Grade 6/Class 6: This year children get a taste of physics with sound, heat, light, magnetism and static electricity. It also digs deeply into geology, minerals of the Earth and their qualities (in relation to geography) as well as a continuation of botany.

Karl Stockmeyer says about mineralogy: "Thus mineralogy, which should follow simple zoology and botany, is meant to be taught as a part of geography and in this way a much wider relationship to the world in general and to man is achieved."

Grade 7/Class 7: This year has you extending your physics lessons and you'll also pick up some chemistry, physiology and astronomy.

Steiner tells us:

"In the seventh class you extend the teaching of acoustics, heat, optics, electricity and magnetism, and only from there do you proceed to the most important principles of mechanics, i.e., the level, wheel and axle, roller, pulley, inclined plane, cylinder, screw, etc."

As part of physiology, the study of nutrition and hygiene is important. For many homeschoolers, you have probably been working on this since your child was small, especially if you eat a special diet, but this is the time to really talk about it. Why is it important?

Remember as you work through these years that Steiner had a heavy emphasis on geography as it could easily help you cover many things, from the condition of peoples lives, to how food is grown, to the climate of the land, etc. We do have to be careful not to lose sight of the earth as a whole.

Grade 8/Class 8: As all the other years build on each other, so does this one. Still keeping geography in mind, you can continue a botany study, perhaps taking into account trees and what each type of timber is like and used for, where they are grown and the resulting land formations, etc.  This can carry into 9th grade as well.