TeacherTomseCourses

While it is specifically designed for early childhood educators, directors, and childcare owners, parents and grandparents of young children will also find it invaluable too.

We will cut through the fear to take a clear-sighted and practical approach to risky play for young children, with a special focus on talking to parents and working with regulators, licensors, and insurance companies to make sure the children are “safe-enough” without suffocating them in bubble-wrap. We will examine the various types and kinds of risky play that children need and noodle through how you can provide those opportunities in your setting or home. And most importantly, you will come out of this course with a toolbox of skills, ideas, and approaches to providing appropriate risk for the children in your life. You will learn how to say “yes” in a world that is increasingly saying “no.”

Like with anything worth doing, you will get out of it what you put into it. This course is designed in the spirit of play-based learning in that I avoid direct instruction, “how to’s,” tick boxes, and lists of learning objectives. Instead, my approach is to assume that you are a motivated, intelligent, committed adult. I share my best thinking, tell stories, and ask probing questions intended to make you think about yourself, the families in your school life, and what you can do given your own unique situation. As a result you will feel both inspired and empowered to take action.

Absolutely! This is a course for self-motivated enthusiastic educators who want to enable the children to experience the benefits emerging from appropriate risk taking. This is also a great course for self-motivated parents, grandparents, and caregivers who want to support a beautiful play-based learning journey of the young children in their care.

I guarantee that you have never taken a course like this one. It will challenge you, it will probably even make you mad at times, but it will also cause you to think and grow. Most importantly, you will feel empowered and enabled to assess and support the children in your care to experience developmentally appropriate physical and emotional risks.

This cohort kicks off on July 24th, 2024

Starting Wednesday, July 24th, and on every Wednesday for the following six weeks, you’ll receive access to one module of the course along with a workbook. You can watch that week’s module at any time that’s convenient for you, as long as you do so prior to the following week. We will all be working through the material together as a cohort, week-by-week. (If you can’t watch it that week that’s ok too, since you have lifetime access, but you’ll have more fun if you keep up with the cohort.)

At the start of each week, you’ll get a half hour to 45 minutes of video. You’ll watch and then spend another 15 minutes or so each week filling out your reflection guide/workbook. In total, you’ll be investing about an hour every week between July 24th and August 28th.

No. You can watch the sessions and work through the reflection guides any time that is convenient for you; after that you can share your insights and ideas in our online community area and Teacher Tom will comment and cheer you on.