Early Childhood Certificate Program
The Revolution that we urgently need in child care could start with you!
Maybe it will start in your own home. Learning how to create rhythm and order that lightens your load and brings levity back into your family life could increase your ratio of smiles over frowns.
Maybe it will start with your childcare, preschool, or aftercare program. Awakening your staff or your director to an enlightened understanding of child development based on joyful living and meaningful activity could reinvigorate and renew your love of the work.
Maybe it will start with your parent-child or parent-infant program. Creating a nurturing atmosphere that awakens in parents a deeper understanding of their children and how to create meaningful home life while having fun is a great gift.
Or maybe it is your own attitude to life that could use some revolutionizing. Learning more about the wholeness of being human – body, soul and spirit – from the perspective of the spiritual scientific research of Rudolf Steiner and other human development researchers could open your mind in ways you never expected.
Enrich your family life or find a new career in early childhood.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How to Apply
When you have decided upon taking the Full Certificate Training, and determined which location & dates to attend, please contact the Students Services Coordinator for that location. Let them know you are interested and applying; discuss any additional information you need with them. If you would like to apply immediately, please do so by clicking onto the location page of your choice above.
Submit your Application and Payment Plan. All of these steps must be completed before considering yourself fully accepted to and ready to attend our in person training:
1. Please fill out the online application form and submit it with the Application fee ($75.00).
2. Complete the Payment Plan Form and contract and email them (with your signature) to our Student Financial Administrator at finances@lifewaysnorthamerica.net. OR mail them to P.O. Box 4035 Overland Park, KS 66204-9998.
If you need a customized plan to attend, please email our Financial Administrator to arrange a conversation as soon as you have sent in your application.
3. The Student Services Coordinator for your training location will contact you to welcome you into the program. Our Financial Administrator will process your payment plan and an invoice/billing will be set up for your payment(s).
** Please see the Discounts section for guidelines and requirements for receiving the Early Enrollment discount, Representative Sites discount or Fundamentals Retreat discount.