inter-library loan. So be resourceful. 😉
One other important note: you don’t need all of the books in each category! Research a few that sound interesting to you and then pick just 1-3 titles. It’s possible to even do an entire main lesson block around one book!
This page is a work in progress! It contains some affiliate links for your convenience (with more to come). You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Mixed Grades and Ages
Form Drawing:
Form Drawing for the Homeschooling Parent (Dewey)
Form Drawing for Beginners (Christopherus)
Watercolor Painting:
Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools: Classes 1 to 8 (Wildgruber)
Crayon Drawing:
Learning to See the World Through Drawing (Auer)
Recorder:
Living Music From the Heart: Volumes 1 and 2 (Mesler)
Gift Making
Making Things (Wiseman)
Feltcraft (Berger)
Things I Can Make (Lohf)
Earthways (Petrash)
First Grade
Math: Quality of Numbers & the Four Processes
Math by Hand – Grade One (Lipowitz)
King Maximo and the Number Knights (Schrager)
Multiplicando (Schrager)
Waldorf Math Grades 1-3 (Dewey)
Teaching Mathematics in First & Second Grades in Waldorf Schools (Schuberth)
Active Arithmetic (Anderson)
Path of Discovery-Grade One (Fairman)
Math Lessons for Elementary Grades (Harrer)
Fairy Tales & Letters
Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Colum, ed)
Favorite Grimm’s Tales (ill. By Archipova)
The Key of the Kingdom (Gmeyner & Russell)
Verses & Poems & Stories to Tell (Harrer)
LMNOP (Schrager)
The Wise Enchanter (Davidow)
Best-Loved Folktales of the World (Cole)
The Interpretation of Fairy Tales (Wilkinson) – for parents
Nature Stories
Nature Stories (Peckham)
Verses & Poems & Stories to Tell (Harrer)
Trumpets of Happiness (Masters)
A Child’s Seasonal Treasury (Jones)
Outdoor Secrets (Boyle)
Second Grade
Fables
Aesop’s Fables (Aesop)
Tales from Aesop (Jacob)
Animal Stories (Streit)
Animal Legends (Christopherus)
Patter-Paws the Fox (Masters)
Celtic Wonder Tales (Young)
Math
Math Lessons for Elementary Grades (Harrer)
Active Arithmetic (Anderson)
A Path of Discovery –Grade Two (Fairman)
Math by Hand-Grade Two (Lipowitz)
Second Grade Mathematics (Christopherus)
Teaching Mathematics for First & Second Grade in Waldorf Schools (Schuberth)
Waldorf Math Grades 1-3 (Dewey)
Golden Legends (or Stories of the Saints)
Animalia (Berger)
Buddha Stories (Demi – also Gandhi & Mother Theresa)
Saints & Heroes (Christopherus)
The King of Ireland’s Son (Colum)
Native American Stories
Native American Stories & Gardening (Bruhac)
American Indian Fairy Tales (Rae)
Songs & Stories of the North American Indian (Glass)
Earthmaker’s Tales (Mayo)
Third Grade
Homes, Shelter & Clothing
Houses (Ventura)
Clothing (Ventura)
Teaching Practical Activities (Wilkinson)
The Story Book of Things We Wear (Petersham)
Houses of Bark (Shemie – set of 8 books in all)
The Wigwam & the Longhouse (Yue)
Housebuilding
The Illustrated Housebuilding (Blackburn)
Housebuilding for Children (Walker)
Homes of the World & the Way People Live (Knapp)
Houses & Homes (Morris & Heyman)
Wonderful Houses Around the World (Komatsu)
Houses of Bark (Shemie – set of 8 books)
The Wigwam and the Longhouse (Yue)
Home Builders (a cooperative game from Family Pastimes)
Farming & Gardening, and Native American Tales
Food (Ventura)
Keepers of the Earth (Bruchac)
Make It Work! North American Indians (Scholastic)
Diary of an Early American Boy (Sloane)
A Museum of Early American Tools (Sloane)
Children of the Wind & Water (Krensky) & other titles
Farmer Boy (Wilder)
Teaching Practical Activities (Wilkinson) – for parents
Native American Plant Stories (Bruhac)
The Circle of Thanks (Bruhac)
The First Strawberries (Bruhac)
Native American Gardening (Bruhac)
Math
Math by Hand-Grade Three (Lipowitz)
Math Lessons for Elementary Grades (Harrer)
Active Arithmetic (Anderson)
Path of Discovery-Grade Three (Fairman)
Waldorf Math Grades 1-3 (Dewey)
Arithmetic Facts Practice Sheet (free downloads from Jamie York Press)
Time, Weight & Measure
The Story of Clocks & Calendars (Maestro)
About Time: A First Look at Time & Clocks (Koscielniak)
Creation Stories
Old Testament Manual & Stories from the Book of Moses (Christopherus)
Native American Creation Myths (Curtin)
And There Was Light (Streit)
Journey Through the Promised Land (Streit)
Stories from the Bible (de la Mare)
God’s People (McCaughrean)
Commentary on Old Testament Stories (Wilkinson) – for parents
Fourth Grade
Local & State Geography
Stories from Where We Live
(a series-find your region)
Mapmaking with Children (Sobel)
Lots of local field trips!!!
The United States of America, a State by State Guide (Miller & Nelson)
Stories from your state
Quilt of States: Piecing Together America (Yorinks)
Math
Math by Hand –Grade Four (Lipowitz)
Fourth Grade Mathematics
(Christopherus)
Path of Discovery-Grade Four (Fairman)
Life of Fred (Schmidt)
Math Flashcards (free download: jamieyorkpress.com)
Human & Animal
The Human Being and the Animal World (Christopherus)
The Handbook of Nature Study (Comstock)
Keepers of the Animals (Bruchac)
Animal books from the Library
Other books to enjoy:
King of the Wind; Rascal; Owls in the Family; Gentle Ben; That Quail Robert; Charlotte’s Web
Norse Myths
D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths (D’Aulaire)
Saga of Erik the Viking (Jones)
The Children of Odin (Colum)
Favorite Norse Myths (Osborne)
Thorkill of Iceland (Wyatt)
The Viking Gods (Barrett)
The Dragon Slayer (Suttcliff)
Takes from the Kalevala (Burtscher)
Fifth Grade
Botany
Botany (Christopherus)
The Living World of the Plants (Grohmann)
New Eyes for Plants (Colquhoun & Ewald)
Drawing from the Book of Nature (Klocek)
Botany (Kovacs)
Path of Discovery-Grade Five (Fairman)
Tree if Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth (Strauss)
Native American Plant Stories (Bruhac)
The Plant Between Sun & Earth (Adams & Whicher)
The Handbook of Nature Study (Comstock)
Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story (Slade)
Plan & Plant a Garden Plot
Ancient Myths: India, Persia, China
Ancient Mythology: India, Persia, Babylon & Egypt (Christopherus)
Ancient Mythologies (Kovacs)
Chapters from Ancient History (Harrer)
Gilgamesh the Hero
(McCaughrean)
Rama & Sita (play: Christopherus)
Math: Review, fractions
Fifth Grade Mathematics (Christopherus)
Making Math Meaningful (Jamie York)
A Path of Discovery- Grade Five (Fairman
North American Geography
The United States of America, a State by State Guide (Miller & Nelson)
The Land We Live On (Fenton & Fenton)
Better Homes & Gardens Heritage of America Cookbook
My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States (Hopkins)
Math: Measurement, Decimals
Key To…Measurement (Key Curriculum Press)
Fifth Grade Mathematics (Christopherus)
A Path of Discovery-Grade Five (Fairman)
Life of Fred (Schmidt)
Making Math Meaningful: Fun with Puzzles, Games and More! (York)
Ancient Myths: Egypt, Babylon
Ancient Mythology: India, Persia, Babylon & Egypt (Christopherus)
Ancient Mythologies (Kovacs)
Tales of Ancient Egypt (Roger Green)
Voices of Ancient Egypt (Kay Winters)
Chapters from Ancient History (Harrer)
Geometry
String, Straightedge, and Shadow: The Story of Geometry (Diggins & Bell)
Geometry Lessons in the Waldorf School–Grades 4 & 5 (Schuberth)
Ancient Myths: Greece
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (D’Aulaire)
Ancient Greece (Kovacs)
The Story of the Golden Fleece (Colum)
Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Baldwin)
Homer’s Odyssey (Wyatt)
A Wonder Book (Hawthorne)
Black Ships Before Troy (Sutcliff)
A Little History of the World (Gombrich)
Sixth Grade
Greek Myths & History (if not covered in Grade Five)
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (D’Aulaire)
The Story of the Golden Fleece (Colum)
Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Baldwin)
Homer’s Odyssey (Wyatt)
A Wonder Book (Hawthorne)
Black Ships Before Troy (Sutcliff)
A Little History of the World (E.H. Gombrich)
Favorite Greek Myths (Osborne)
Archimedes & the Door of Science (Bendick)
Geology & Minerology
The Living Earth (Cloos)
The Crust of Our Earth (Raymos)
The Practical Geologist (Dixon & Bernor)
The Story of Salt (Kurlansky)
Stories in Stone: Grades 4-8 (GEMS Teacher’s Guide, UC Berkeley)
Riches from the Earth (Fenton & Fenton)
Business Math
Life of Fred: Decimals & Percents (Schmidt)
Path of Discovery-Grade Six (Fairman)
Your Business Math Series (Shafer) Choose book, pet, or sports store, from simplycharlottemason.com)
Physics: Heat, Light, Sound
Sensible Physics Teaching (D’Aleo & Edelglass)
Path of Discovery-Grade Six (Fairman)
49 Experiments in Physics (Wood)
The Ben Franklin Book of Easy & Incredible Experiments (Noll & Franklin Institute Science Museum)
75 Easy Physics Demonstrations (Kardos)
Roman History
Ancient Rome (Kovacs)
A Little History of the World (E.H. Gombrich)
Roman History unit study (Christopherus)
Augustus Caesar’s World (D’Aulaire)
Archimedes & The Door of Science (Bendick)
Galen & the Gateway to Medicine (Bendick)
Ancient Rome: How it Affects You Today (R. Mabry)
Geometric Drawing
String, Straightedge and Shadow: The Story of Geometry (Diggins & Bell)
Geometry for Sixth Grade (Dewey)
Compass Drawings (Hars & Wiederhold)
Geometry Lessons in the Waldorf School (Schuberth)
Latin & Greek
Word Roots (workbooks from Critical Thinking Co.)
English from the Roots Up (Lundquist)
Rummy Roots (card game)
World Geography
Earth from Above for Young Readers (Arthus-Bertrand)
Our World: A Country-by-Country Guide (Miller)
Seabird (Hollings)
The Book of Where & How to be Naturally Geographic (Bell)
Van Loon’s Geography: The Story of the World (Van Loon)
Earthmaker’s Tales (Mayo)
The Map Book (Barber)
Seventh Grade
Middle Ages & Renaissance
Medieval History (Christopherus)
Tales the Harper Sang (Wyatt)
Favorite Medieval Tales (Osborne)
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (Schlitz)
Along Came Galileo (Bendick)
Starry Messenger (Sis)
Picture the Renaissance (Jackdaw Publications)
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
Wish, Wonder & Surprise (creative writing)
The Art & Science of Teaching Composition (Winter)
Wishes, Lies and Dreams (Koch)
Wish, Wonder, and Surprise (Ms. Christensen’s Class)
Writing for 100 Days (Arguilevich)
Chemistry
A Path of Discovery-Grade Seven (Fairman)
The Chemical History of a Candle (Faraday)
Age of Exploration
Marco Polo (Demi)
Animals Marco Polo Saw (Markle)
Prince Henry the Navigator (Fisher)
Explorers Who Got Lost (Dreher)
Around the World in a Hundred Years (Fritz)
Astronomy
Find the Constellations (Rey)
Sky Phenomenon (Davidson)
The Raft Book (Gatty)
Stars of the First People (Miller)
Anno’s Sundial (Anno)
Anatomy & Physiology, Health & Nutrition
Muscles & Bones (Kovacs)
I Find My Star (Slayton)
A Path of Discovery-Grade Seven (Fairman)
Math
Life of Fred (Schmidt)
Teaching Textbooks (Sabouri)
Making Math Meaningful: A 7th Grade Student’s Workbook (York)
Eighth Grade
Early Modern History
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
A Little History of the World (Gombrich)
We Were There Too! Young People in U.S. History (Hoose)
Lots of reading of historical fiction and non-fiction!
Writing Essays
Writing for 100 Days (Arguielevich)
Fairview’s Guide to Composition & Essay Writing (Arguilevich)
Teaching Writing: Structure & Style (Institute for Excellence in Writing)
Physics
Sensible Physics Teaching (D’Aleo & Edelglass)
A Path of Discovery-Grade Eight (Fairman)
The Ben Franklin Book of Easy & Incredible Experiments (Noll & Franklin Science Museum)
75 Easy Physics Demonstrations (Kardos)
Solid Geometry
Solid Geometry for the Eighth Grade (Kretz)
Weather
The Weather Book (Sloane)
Pocket Guide to Weather Forecasting (Cordes)
Earthmaker’s Tales (Mayo)
Math
Life of Fred (Schmidt)
Teaching Textbooks (Sabouri)
Making Math Meaningful: An 8th Grade Student’s Workbook (York)
If you are looking for more suggestions for your homeschooling life, please check out my page, Tools I Recommend for Waldorf Homeschooling.
