Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over multiple of short videos.  This business series created by Laverne Head, Family Child Care Professional and owner of Our Leaders of Tomorrow. Focuses on creating a budget, polices and emergency policies for FCC

Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over a series of short video segments.  So if you only have 5 minutes, you can watch one, and if you have more time you can watch a whole series.  This series is about the importance of building relationships with infants.

Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over a series of short video segments.  So if you only have 5 minutes, you can watch one, and if you have more time you can watch a whole series.  This series is about how providers Melody Robinson and Diann Gano are embracing the Reggio Emilia Approach after participating in a study tour there.   Melody Robinson is a family child care professional and owner of Parent's Helper in Oak Park, IL. Diann Gano is a family child care professional and owner of Under the Gingko Tree in Rock Island, IL.

Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over a series of short video segments.  So if you only have 5 minutes, you can watch one, and if you have more time you can watch a whole series.  This series is about brain development by Town Square co-director, Mary Quest.

Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over a series of short video segments.  So if you only have 5 minutes, you can watch one, and if you have more time you can watch a whole series.  This series is about going on excursions and was created by license-exempt provider Thanh Shanahan.

Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over a series of short video segments.  So if you only have 5 minutes, you can watch one, and if you have more time you can watch a whole series.  This series is about using technology to support your family child care business and was created by family child care provider Sarah Bucio.

Learn, Share, and Grow series cover a particular topic over a series of short video segments.  So if you only have 5 minutes, you can watch one, and if you have more time you can watch a whole series.  This series is about writing as a developmental process.  

Town Square en colaboración con El centro tecnología temprana de Erikson Este seminario web está dirigido a los profesionales especialistas en cuidado infantil familiar que trabajan en hogares de múltiples edades, examinaremos el uso de tecnología apropiada para el desarrollo en los programas de cuidado infantil familiar. Usted saldrá con ejemplos prácticos de actividades basadas en el juego, consejos y recursos

Town Square in collaboration with Erikson's Technology in Early Childhood center. This webinar is geared towards family child care professionals working in multi-age home settings, we’ll examine developmentally appropriate technology use in family child care programs. You’ll walk away with practical examples of play-based activities, tips, and resources.

An understanding of child development is an essential tool for all family child care providers. This free webinar provides participants a brief overview of theories of child development, and their practical applications in early childhood care settings. Experts will discuss major themes for social and emotional development for young children, and a family child care provider will talk about responsive care giving.  

Creating appropriate spaces in your home for your family child care business can be a challenge. You need to balance the needs of the children, the needs of your home business, and the needs of your family.  In this webinar we will introduce strategies that will help you provide a developmentally appropriate environment that engages children,  meets the needs of your home business, and still leaves your house feeling like a home.

How can technology enhance your family child care business? In this webinar you’ll learn the importance of understanding developmentally appropriate practice and research on appropriate technology use. You’ll also explore ways in which technology can be used as a business resource that supports professional growth and collaboration with other family child care professionals and colleagues.

Environment is crucial when it comes to creating an effective learning space for children, but creating the right environment in your home can be a challenge. This webinar will discuss the ideas of organization management and materials selection that support the provider’s professional and home environments.

This webinar will introduce the use of technology devices and developmentally appropriate practice in the family child care home.  The panel will discuss how to use appropriate ebooks, apps, and communication tools with young children. We will also explore how low and high tech devices can help support problem solving skills, creative thinking, and social emotional development.

Participants will be introduced to the concepts of:

• developmentally appropriate technology practices
• different developmentally appropriate devices
• digital media, screen time, ebooks, and technology explorations

A panel of Erikson and community experts lead a discussion around the role of reflective practice in relationship-based work focused on family child care support specialists. This webinar overviews research around the role of relationships and reflective practice and discusses the power of this type of approach for specialists in supporting family child care providers. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

Hear from experts and join your colleagues from around the country for an interactive webinar on examining the importance of supporting family child care providers in understanding and communicating with families around children’s social emotional development and challenging behaviors. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

Hear from experts and join your colleagues from around the country for an interactive webinar on examining the importance of supporting family child care providers in understanding and communicating with families around children’s social emotional development and challenging behaviors. Learning objectives This webinar is targeted to agency and program support staff who work with family child care providers in their homes. • Participants will learn why attention to social emotional development is central to working with family child care providers, and how to help providers use the lens of social emotional development to understand children’s behaviors and what they communicate • Participants will gain understanding about how to work with providers around challenging child behaviors. • Participants will recognize the importance of relationships within the context of social emotional development and behavior • Participants will learn about the value of examining their own perspectives on child development and behavior, and how the importance of supporting the provider as the provider might support the child and family Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

Hear from experts from around the country for an interactive webinar on examining what quality support looks like for family child care providers from a systems-level, national perspective, a local network perspective, and a provider perspective.   Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

Hear from experts and join your colleagues from around the country for an interactive webinar on examining provider perspectives on engaging in quality improvement systems and state-level examples of effective professional development and support strategies for including family child care providers in state-wide quality improvement efforts. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module focuses on the importance of relationships for supporting providers in their work with children. The emphasis in the module is around using the visit to the family child care home as an opportunity to get to know the provider and see their interactions with children. Strategies for support specialists to build a relationship with a provider, as well as how the relationship supports goal setting, collaboration, and addressing challenges are included in this module.

Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

The focus of this module is on trauma in children and why it is important for support specialists and family child care providers to have knowledge about this topic. The module raises awareness of how to recognize signs and symptoms of trauma, how it impacts health, and focuses on the support that professionals working with FCC providers need to incorporate self-care and recovery activities and strategies into their practice. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module focuses on the importance of social emotional development from the prenatal period through childhood, increasing understanding of behavior as communication, and understanding how behavior and social emotional development are linked together.   At the foundation is the importance of trusting relationships when communicating around children’s challenging emotions and behaviors.

Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module orients trainers to the core elements of practice for family child care providers. It also guides the trainer in supporting staff in ongoing discussions of what they know and how they think about some key aspects of family child care. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module invites us to think about what we know about family child care, the features that make it unique and different from center- based care, the advantages in nurturing children’s development, and the role of agency staff in supporting providers. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module focuses on provider engagement as a collaborative dialogical process that enables us to go deeply into the provider’s experience, explore our own reactions, and imagine new perspectives. We also explore the power of empathy for joining with providers and the potential of asking questions for developing shared meaning.   Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module discusses the benefits and challenges family child care providers might encounter when working with children of mixed-ages. In addition, it focuses on the home visitor’s perception of working with mixed-age groups and ways to engage in conversation with providers around this topic.   Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.

This module focuses on supporting staff in reflecting on cultural issues and perspectives that may arise in their work with FCC providers. You will work with staff to better understand how culture affects child-rearing values and to recognize that cultural differences can lead to dilemmas and conflict. Note: there are no CEUs for this module and it will not be sent to your Gateways PDR.