This might be a terrible time to write about going back to school after you retire. Where I live (in Seattle), I read new horror stories about state higher education funding being slashed just about every day. At the same time, tuition is going up. All in all, it might seem like both a bad time to retire and maybe even worse time to try to take a college class.
There are other ways to go back to school, though. You can volunteer at a school. Tutors are always in demand and you could even get paid for that. Or you could volunteer as a teacher’s aide in an elementary school classroom. Special education classrooms are usually in need of more people to help out, especially if you have any expertise in this area.
Maybe you’re a great storyteller. You could create your own “storytelling” hours at your local library and become famous with the local kids. They’ll love being entertained by you and you’ll love hamming it up for them.
If storytelling isn’t your thing, but you enjoy being around books, most libraries welcome extra hands to shelve books and answer questions. I’ve worked in libraries and personally love the atmosphere and the people who I’ve worked with.
Another way to earn some money with your own unique skills is to teach a Discover U or other college extension class. Do you have special talents in gardening, martial arts, writing, sports, crafts, travel planning, painting or drawing? How about teaching computer applications, such as Photoshop or Microsoft Excel? I could go on and on.
Speaking of computer skills, if you’re a computer wizard, whether is be programming or networking or systems, you would most likely be welcome at your local community college to work in the lab to keep the systems running and help students with their programming assignments.
These are just a few ideas, some would be volunteer and some might get you a little extra money. Any of them will get you into a new community and out of the house.
And, who knows, you might actually be able to sign up for a class to learn something you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t had the time before retiring. You can go to an extension class and learn anything from ballroom dancing to oil painting to art history. You may even be able to audit a college class.
Don’t forget to polish an apple for the teacher and if the teacher is you, sink your teeth in and savor every delicious bite!
