I love to learn. My son Noah and I were talking about this recently, as both he and I share the learning passion. He’s currently fulfilling one of his educational dreams at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he is a sophomore majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science. As a homeschool ‘Life Long Learner’, as well as a busy mom and professional woman, I have little time available to further my education in such a formal way as Noah, but I believe that the pursuit of learning and knowledge should be an everyday, life-long endeavor. I read a lot, listen to tapes and interesting programs on public radio, enjoy good films and attend as many lectures as time allows. I just received the latest adult education brochure and of course, found a number of things that more than pique my interest. Two of the most practical ones that I could justify given a busy work schedule are a 5-session Digital photography course that not only teaches me how to get great photos from my camera but teaches the basics of using photo editing software. This could come in very handy for my blogs, especially the one I write for MaryJanes Farm. The second workshop is a two-night class on the Basics of Windows 7. I still use Vista on my laptop, which is my main personal computer at the moment, but Windows 7 is what’s installed on our office computer and while I am discovering things by trial and error, I still don’t know how to find the button that affects the spacing of lines in a document, and about 99% of whatever else the program does. My problem is not really the money, because even in my “Year of Living Frugally”, now approaching its 2nd month, I had made allowances for Educational expenses. It isn’t even the fact that we have one son in college, a daughter about to embark on her 4 years at another, and two impending weddings to help pay for. The dilemma is more whether I can afford 7 evenings over the next month, when we are busy here at The Lodge, and my husband will have just had a double hernia operation. Can I learn just as much for less money in a shorter time by buying a book and learning at my own pace on my own time? If so, WILL I? These courses are technical, where someone who knows what they are talking about will impart their knowledge in the most efficient way, whereas I would be bumbling my way through … And that is my Digital Dilemma for the day!
Bumbling your way through with a book is not a bad way to learn a new software program. Or even without a book. I taught myself what little I know about Photoshop just by messing around with it. Not the greatest by any means but adept enough to design some t-shirts and sell them in my own cafepress shop.
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