Tenner Week Sep 2017: Day 4: Look for learning opportunities

It’s Day Four of our Tenner Week Challenge already! How are things working out for you so far? Today is a chance to hunt down something new to learn, whether that’s taking up a musical instrument, finding out how to bake your own sourdough bread, or finally getting to grips with astrophysics.

This is an opportunity to train your brain, learn a new skill, boost your CV, create a new base of knowledge, and maybe meet some new people as well, depending on what you decide to do. It could be academic, a skill to brush up on for work, something to improve your health, or something to do purely for fun and enjoyment.

What could you do to learn something new?

• Buy a book or reserve one from the library
• Take evening classes or lunchtime classes
• Find out about local talks or lectures
• Join an activity group
• Download a learn-a-language app
• Train towards an official certificate
• Get training in business skills or start-up skills
• Find free TED talks or university lectures
• Sign up for distance learning / an online course
• Book some guitar or dance lessons
• Do a skills swap with a friend or relative
• Look for learning offered through your workplace
• Watch instruction videos for DIY, cookery and more

You don’t have to commit to booking or paying for it today, just do the research to get some idea of your options, and the range of prices involved. There are usually plenty of free things to have a go at if you’re on a tight budget as well, from talks in your local library to software tutorials on YouTube.

If you’re thinking about buying lessons or booking onto a course, be sure to research the reputation of the providers. For example, you might be interested to know that Learndirect has recently had an OFSTED report that’s so bad it’s verging on a scandal (I won’t be recommending them to people from now on as they’ve clearly changed for the worse in the last three years).

Of course, this isn’t likely to be an issue if you’re buying a book about vegetable gardening or learning to crochet at the local adult education centre, but it’s good to check credentials if you’re spending money and / or you need an official qualification at the end of it.

What’s happening here

I managed a second no-spend day yesterday, so the total spent so far is still £6.00. We had seafood noodles for dinner using frozen prawns, squid and mussels, lots of veggies, rice noodles and a jar of coconut and lemongrass sauce. It was delicious.

Then we watched a recording of Bake Off and fast forwarded through the ad breaks for a total of 59 minutes while we had some baked rhubarb and stem ginger for pudding. Then I watched 40 minutes of a show that Beau worked on (well done Beau), bringing my telly for the week up to 145 minutes. After all that I went to bed an hour earlier than usual to read a book, which is something I think I’m going to have to do more often.

Does the ‘Back to School’ season put you in the mood to learn? What might you want to try?