A Waldorf Main Lesson Book: Where are the Worksheets and Exams?

Imagine a world with no quizzes, textbooks, or worksheets. That sounds like a dream school for most children!

This is what it is like in a Waldorf school. In fact, Waldorf education engages students in the learning process to the extent that worksheets or exams would actually interfere with it.

But we first need to ask ourselves where textbooks, worksheets, and quizzes originate.  In Early history, students learned solely through lectures and did not use textbooks at all. If their teacher wrote a book or there was a classic work, they might work from it together as a class, but books were not readily available to “take home and study from” until 1450, with the invention of the printing press. For thousands of years, students have learned by listening, observing, and doing.  Quizzes were not given in any written form. Instead, the instructor would ask the student(s) questions to challenge them on an ongoing basis and would not allow them to “earn the privilege” of learning more until they understood the current lesson.

Upon the invention of the printing press, books became more widespread, and learning institutions made them more readily available to their students. Some fortunate students were even able to own a small library or have one at home. Students would learn by reading classic works of literature from different periods in history, works by the great mathematicians and scientists, firsthand accounts of historical events, and by doing. Students were expected to show what they had learned by creating their own inventions, books, projects, works of art, or music pieces.

In 1620, John Amos Comenius is credited with inventing the first textbook. The first textbook was like all textbooks that have come after it – it was in one language (his was in Latin), it had pictures to help people understand the text, and it provided a standard selection of facts for the student to learn. During his time, the “textbook” was considered revolutionary because it enabled anyone to pick it up and learn from it, regardless of their social status (man, woman, child, rich, poor).  In this way, the textbook was well-suited to his time in history.

It also turned out to be very convenient for the time for reasons beyond educational equality. Because steam power created more travel opportunities, it was important that a student could “carry their school” with them and be assured they were learning what their peers were learning back home.

In the past, a student was admitted to college on their works, deeds (and perhaps family status) alone. By the time a student had worked with a teacher, tutor, or subject long enough, they had usually produced something they could show for it, and their skill in the subject had been on display through writing, speeches, and/or performances. A student did not have worksheets and exams; they DID what they were taught, took what they were taught, and created from it. These creations led them to college, where they continued along the same path.

However, as education became increasingly widespread, there needed to be a way to compare each student’s progress. As more and more colleges and schools opened, more students enrolled, and more governments became involved (public education system), the demand for standardization increased. The old methods remained, but the larger schools and larger cities that were forming realized that the only way to teach large classes of students at once was to use standard textbooks and standard worksheets, so everything was “equal” and “measurable”.

Over a short period, this method of education rapidly overtook traditional methods, and instead of being a method “designed to suit the needs of the time,” it became the standard. Education became defined by textbooks, worksheets, and exams. However, it was soon discovered that this method was not always the most suitable for teaching.  In fact, it was only a very brief period in which the textbook-worksheet-exam model was popular among educators.

Historians of public education pinpoint the first widespread use to the laws influenced by Horace Mann (an influential leader in state education policy) in 1837, and to the early 20th century, when new scientific theories were applied to a range of methodologies.  This “particularly narrow model of schooling,” as they refer to it, became established as the “one best system” of public education.

In his essay A Brief History of Alternative Education, Ron Miller says, “ According to this model, the purpose of schooling was to overcome cultural diversity and personal uniqueness in order to mold a loyal citizenry and an effective workforce for the growing industrial system. Education aimed primarily to discipline the developing energies of young people for the sake of political and social uniformity as well as the success of the emerging corporate economy.”

In 1762, however, less than one person’s lifetime in the “new” standard school system, alternative schooling methods started to challenge this “new method” of education. This movement was led by some of the great thinkers of the time – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Fröbel and has resulted in a world filled with many different ways to educate one’s child. However, interestingly, the public school model remains the same. As someone who works with public schools from time to time, I have seen the efforts and desires of hundreds of teachers to break out of this model, but the main problem is that any change they try to make is like removing a gear from a machine. If you are in the system, you have to follow the system, and any creative educational methods must still be carried out within it, providing ways to show student progress through the required exams and worksheets.

Waldorf education, established in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner, is one of the hundreds of alternatives offered to students in today’s world and focuses on the child’s process of learning and ability to express what they have learned. The teacher ensures the child’s education takes place through their head, heart, and hands, not just their head (worksheets and exams).  Activities focus on being as hands-on as possible (hands), and each student is given time to think, experience, discuss, and even dream (heart) before they start on the work of their head through their Main Lesson Books.

However, even the headwork seeks balance within itself. It involves a little of the hands (creating through writing and drawing rather than just filling in answers) and the heart (thinking and experiencing what they are doing rather than just spitting back answers).

Instead of filling in worksheets, students create Main Lesson Books – which serve as both self-created worksheets and textbooks. Instead of reading textbooks, students read classic literature and first-hand accounts of history, and listen to stories told by their teacher (or in books).

A Main Lesson Book is a child’s creation. It represents what the child has learned that year and what they have created. It means hours of drawing, writing, thinking, copying, reading, sharing, challenging, figuring out things, and creating. After listening to their parent/teacher talk about a historical event, the child may draw a picture of the event in their book or write about it. After reading a biography about James Watt, a child may write a “letter home” from James Watt in their Main Lesson Book. Younger children start by copying what the teacher says and draws or copying verses into their books. As the child gets older, the books add the element of creating to go along with their use for recording and copying information.

After conducting a science experiment in class, the student will diagram what they did in their Main Lesson Book. When a student first learns about the stars, they will divide their Main Lesson Book into sections and actually draw the night sky at different times in the evening as the night progresses.  After learning to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, or even algebra, a student will be able to create their own practice problems based on the world around them. For example, instead of doing a worksheet with 15 random problems about area or surface, a student is asked to find the surface and location of items around their classroom. Instead of filling in worksheets with answers to addition problems, students are given objects to sort and count as many times as they want, and the motivation to do so.

The Main Lesson Book is a PART of the child’s learning experience and is an expression of so many things. A Main Lesson Book is not a substitute for building, doing, creating, reading, painting, sculpting, cooking, playing, stretching, singing, and so many other things that are important to your student’s education. However, it is also an essential part of their day.

It is the child’s way of saying, “this is what someone told me today,” “this is what I learned today,” or “this is what I can create.”  A Main Lesson Book brings the child’s focus to the process and effort that goes into their work rather than the outcome (if their answer on the worksheet is “right”). A Main Lesson Book allows a child to learn at their own pace and in their own space. They can fill four pages with math problems or one. They can work quickly through a lesson block or more slowly. They may need many pages to produce a final product they are happy with, or they may get it right the first time. A Main Lesson Book allows the teacher/parent to see and get to know what is really going on in a child’s head, rather than just knowing that they can add 2 plus 2 to get 4. The way the child writes, what they write, what colors they use, how many pages they use, and so many other things about the Main Lesson Book are a window into their mind that would not be possible through a worksheet or exam.

Learning to use a Main Lesson Book with your child is like learning to use Facebook. Remember when you first started to use Facebook, and you enjoyed reading other people’s posts and struggled to figure out what to post yourself? But over time, your mind became accustomed to it, and you actually started to come up with little “Facebook posts” in your head regularly. You started thinking about your life in terms of Facebook posts. OR you can also make an analogy to photography. Try going on a vacation, to a wedding, or to a birthday party without a camera. Most people can’t (unless they know someone else is recording the event). Because we have learned to “see” our experiences as snapshots and memorable moments, we can capture them. The analogies can go on and on.

However, the point is that once you start using the Main Lesson Book, you and your student will also find yourselves seeing the world through it. You will find yourselves more and more saying “Oh! We can put that in the Main Lesson Book”! At first, the blank pages will stare at you, and it may seem awkward to the teacher and/or student to write in a book with no lines or to draw an assignment. However, very quickly you will find your student suddenly jumping up and saying, “Aha! I have something to put in my Main Lesson Book,” and the teacher saying, “Open up your Main Lesson Book so we can…”

To see an example of how a Main Lesson works, you can watch our video “Three Ways to Teach a Main Lesson” HERE.

So what about exams?

There is no need for exams when a student can demonstrate an understanding of the subject. This is different than being ‘exam-ready’. An understanding of the subject means they have explored it and explained, through Main Lesson Book work, verbal assessment, activities, and interactions with the parent/teacher, that they understand the material. 

‘Exam-ready’ means that the student understands the exam format and style, knows what the examiner expects, and has been prepared for a specific subject. This process may also require memorizing dates and names. It is essential to understand the difference between ‘exam-ready ‘and ‘understanding of the material’ as all students – even those in public schools – need to become ‘exam-ready’ before they take any standard exam.

One possible exception to this method is the use of math worksheets. Using math worksheets can provide the teacher with a valuable assessment tool, even if they are not used daily. We recommend using them at least once a month. You can find a curated set of worksheets on this page here.

Sample Main Lesson Books

You can download two sample Main Lesson Books below. These Main Lesson Books illustrate how different students may display different styles in their books. Not all the student books look like the Waldorf Pinterest pages!