Middle School


MIddle School
Adolescence is a time of increasing self-awareness and self-expression. At this time, a child’s worldview is expanding and they long to find their place within it. The Waldorf curriculum views middle school as a time when students take responsibility for their own work and develop their unique perspective and academic voice. 

While many mainstream middle schools can be a harsh place during this awkward and exciting time, the environment of Live Oak’s thoughtfully designed, whole-child approach offers something different - rigorous, interdisciplinary academics with  a deep understanding of human development and integrated social-emotional practices.

  • Rigorous academics in core disciplines that develop critical thinking and development of the academic voice. 
  • A Team of teachers dedicated to Middle School. 
  • Exceeding Next Generation Science Standards with dynamic, hands-on sciences
  • Half-sized classes (1:15) for Math and English Language Arts, with a dedicated Math Teacher throughout Middle School
  • Special projects that foster integral character traits
    • Knighting Project
    • Multi-grade Buddies
    • Rose Ceremony
    • Eighth Grade Project


6th Grade Sixth graders feel the influence of puberty, with themselves and in the community. As the long bones of the limbs begin their growth spurt and the children are increasingly aware of their bodies, the time is right for geology, the study of the physical body of the earth. The students at this age have a love for things delineated as absolutes; everything is experienced as black or white, and the nuances of shades of gray are distant. Roman law, black and white drawing, overcoming the physical and mental challenges of climbing Mt Lassen and Cinder Cone, and the teaching method of “compare and contrast” all speak to the developmental stage of the children. 

The Roman era epitomizes historically what the children are experiencing in their bodies. Of all the ancient cultures, the Romans most strongly dominated and transformed the physical world. Whereas geometrical shapes have been drawn freehand in earlier grades, the 6th grader learns exact constructions with compass and straight-edge, and the mathematical properties of these shapes. 

  • Geometric Drawing
  • Roman History and Civilization 
  • Medieval European History 
  • World Geography 
  • Astronomy 
  • Physics 
  • Math
  • Recorder 
  • Strings and other instruments
  • Handwork - 3 dimensional elephant pattern and hand sewing 
  • Games & Movement



7th Grade Seventh graders are increasingly experiencing themselves as individuals with tastes and impulses of their own. They rightfully challenge accepted practices and ideas in order to understand and participate in both their school and home lives in a more independent way. The history of the Renaissance, Age of Exploration, and the Reformation meets their inner experience along with biographies of human beings who fought with the cultural life of their times in order to adhere to their own individual conscience rather than the laws of the State or the Church. 

At a time when students' center of gravity is experienced differently and a physical lethargy can be felt, the students are introduced to the topic of mechanics. A study of nutrition and health gives a physiological and developmental context for the discussion of sexuality, substance abuse, and peer pressure. This study of human physiology includes an introduction to the digestive, circulatory, respiratory, and reproductive systems of the body. 

  • Perspective Drawing
  • Age of Exploration 
  • The Renaissance 
  • Pre-colonial Americas
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Physiology - health and nutrition 
  • Recorder 
  • Drama
  • Math
  • Handwork - doll making 
  • Drama 
  • Games & Movement


8th Grade Eighth graders are eager to experience and understand themselves and their connection to the world and other people. The guiding principle of the 8th grade experience at Live Oak is the sense of completion of all that has gone before. The students themselves are in the process of completing their passage from childhood into the territory of youth, where they will enjoy greater perspective, sharper powers of observation, and growing critical faculties. From this new vantage, with their new capacities, the students can develop the scope and the perceptive abilities to recollect, to connect, and to see relationships – abilities which make it possible to build a comprehensive picture whether the subject is history, physics, or math. 

  • Platonic Solids
  • Pre-colonial Americas
  • American History - Reform Movements 
  • History of Revolution 
  • Early US History 
  • World Geography 
  • Anatomy
  • Chemistry 
  • Recorder 
  • Strings, ukulele, percussion, piano 
  • Speech
  • Machine Sewing 
  • Games and Movement 

​8th Grade Project 
The 8th grade project is the culmination of a student's growth through the Waldorf school’s lower and middle grades.  This significant endeavor allows them to pursue a personal interest in a deep and meaningful way, and to work toward mastering a new skill.  Throughout the year, students perform research to write a paper and work regularly with a mentor to gain experience and expertise in a subject area of their choosing. In the spring, students create a tangible project to represent their experience and present it to the community.  In the past, students have built canoes, designed dresses, written novels, and learned instruments and languages, among many other inspiring endeavors. 

8th Grade Trip 
It is a tradition at most Waldorf schools for the 8th grade to celebrate the culmination of their educational journey with a class trip and prepare to depart their primary school experience. Trips frequently feature group initiative, experiences in nature, play, contemplation, and ceremony.​