Question from Member: Should My Child Skip First Grade?

My 6 year old is currently in a mainstream kindergarten as she needed speech therapy that we could not afford to pay out of pocket. She loves going to school, has learned to read etc and most importantly, the speech impairment is gone. She and I are so alike that we clash. I’d like to homeschool her in fall and start 1st grade with her, but don’t if 1st grade will bore her. She can read very well by now, which I know is not Waldorf, but I don’t want to bore her. Should I just skip over the intro to the letters and do more complex writing with her as we immerse ourselves in the 1st grade stories? – Iria

Reply from Waldorf Teacher, Diane Power

How wonderful that your daughter’s speech has improved! To bring the first grade curriculum to her, I would adjust it-For example, if you were to bring the story of Rapunzel for the letter T, her written work could include penmanship practice of the letter and a sentence about the story that includes words with “T”. It’s fun for children to figure out the magic in each fairy tale and tell you what letter it represents! I would also group the letters so that you are essentially reviewing them with her.