How we can help our children in times of common childhood illnesses through thoughtful loving care
Homecare Course offered by Anthroposophic nurses Elizabeth Sustick RN and Tina Galgon-Herr RN
When: Saturday Feb 21, 2026, 10am-12:30pm
Where: Denver Waldorf School 2100S Pennsylvania St, Denver, CO 80210
Cost: $25
Childhood is a time of rapid growth and change.
The child re models and renews the body many times.
This means a breaking down process in order to re-build.
Breaking down, cleansing, rebuilding is all performed by the immune system.
The immune system exists to protect the integrity of the child’s body so that there is strength and resilience to become creative and purposeful as life unfolds.
We will learn practical steps to support the child to meet the challenges of fever, earaches, congestion and cough and work with the body’s immune function
Please bring a face cloth, towel, hot water bottle
The next three-year cycle of Nurturing the Roots
will begin in Summer 2026.
Three online introductory discussions sessions will be offered by the faculty so you can learn more about the course. They will happen on November 10th (Adam Blanning), January 12th (Nancy Blanning) and March 9th (Laurie Clark), all at 8:30pm EST/5:30pm PST. You can sign up to get the zoom link—the talks are listed at the bottom of the appointments page under “educational events” (there is no cost for join).
Nurturing the Roots:
A Three-Year
Advanced Therapeutic Course
for Early Childhood Educators
with Nancy Blanning, Laurie Clark, Adam Blanning and other guest faculty
Session One: July 12-17, 2026 • Denver, Colorado
Course Overview:
There are many children in the classroom today who are calling for our extra consciousness and guidance. Their incarnation process is challenged. This may be expressed as disruption, aggression, or strong sensory-seeking behaviors, but is really an expression of how difficult it is for them to find a comfortable home in the body, or a harmonious interaction with the world around them. This course is designed to provide both practical tools for pedagogical and developmental assessment of the individual child, and provide the necessary supports in order to meet the child’s needs. The course will work through the important milestones of physical development and will examine the changing spiritual physiology of the child from pre-earthly experiences through age nine.
This course is designed as an advanced professional development experience for experienced Waldorf early childhood education teachers. The course comprises three in-person week-long July summer conferences (Sunday evening through Friday noon, July 2026, July 2027, July 2028), complemented by two January 3-day online workshops (Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the MLK holiday weekend, January 2027, January 2028). The summer weeks will be devoted to instruction in child observation, hygienic circle movement, constitutional polarities, and developmental assessments for the kindergarten, first grade and second grade child.
The winter workshops will focus more on practical implementation of these topics in the classroom setting. The online workshops will be three sessions per day for a total of 4.5 hours per day.
A letter of application is required for admission to the program and a certificate of completion will be given at the conclusion of the full course. Those working for the certificate will have homework to complete in child observation and study, movement work, classroom plans, and plans for individual children.
Registration is now open! CLICK HERE and scroll to the bottom of the appointments page, looking under “Educational Offerings.” Registration ends on Friday, May 15th, 2026, or sooner if the class fills.
Maximum course enrollment is 50 participants. Registrations fill on a first-come first-service basis.
Minimum enrollment (for the course to go forward) is 35.
PLEASE NOTE: this cycle will be different from previous cycles in that the Winter (January) meetings will now be offered online to reduce time out of the classroom and lower travel costs during the school year. We plan to meet for three sessions (total of 4.5 hours each day) on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the MLK holiday weekend of 2027 and 2028. There will also be online check-in sessions on a Monday evening in October and March (dates to be announced soon).
You must participate in both the Summer and Winter sessions—it is not possible to only participate in the online workshops. The face-to-face encounter and practice is essential for our learning and our community!!
Nurturing the Roots Course Curriculum:
Year One (July 2026): Where did my ‘I’ begin?—Pre-earthly Experience and Descent into Life
The first year curriculum will explore the journey of embryologic development from pre-birth decisions and development, through the birth passage, and into the great deeds of walking, speaking, and thinking as a foundation for health during the first three years of life. We will look at how the inherited body is transformed, and how that progress is expressed through polarities of movement. Play-based sensory developmental screening of the 4-5½ year-old child will be explored.
You can see the planned schedule for July 2026 HERE
Year Two (January and July 2027): My Body, My Home
The second and third sessions focus on the ripening of the etheric body and the formation of the organs, and how this manifests in the kindergarten child. The proper balancing of organic growth and wakeful sensing as a foundational experience for the child will be explored through the constitutional polarities, including the Large-headed/Small-headed polarity. We will explore the maturation of the foundation senses (touch, movement, balance and life). Assessment of first grade readiness, informed by a knowledge of sensory and perceptual development, the integration of movement, auditory capacities, and vision screening will be taught.
Year Three (Jan. and July 2028): Waking to the World Around
For the seven to nine-year old child, incarnation evolves from a primary process of bodily growth to exploration of the world. The child has to learn how to breathe through the body, moving from point to periphery, from self to world. Observing how the young child socially interacts and participates in group activities will help us build an understanding of the waking and sleeping activity of the Epileptic and Hysteric polarity. We will examine this breathing process on the levels of wakeful sensing, temperament, and movement patterns. The third year will also include practical instruction in second grade developmental assessment.
January meetings will generally be held over the MLK holiday weekend, and July 2023 and 2024 sessions the week following the 4th of July holiday. We will confirm exact dates at the start of the course.
Goals:
At the conclusion of the course, each teacher will be prepared to:
Bring health-developing/salutogenic movement enrichment to the early childhood classroom and outdoor play and activities. This will be through circle work, movement journeys, practical work, games and outside play opportunities.
Select specific movement experiences that will serve individual children.
Expand and refine child observation and child study skills by developing a “therapeutic eye”
Have a framework for developing a therapeutic/care circle within one’s school, coupled with learning which mainstream resources can be helpful to the children.
Administer developmental assessments kindergarten through 2nd grade
Costs:
Course fees are $575 for the Summer sessions and include tuition, materials and mid-morning and afternoon snacks. Course fees for the Winter sessions are $425 and also include an online teaching/check-in session in October and March. There is a non-refundable $100 deposit that must be submitted with your registration for the July 2026 session–this will be applied to your tuition for the fifth and final session in July 2028.
Online Courses
with Dr. Blanning:
Continuing October 2025 to March 2026:
Understanding Deeper Developmental Needs in Children YEAR 2 (sessions 7-12)
an online course for Waldorf teachers, anthroposophic physicians and therapists
This will be the second half of a two-year course.
We plan to close registration on Sunday, October 12th, 2025.
So if you wish to take part, please sign up today!
This online teaching project includes a large international community, with two parallel
teaching times offered so that people in all parts of the world can take part (meaning, the same material is taught twice—you choose the timing that works best for you):
Tuesdays 10:30am U.S. Mountain time (evening in Europe/Africa)—
includes live translation into Estonian and HungarianFridays 4:30pm U.S. Mountain (Saturday morning in Australia/Asia)—
includes live translation into Spanish and Chinese
This set of online sessions, designed for Waldorf school teachers and anthroposophic therapists and doctors, will draw from Dr. Blanning’s book, Understanding Deeper Developmental Needs. These online workshops assume that participants already have foundational knowledge of anthroposophic concepts and vocabulary (it is not intended as an introductory course). The course has developed out of specific requests from groups of teachers in many countries who have been working closely with the material.
The main focus of the course is developing greater capacities for child observation while also learning about important developmental patterns and rhythms of childhood. It provides a pathway for greater understanding and providing practical support for the children we work with.
Topics covered in the first year:
Session 1(October 2024): The Fourfoldness of the Human Being
Session 2 (November 2024): Observing the Incarnation Process through Movement
Session 3 (December 2024): Morality as an expression of the earthly and cosmic polarity
Session 4 (January 2025): The Inner Sensory Path for Self-Soothing
Session 5 (February 2025): Learning Styles—the “Large-headed” and “Small-headed” Polarity
Session Six (March 2025): Ripeness of development—Observing First grade readiness
Topics that will be explored in Year Two:
Session 7 (October 2025): Epileptic Constitution
Session 8 (November 2025): Hysteric Constitution
Session 9 (December 2025): Aggressive Behaviors
Session 10 (January 2026): Patterns of Memory
Session 11 (February 2026): Biographical Rhythms of Childhood
Session 12 (March 2026): Gifts and Challenges of the Constitutions
Planned meeting dates for 2025-2026 (please note, schedule subject to change based on Dr. Blanning’s travel schedule, though we hope that won’t be necessary).
You can compare your time zone with Denver (U.S. Mountain time) on this website: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
Tuesdays 10:30am U.S Mountain Time(more for those in the Americas, Europe, Africa):
Oct. 14, Nov. 11, Dec. 16 (2025), Jan. 20, Feb. 24, March 24 (2026)Fridays 4:30pm U.S. Mountain Time (for those in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Asia):
Oct. 17/18, Nov. 14/15, Dec. 19/20, (2025), Jan. 23/24, Feb. 27/28, March 27/28 (2026)
Tuition for the course is $155, which covers all six sessions in the second year (October to March).
We wish for this course to be available to as many people as possible, so a discounted tuition ($120) is available
for those who cannot afford the full price, using the code “UDDN2-DISCOUNT”.
We also recognize that income levels and economics vary widely widely in many countries around the world,
so a hardship/solidarity tuition ($85) is available using the code “UDDN2-HARDSHIP".
If these levels are still not accessible to you or if you have a larger faculty group that would like to participate,
email us and we will see what is possible.
The course has already started and registration has now closed.
If you would like to receive notices about future courses, please sign up for the medical practice newsletter at the bottom of our HOMEPAGE.