Exploring Quality in Family Child Care: Defining Your Philosophy |
How do children learn through their relationships, the environment, and their community? What is important for children to learn and when? Answers to these questions inform your program’s philosophy, something particularly personal and unique in family child care. A written philosophy statement provides clear expectations for families, direction for your program, and space for self-reflection. In this session, we explore the what, why, and how of a well-defined philosophy statement with examples from participating Satellite Family Child Care programs. |
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Exploring Quality in Family Child Care: Should We Tell Children to Apologize? |
How do I teach children about consequences? Licensed clinical social worker Janna Hack will explore the skills required to effectively apologize and compare it to the stages of emotional development in early childhood. What does sorry mean? Come learn strategies to support children’s development in empathy, conflict resolution, and accountability for the impact of their actions on others – without requiring apologies. |
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Children as Naturalists: Forest School in Family Child Care |
Forest School is a nature-based approach to early childhood education that prioritizes frequent sessions of unstructured play in outdoor spaces and in all weather. The Forest School approach supports risk taking in play, nurturing children’s independence, emotional resiliency, and self-confidence. Join co-founder of Gather: A Forest School Community Ashley Causey-Golden, licensed clinical social worker Janna Hack, and accreditation consultant Jen Jorgensen as they discuss how you can adapt this approach to family child care settings to promote new forms of discovery in nature. |
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Building Children's Independence: Montessori in Family Child Care |
Montessori is an educational method centered on five key areas of study: practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language, and culture. It uses independent hands-on work as a method of teaching real-world skills and emphasizes individualized pacing of curriculum. The Montessori method is best implemented in a multi-age setting where children can develop mentoring relationships. In this training, we will dive into how the Montessori philosophy can be adapted for family child care programs. |
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Exploring Quality in Family Child Care: Background Noise |
Let's talk about the auditory system! Come learn from Dr. Rochelle Newman, Chair of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland, speaking about her own research into the influences of background noise on infants and children. You will learn what background noise is, how it affects children’s development, and how to mitigate it in family child care. |
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Nurturing Children's Imagination: Waldorf in Family Child Care |
Waldorf Is a curriculum approach rooted in nurturing children’s imagination through creative expression. Storytelling is at the heart of Waldorf curriculum; educators are encouraged to use fables, fairy tales, and myths for teachable moments. Waldorf education concentrates on hands-on learning through art, dance, and music in sensory rich environments. In this training, we will discuss how the Waldorf approach may be a good fit for your family child care program. |
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Exploring Quality in Family Child Care: Child-Directed Play |
Let’s talk about play! This training will explore the importance of child-directed play in early childhood settings. Participants will learn what child-directed play looks like, why it is important for children’s development, and how it can be implemented in family child care programs. |
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Fostering True Play in Your Program: Anji Play in Family Child Care |
Anji Play is an educational philosophy developed in China and centered around five interconnected principles – love, risk, joy, engagement, and reflection. Anji Play recognizes that children have the right to extended periods of self-directed, unguided true play. The Anji Play philosophy focuses on creating environments that can best support deep engagement in play. In this training, we will discuss how to apply this philosophy in family child care. |
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Children as the Co Constructors of Their Own Learning: Emergent Curriculum in Family Child Care |
Emergent Curriculum stemmed from the Reggio Emilia approach and is a flexible way of planning learning opportunities for young children. Emergent curriculum recognizes children as competent, curious learners and acknowledges that children learn best when given a say in their education. This results in a curriculum that is co-constructed by the educator and the child. In this training, we will discuss in depth how this can be implemented in family child care. |
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