States require teachers to earn annually a certain number of professional development hours in child care. For example, Texas requires child care providers in child care centers to have 15 hours of professional development each year. You can acquire many of these hours by taking correspondence courses. How many hours are required is set by each state's child care licensing department. Contact your state's child care licensing department to learn how many hours you must complete each year and how many can be done by taking correspondence courses.
The National Association of Child Care Professionals offers correspondence courses for continuing education as well. One package, for instance, offers courses in Child Abuse: Physical Abuse Awareness, Safety and Security Procedures, Encouraging Parental Involvement and Early Childhood Programs for Multilingual Children.
The childhood development associate is a degree that you can earn online or through other types of correspondence courses. (A similar credential is the Certified Childcare Professional, which is administered by the National Child Care Association.) You will have to do some practical classroom work, however, before you earn your degree. The 120-hour childhood development associate course from the National Association of Child Care Professionals includes courses such as Using Visual Arts to Enhance Development, Documenting Children's Behaviors, Overcoming Difficulties in Communicating with Parents, Stages of Social and Emotional Development in Infants and Outdoor Play Safety.
You can also earn a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child development and early childhood education program administration through correspondence courses. Many colleges offer online early childhood education programs that allow you to earn your bachelor's degree at home and on your own schedule. For example, Ashford University offers an online bachelor's program in early childhood education. Other universities offering similar programs are Post University and Walden University. These courses focus on childhood development, teaching methods, program administration, parental communication and other skills required in the early childhood classroom.
If you want to earn your qualification to be a director, you can take correspondence courses. For example, CARE, a company providing child care correspondence courses recommends the following courses from its catalog for those in Texas who want to become child care directors: Child Care Administration, Basic Bookkeeping for Caregivers, Stress and Daycare, The Art of Child Care, Making Learning Fun and Preschoolers in Day Care. The National Child Care Association offers a National Administrator Credential as well.