Early Childhood Certificate Program
Completing the LifeWays® Early Childhood Certification Program can open new opportunities for you – both professional and personal—in the fields of early childhood, parent education and after-school care. Our one-year, part-time curriculum includes over 200 onsite hours, with independent study and personal mentoring between sessions. It can prepare you to open or transform your own in-home program, classroom or early childhood center. Many parents also enroll for inspiration in the Living Arts.
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Our students graduate with a renewed sense of purpose and joie de vivre in their daily lives. Strengthened by an amazing view of the developing human being, a lifted experience of personal growth, guidance in establishing successful programs, and a sense of being grounded in practical, artistic, and nurturing skills, they tell us over and over again that this training was a life-changing experience for them.
Faith
​“The LifeWays training has literally changed my life. I started working in early childhood planning to do it for a year while I ‘figured out what I wanted to do with my life,’ and my LifeWays training helped me realize that I was doing exactly what I wanted. It gave me new ways of looking at mundane tasks and gave meaning to every interaction I had with the children. It gave me a framework to view my work with children and a way to explain to parents that what I was doing with their children was meaningful.
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Each segment of my LifeWays training had me coming back to my class filled with inspiration, new ideas of things I wanted to try, and new energy to approach old problems. I was truly sad when my training ended, and was thrilled when another graduate in the area suggested that we start a LifeWays graduate group. That group met once a month and was a mainstay for all of us over several years. LifeWays has influenced my life in a meaningful way, and continues to do so, to this day. I would recommend the LifeWays training to anyone who spends their time with young children.”
Program at a Glance
LifeWays Early Childhood Certificate Program is designed for both parents and professionals. The 210 in-class hours over the course of a year are offered in various locations throughout the US.
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There is also guided study with a mentor between sessions. LifeWays graduates are using what they have learned
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With their own families
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In LifeWays childcare and in-home programs
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In schools as assistant teachers, or offering parent-child, after-school and childcare programs.
The Curriculum
The curriculum is divided into four categories:
HUMAN GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT
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In-depth child development from birth to six, with an introduction to other ages and phases of life through biographical studies based on the insights of Rudolf Steiner​
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Introduction to numerous developmental theorists such as Vygotsky, Piaget, Bowlby, Dewey, Erikson, Froebel, Pikler and others.
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​Exercises for personal development, inner practice, and adult relationships, including a class on diversity
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how to understand yourself, children and other adults
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​how to practice mindfulness
CHILD, FAMILY & COMMUNITY
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Practical skills for inspired living
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​how to create daily/weekly schedules that invigorate rather than exhaust
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Celebrations and festivals
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Home health care practices to support healthy children and adults
LIVING ARTS
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Working with the Living Arts (domestic activity, nurturing care, social awareness and creative arts)
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how to craft beautiful, purposeful things
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how to make puppets and tell stories
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​how to mindfully clean and care for your home or work environment
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​how to move with grace and strength and good posture
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​how to create simple, wholesome meals
PROGRAM CURRICULUM
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Tools of the Trade – introductory classes on the nuts and bolts of establishing child care centers and home programs, as well as parent-child and parent-infant programs.
Upcoming Trainings
Click on the photos below to learn more about the upcoming ECC trainings.
