Renewal Online Sixth Grade
Week 2 — Online July 6 – Friday, July 10, 2026 From your own chosen location REGISTER NOW Preparing for Sixth Grade Online with Sarah Nelson Sixth grade is a year of transformation and discovery. As students enter adolescence, they bring a growing desire to understand the world in practical, logical, and lawful ways. They are ready to test ideas, seek truth, and explore how structure, cause and effect, and moral questions shape both the human and natural worlds. This developmental shift is met with a rich and grounding curriculum that supports emerging critical thinking while offering stability, clarity, and purpose. What Makes Sixth Grade Unique? Sixth graders are stepping fully into adolescence, where curiosity meets analysis and questioning deepens. They are eager to examine how the world works—physically, socially, and historically—and to understand the systems that bring order and meaning to human experience. The sixth-grade curriculum meets this new consciousness with subjects that emphasize lawfulness, balance, and responsibility, inviting students to think critically while remaining engaged, creative, and connected. What This Course Covers This Renewal Course equips educators with the insight, tools, and inspiration needed to guide students through this pivotal year. Curriculum Highlights History: Study the rise and fall of civilizations—from the Roman Empire through the Islamic Golden Age and Medieval Europe—exploring themes of law, power, justice, and moral responsibility from multiple perspectives. Science: Engage in hands-on exploration of Geology, Astronomy, and Physics, helping students discover natural order, balance, and causality through observation and experimentation. Mathematics: Introduce the precision and beauty of Geometry through compass work, alongside Business Math that connects mathematical thinking to practical life skills. Geography: Examine the relationship between people and the earth, fostering intercultural understanding and an expanded awareness of the wider world. Arts and Projects: Enliven the curriculum through class plays, projects, and field trips that bring learning into lived experience. Beyond the Curriculum Integrating diversity, equity, and justice into curriculum and classroom culture Supporting adolescents as they develop organization, study habits, and responsibility Practical guidance around homework, class plays, student projects, and rites of passage Strategies for creating structure, rhythm, and meaningful expectations in the classroom What You’ll Take Away Participants will leave with: A deeper understanding of sixth-grade development and curriculum intention Practical teaching strategies, lesson ideas, and project inspiration, including resources and materials to guide your planning throughout the year Tools to support students’ growing independence with clarity and compassion Renewed confidence in guiding students through the first year of middle school Who Should Attend? This course is ideal for classroom teachers, homeschooling parents, online educators, and anyone preparing to teach sixth grade within a Waldorf-inspired framework. Both new and experienced teachers will find valuable guidance, resources, and collegial support. Sixth grade marks the beginning of a dynamic middle school journey. Students are learning to think critically, act responsibly, and engage more consciously with the world. This course prepares educators to meet these challenges with confidence, creativity, and care. Additional Course Offerings This course also includes Teaching Music and Singing with Meg O’Dell, offering practical ways to bring rhythm, song, and musical life into the middle school classroom; Artistic Engagement with Narsingh Khalsa, providing rich artistic experiences that support creativity, pedagogical insight, and inner renewal; and Teaching Science in Grade 6 with Will Minehart, focusing on hands-on scientific exploration that deepens understanding of natural lawfulness and supports adolescents’ growing capacity for critical observation. Join us to explore the sixth-grade curriculum and leave inspired, equipped, and ready to guide your students through this meaningful and transformative year. Sarah Nelson graduated from Antioch University New England Graduate School more than twenty years ago. Since then she has taught at Haleakala Waldorf School in Maui, Hawaii, where she worked with students from pre-K to Grade 8. In addition to class teaching, she served as Leader for the Southern California and Hawaii region on AWSNA’s Leadership Council for several years. In 2021, after completing an eight-year journey with her class in Maui, she returned to British Columbia and currently serves as a visiting teacher and mentor. Sarah Nelson Included with all Online Renewal Courses: Music and Singing with Meg O’Dell Leading Artistic Engagement with Narsingh Khalsa plus Teaching Science in Grades 6, 7, & 8 with Will Minehart Meg O’Dell loves helping people access their innate capacity for wellness, vitality, and connection. She does this as a somatic coach, supporting individuals and couples in growth, transformation, and healing, and also as a music teacher and vocal mentor. She teaches music at The Bay School, a Waldorf school on the coast of Maine, and leads a large intergenerational all-comers chorus called Misty Mountain Singers. Meg serves as faculty for Antioch University’s Waldorf Teacher Training and CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Programs. She is a regular instructor for CfA’s the Renewal Courses and introductory Explorations program, and she has taught with LifeWays North America. She received her M.Ed. from Antioch University New England in 2008. Her great joys include spending time with her growing children and visiting the small, misty mountain that rises out of the sea near their home. Meg O’Dell Narsingh Khalsa is a Waldorf educator and artist with a degree in Education from Prescott College and teacher training from Sunbridge Institute. Currently teaching a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class at the Waldorf School of Princeton, Narsingh brings 18 years of experience teaching fine arts to students from 1st through 12th grade. Passionate about creativity, she enjoys making children’s books, developing Waldorf curriculum for homeschoolers and teachers, and engaging in handwork. Outside the classroom, Narsingh loves hiking, yoga, and exploring the beauty of nature. Narsingh Khalsa Will Minehart’s interest in the natural sciences began during his early youth in rural Pennsylvania, where he spent much of his time hunting, fishing, and birdwatching. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Bucknell University, then pursued Ornithological Research and Environmental Education before meeting his wife, starting a family, and becoming a full-time teacher. Before becoming a Waldorf teacher in 2014, he taught