By the time students reach middle school, their intellectual and emotional capacities are developing rapidly. It can be a confusing and even trying time for children and their families. At the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, we believe a successful transition from elementary school depends on working with those challenges, not against them.
The Waldorf curriculum for mathematics, science, language arts, performing arts, practical arts, and history corresponds with the significant inner life changes our students face throughout their development as students. At our middle school, small class sizes and an intentionally designed curriculum for the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders help our students cultivate a lifelong love for learning that endures long past middle school graduation. Our middle school classes are designed to help students develop a strong foundation for their personalities, morals, and motivations to learn.
At the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, education is not just a matter of memorization and test-taking. Students learn through experience. While learning about economics and businesses, for example, middle schoolers get real-world experience by beginning to fundraise for their eighth-grade trip, a trip that includes community service or personal development component. Past eighth-grade classes have traveled to the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, and Costa Rica for their trips. During their eighth grade year, each graduating student also presents a Graduation Project: the culmination of months of research each student completes with the help of a mentor.
The Housatonic Valley Waldorf School provides students in Newtown, CT; Bethel, CT; Danbury, CT; and beyond with a private middle school education that will give them a community mindset and prepare them for any life pursuit. Give us a call today to ask about enrollment for your child.