Two New Online Courses with Dr. Blanning are starting this Fall:
New Round: Understanding Deeper Developmental Needs in Children
an online course for Waldorf teachers, anthroposophic physicians and therapists
A new two-year course will begin in October 2024!
The Fall 2022-Spring 2024 course included participants from Eastern and Western Europe, North America, Australia/NZ and Asia. To continue to be able to embrace an international community, the new two-year round of the course will again offer two parallel monthly teaching times (same material taught twice):
Tuesdays 10:30am U.S. Mountain time (evening in Europe/Africa)
Fridays 4pm U.S. Mountain (Saturday morning in Australia/Asia)
Registration will open in June. If you would like to be notified when registration opens, please send us an email.
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 understanding and providing practical support for the children we work with in the world.
Topics include:
Year One
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
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 2024-2025 (please note, schedule subject to shift slightly):
Tuesdays 10:30am (more for those in the Americas, Europe, Africa):
Oct. 15, Nov. 12, Dec. 10 (2024), Jan. 14, Feb. 18, March 11 (2025)
Fridays 4pm (for those in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Asia):
Oct. 11, Nov. 15, Dec. 13, (2024), Jan. 17, Feb. 18, March 14 (2025)
If you are interested in receiving an announcement when registration opens, send us a message HERE.
New Course: Understanding Deeper Needs in the Classroom
This course complements and further develops the material taught in Understanding Deeper Developmental Needs in Children. Rather than starting with constitutional pictures, we will instead make our starting point common classroom challenges. How can we develop a differentiated view of the needs that stand behind challenging behaviors?
Knowledge of the constitutional polarities—either from your own work reading the book or having participated in the online course—will be very helpful, though not required.
Two sessions will be devoted to each theme, with participants encouraged and expected to really do careful observation of the children you work with. How can we collectively research children’s needs and bring practical tools to help them better thrive in the classroom setting.
Schedule: Tuesdays 10:30am U..S. Mountain Time (more for those in the Americas, Europe, Africa): Fridays 4pm U.S. Mountain time (for those in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Asia)—the same material will be taught twice as the live discussion is very important!
The Child Who Will Not Participate
Approaching the Behavior: Tuesday, October 29 and Friday, November 1 (Saturday November 2), 2024
Supporting the Need: Tuesday, December 3 and Friday, December 6 (Saturday December 7), 2024
The Child Who Always Disrupts
Approaching the Behavior: Tuesday, February 25 and Friday, February 28 (Saturday March 1), 2025
Supporting the Need: Tuesday, March 25 and Friday, March 28 (Saturday March 29), 2025
All sessions will be recorded and made available to participants, though each meeting includes time for small group discussion (one of the best parts of working together in community!), so we hope people will take part in the live discussions as much as possible.
Registration will open in June. If you are interested in receiving an announcement when registration opens, send us a message HERE.
Nurturing the Roots: A Three-Year Advanced Therapeutic Course
for Early Childhood Educators
with Nancy Blanning, Laurie Clark,
Dr. Adam Blanning and other guest faculty
July 2022-July 2024 • Denver, Colorado
Thank you for your interest, but the course is now full.
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 week-long July summer conferences (Sunday evening through Friday noon), complemented by two January four-and-a-half day workshops (Thursday evening through Monday noon). 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.
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.
Course Curriculum:
Year One (July 2022): 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.
Year Two (January and July 2023): 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 2024): 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 meetings and $475 for the winter workshops. Course fees includes tuition, materials and mid-morning and afternoon snacks. There is a non-refundable $100 deposit that must be submitted with your registration for the July 2022 session–this will be applied to your tuition for the fifth and final session in July 2024.
Registration: is now closed. If you are interested in participating in future Nurturing the Roots offerings, contact us and let us know.