Our Early Childhood Distance Learning Course is a three-year Waldorf-inspired professional development program consisting of classes (lectures and discussions, and artistic and handcraft activities) held during the school year and summer conferences. The school year 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 Friday classes. So, 28 classes all together.

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

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

Some individual work needs to be done outside the class hours such as writing synopses of books read and studied, creating main lesson book pages, and completing art and handcraft projects. 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.

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.

A comprehensive course is also available for students who want to earn a certificate in early childhood and grades education at the same time. Inquire with the button below.

3 Year Program cost: $15,000 ($5,000/yr.)