by: Cynthia MacGregor
School is almost over for your kids. While they’re enjoying the run-up to summer freedom, you’re already mentally measuring their growth spurts and wondering which of them will need new clothes for the fall. The way time flies, it will be fall and the new school year sooner than you think.
Maybe it’s time for you to go back to school too!
Why should you go back to school? There are several reasons, and education is only one of them. Meeting new men, near the top of the list, is not the only reason, either.
“But I have a job!” you may be thinking. “Sure, I’d like to learn something useful, but what do you expect me to do—quit my job?”
Or you may be thinking, “I already have a degree. What more do you want?”
Relax. I’m not suggesting you become a full-time student or pursue a higher degree (or finish that degree you never got if you dropped out after your sophomore year to get married or go to work.) Although pursuing a degree is an option.
Stick with me here. Education isn’t only about degrees. It isn’t even only about getting a better job or a new career. That’s part of it, but it’s not the whole picture.
Taking classes is great for a variety of reasons:
• You can meet available men there.
• You can make new friends.
• It will do your mind good to focus on something other than work, the kids, the PTA, the problems you’re facing as a divorced mom.
• You can take courses toward a degree or, if you already have one, then toward a higher degree.
• You can take courses that will help you get a better job, start your own business, change careers, do better in your current field of work, or otherwise improve your income potential.
• You can take courses in parenting and even in navigating the waters of divorced parenthood—or simply in coping with your ex.
• You can take courses that will help you improve yourself.
• It’s an evening activity other than going to the movies, to a friend’s house, or to a singles bar.
Now, I’m not necessarily talking about college courses—although they are one option. If you’re not chasing a degree, there are other places to take classes.
Let’s start with your local public schools. They probably offer evening classes for adults. Your community may label them “Adult Education” or “Community Education” or some other name. Most of them probably meet one evening a week. The tuition is usally affordable. You may find it costs you more to hire a sitter than it does to pay for the class, pro rating the course cost over the eight or twelve weeks it runs.
Your town, city, or community may have a Recreation Department, Leisure Services Department, or something similar by another name, that offers classes. Your local YMCA or JCC probably offers some kind of classes. There may be a for-profit or not-for-profit consortium of individuals in your area who offer classes in areas they are expert in. Public libraries often offer courses, and so do some churches and synagogues.
And of course, your local college offers courses for non-matriculating students, probably at a lower cost than the regular tuition. (This is known as “auditing” a course.)
You can study a foreign language, improve your computer skills (is there a software program you’re not familiar with but would like to learn?), learn an art or craft, take a course in parenting, or in legalities that everyday individuals should be familiar with, take an exercise, yoga, dance, or martial arts class, improve your writing, public speaking, or cooking skills, learn more about organic gardening or taking care of houseplants…and that’s just a start. There are many, many more classes available.
Many schools and class programs offer summer classes. It’s not too late to enroll in many of them. And now is the time to enroll for fall college classes.
So what are you waiting for? Don’t just sit there. Learn something!
Cynthia MacGregor is a multi-published author. She has over 100 books to her credit, of which roughly half were published conventionally and the remainder as e-books. They include After Your Divorce, Divorce Helpbook for Kids, Divorce Helpbook for Teens, Solo Parenting, "Step" This Way, and others. Forthcoming books include The One-Parent Family, Why Are Mommy and Daddy Getting Divorced, and Daddy Doesn't Live Here Anymore.she hosted and produced the TV show Solo Parenting, which was broadcast in South Florida over WHDT. Cynthia writes for HopeAfterDivorce.org, FamilyShare.com, and LAFamily.com. Contact Cynthia atCynthia@cynthiamacgregor.com, and see her website at www.cynthiamacgregor.com.