Course Categories
Children depend on their caregivers for guidance in navigating the challenges of life. In our guidance classes, caregivers learn more about how to show unconditional love and encouragement towards the children they care for. In addition, adults will learn key behavior strategies to help them better understand a child’s misbehavior, separate the child from the behavior, instill positive discipline strategies, and create natural and logical consequences.
Caregivers will also learn how to empower children to successfully handle their feelings, manage stress, navigate bullying challenges, and develop responsibility. Together, these strategies provide children with the guidance they need to succeed inside and outside of the classroom.
In a childcare setting it is critical for the facility and its caregivers to establish an open and honest line of communication with families of the children being cared for. This should include a regular exchange of information about the child, activities at the childcare facility, and helpful tips on topics such as how to strengthen staff-to-parent communication and what parents can expect if there is a problem at school or daycare.
To provide the children you care for with proper care, a foundational understanding of child growth and development is necessary. Being able to understand brain development and verbal skills at different stages is critical to your ability to successfully communicate with them. In these classes caregivers can learn more about how a child’s brain develops, the three primary parts of the brain, and the various stages of development.
Appreciating different cultures is an increasingly important part of building character in today’s world. These classes were created to help caregivers instill an atmosphere of appreciation of cultural diversity in the children they care for.
Learn how to deter labels in the classroom that can contribute to a child’s negative self-concept, and help a child learn how to celebrate all aspects of their uniqueness. The ability to encourage open-mindedness and celebrate diversity via books, music, sports, and food helps promote cultural inclusion.
Daycares, classrooms and even the playground can be busy areas where it is vitally important to create a safe physical environment. Part of this journey includes ensuring these areas meet safety guidelines, learning how to properly administer medications to children, and establishing strategies for emergency preparedness.
In addition to basic safety processes, in these classes caregivers will learn important health guidelines for preventing and responding to allergic reactions, preventing the spread of communicable diseases, spotting and reporting potential child abuse or neglect, and recognizing and preventing shaken baby syndrome or sudden infant death syndrome.
A child’s self-worth plays a substantial role in how they feel about themselves, as well as what they do. These courses are designed to help caregivers encourage children to find their strengths and gifts and then assist in cultivating those gifts via encouragement and support. A child who recognizes their own self-worth is generally happier and more confident.
For those children in who caregivers observe excessive energy or strong emotions, it is possible to learn how to use classroom activities and the caregiver’s own attitude to redirect a child and deescalate difficult situations.
In a daycare or school setting, caregivers must learn how to employ certain methods to create a nurturing and supportive environment for both themselves and the children they care for. These professional practice courses can assist with academic strategies and curriculum for children such as developing age-appropriate activities and implementing infant learning activities, as well as encouraging early literacy, STEM, and math skills.
On the emotional side of the spectrum, caregivers can learn how to become an advocate of a child in their care, establish healthy boundaries for children, and establish a connection between a child’s positive self-concept and unconditional love.
Caregivers also face professional challenges outside the classroom and may need help in better managing some of these areas, such as communication and stress management. These modules on professionalism are designed to address these challenges as well as show caregivers how to practice positive self-imaging in their educational efforts and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.