Our Early Childhood Course is a distance learning, three-year Waldorf-inspired professional development program consisting of classes (lectures, discussions, and artistic and handcraft activities) held during the school year and summer conferences. Classes are held from 5:00 to 7:00pm PST on Fridays during the school year through Zoom. There are 7 blocks of these classes each year, and each block has 4 classes. So, 28 classes all together. 

The school year classes are followed by a 2-week, on-site Early Childhood Summer Conference, usually in the latter half of July, held in the Portland, Oregon area. The Early Childhood Summer Conference can also be attended without joining the Early Childhood Course. (Click HERE to learn more about this year’s Early Childhood Conference).

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The Early Childhood Course covers three themes: 1) Helping Children Have a Healthy Life, 2) Establishing Rhythm for Children, and 3) Imagination Through Stories. The classes for each school year plus the following summer conference are based on the year’s theme. 

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Some individual work needs to be done outside the class hours such as writing reflections of books read and studied, creating main lesson book pages, painting, drawing, singing, and completing art and handcraft projects begun in class. There are also observation requirements for the second year and practice teaching requirements during the third year. Students also have a few individual talks per year with an assigned mentor. In addition, attendance at at least two in-person weekend conferences held in the Portland, Oregon area during the three years of study is also required. One is held in the fall and one in the spring each year.

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A prerequisite for our professional development courses is to have completed our one-year Foundation Course or an equivalent course or to take it concurrently with the first year of the Early Childhood Course. If you have done this already, then you do not need to do it again. You would just need to provide us with a copy of something verifying this. 

3 Year Program cost: $15,660 ($5,220/yr.)