Today I was feeling a bit ill, not sure what it is just know that it has settled into my throat. Perhaps its just my allergies...perhaps not. I guess I'll know more as it goes on over the next few days. Anyway, in the interest of keeping busy I decided to get all my homework done.
I don't attend school as most would, instead I am enrolled in a bunch of different online courses offered by Coursera. There are more programs but this is the one I started in and for those of you who are not familiar with Coursera I can give you a link and a quick rundown on how it works.
You go to their site and you sign up. Once you do there are tons and tons of courses there for you to choose from. They are offered by various Universities all over the world and they feature students from all over the world. Some of the most interesting people I've met to date, I met through a coursera course.
While most of the courses don't offer you an actual diploma at the very least if you participate actively you can earn a certificate in something you just finished studying. There is even a chance to sometimes earn a certificate with "distinction" for either having high marks and/or participating in the class fully.
Right now I am taking an Art Class, a Music History Class and a Class about Archeology. Weekly lessons and weekly/bi weekly quizzes and projects keep you on your toes.
It makes me feel good just to think that I am taking higher level courses. They might not count for graduations from school, but they are much cheaper than trying to go back to college at this point. For me the subject of education has always been a bit "touchy".
When I was 18 I felt this desperate need to get away from an over-bearing parent, so I got married. The marriage ended a year later, after I had started school. Since I had already put my money into an emergency surgery to extract all my wisdom teeth, I had nothing left to move out and start all over with. When I went to the welfare agency at that time, I got told to quit school and get their help, or stay in school without it. I guess we all know which "option" I took. I ended up with owed monies and to this day do not know if applying to school would result in a place for me or just a waste of $100 bucks to find out.
The way the system is set up right now, you pay one place to register you. Then you pick the schools you'd like to register for. Then once you are accepted you can apply for student loans. The money is NON refundable UNLESS your course is cancelled. So I can't even find out if I can get a loan because I can't apply because I don't have the money. IF I ask for workfare's help (which they might give). I still won't know until I've paid up and registered. So I guess you can see how much I really want to play the lottery.
So here I am in Coursera land, enjoying the courses and seeing where my interests are. Perhaps when I'm finished I'll even know which way I'd like to go "IF" I ever decide to stick college back into my options list.
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