Seniors, do any of you still take the occasional course?

Question

on something new you'd like to learn? We're told that the way to keep our brains healthy is to continue to keep it active as we age. So I wonder if many of you sign up for courses to learn something new?

Answer 1

I did a course on Microsoft Excel, because I wanted to do my own spreadsheets for my budgets and stuff. I used to use Lotus 1-2-3 when I worked, but that is hardly ever available now.

What I REALLY want to do next is Desktop Publishing! That would be a blast.

Answer 2

My days of taking courses is long ago past....I don't use what I already know, so there will be no more courses added to the old brain. If I want to learn how to use a program, there is a complete set of .....for Dummies. These books are very good. If I wanted to learn a language, Rosetta Stone is excellent. But if I want to learn a new set of dance moves, then I take courses...but I have forgotten more moves than I could possibly learn...you cannot use moves with a new partner, for no matter how well you lead, if they don't have a clue, it is a waste of time to learn anything but the basics.
Instead, I play bridge...on-line, excellent bridge, with no table talking, no idle gossip, etc. I do crossword puzzles, but they can be boring...so it is back to bridge, and of course, occasionally, Yahoo Answers. The problem with Yahoo answers is that the only section worth looking at any more is "Seniors." We seem to be the only group with any manners left. ! But, I must say, that yesterday, I saw a kid get blasted here by Seniors because he thought the section was for Seniors in HS. This is such a common mistake, Yahoo could have labeled this section "Senior Citizens, " but instead labeled it "Seniors." If you were a kid, what would you think? UPDATE: I see Yahoo HAS relabeled this section as "Senior citizens." Will wonders never cease ! Good luck

Answer 3

I started learning Italian a few months ago, just the basics with an on-line course, hoping to take it a stage further next year by signing up for a conversational course.

Playing the piano has been a lifetime ambition now trying to find the right keyboard, so that I can learn to play.

There's so much I want to do I'll have to work out a school style timetable! remembering to include PE and Home Economics or whatever they're called nowadays.

Answer 4

I took a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course last year, online from Britian, it was about 1/10 the cost from a NA school or college. Before I took it I emailed the information to several schools to see if it was recognized and accepted in NA and China, it was.

I was recovering from several surgeries and house bound and needed to do something.

I am always taking courses online. I have taken Oracle, HTML, as well as several Marketing courses and classroom management.

I also learned to speak Mandarin while in China, I threw out the guide book and headed out on my own to "sink or swim". I spent a month studying Mandarin vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar before I made my debut in speaking Mandarin to the people I met. It was very rewarding.

I am going to begin to seriously study Japanese if I get a home and dont end up homeless. Maybe Korean too?

Answer 5

For months now I have gotten to know the computer. Didn't have one untill I came here. Learning a lot and my short term memory loss is getting better. So much to remember. I have made lots of notes but only need then occasionally. Sleep soundly. Being active and playing games is also of help with the aging process. But you know at some point it is going to get you.

Answer 6

Always. I hope to still be learning the day I die. I just signed up for a class to begin next month on the varying theories of what happened on 9-11. My nephew, who lost a son that day, suggested it. I cant wait to get involved in something so interesting. As one of my daughters said-you have to stay active or the cobwebs will form.

Answer 7

I took a test in NC and passed with a 98 for a substitue teacher--then I had to take an adult basic edu. course. I did and it was a week long 8 hours a day--It poured rain, the power went out. Many classes were held there. I was sitting outside on a break trying to find a breath of air--and elderly man from a class down the hall for mentally challenged came outside with head phones on and was dancing around. He looked at me and smiled--reached in his pocket and threw a whole fist full of live cockroaches in my lap. Two days later a very large lady in a turban and a long flowered skirt came out during break and took a warm coke out of her giant purse and popped the lid and just sprayed me down from one end to the other, all she did was laugh, my last day in class dressed in white and now cola!! I just reached over and dried myself off with her awesome skirt and let it drop back down. Then I took a course in comuter programing with a prof that was a total waste--I was by far the eldest person in the class. He never made any prep so you could have all your notes done before he showed up late and plunked his fat butt on his sagging table in the front of the class. I sat there for 45 minutes while he tried to do a hexidecimal problem and couldn't remember how and went back to binary so I said adios now I own the book. Now I go to MSN Encarta and take tests and do tickle tests and a bunch of others.

Answer 8

Actually, I would go to school as a fulltime student if someone paid for the courses! LOL! I love to learn and I love to go to school!

However, I have so many hobbies that I do and they can be very challenging.

Truly, I think it is a balance of being active and growing in knowledge.

Answer 9

Oh Yes. I learn something new everyday. I love taking courses and I like to do the ones that are something that I can apply to my daily life.

Remember (and you've heard this before): A mind is a terrible thing to waste. But you also need to remember: Use it or lose it ----your brain!

Answer 10

All the time. Right now a computer course at the Senior center.