Why We Teach Botany in Fifth Grade

Have you ever wondered why we teach botany instead of, say, physics in fifth grade? I can explain this, but it requires an open mind.

A human being unfolds in delicate stages, not unlike the sprouting, growth, budding, and blossoming of a rose. Fifth grade marks a moment when the growth-formative body reaches a golden stage. You see it in the children’s physiognomy, sense it in their mastery of what they have hitherto learned, and feel it through their soul’s inner balance. (Don’t worry, all that will get thrown into chaos starting around the age of 12.)

Fifth grade is the last beautiful expression of innocent childhood and represents the pinnacle of the work of these growth-formative forces in the child. This is the same body we share with plants. Thus, when we teach botany outwardly in fifth grade, we also speak to something happening in the child’s soul. A natural harmony results, and they love it. Every time, in my experience.