If you’re suffering the wave of back-to-school nostalgia that Target commercials and Old Navy window displays forces on the post-grad crowd, you’re not alone. You may be done shopping for dorm supplies (take a minute to celebrate never needing a shower caddy again) and composition books may never be in your life again, but you’re never too old to continue learning.
College classes are tempting, and expensive, to broaden your education, but there are plenty of university-less classes in New York that will teach you valuable, and practical lessons, like new languages, how to further your career, make a ceramic bowl, code an app, and much more, and you shouldn’t have to take out any loans to do it! Plus, you may learn a new marketable skill. Etsy always has room for another liberal arts grad…
Photography school Brooklyn Central offers $5 Fridays, with hour-long courses teaching you varying photography skills, from how to compose a photograph to how to get the best image in low light. Up your Instagram game for a small price.
Roberta’s is offering three classes on gardening and harvesting, so you can grow salad in your backyard or community garden and save a few bucks. Each class is $10 and includes a beer, so basically you’re just getting some free knowledge alongside your pint.
Brooklyn Brainery, as always, has plenty of good things to learn on the cheap. If you’re creative, check out the Made in NYC class, where for $11 you can learn about the surge in local manufacturing. We’ve already taught you about not wasting groceries, Why not take another class to learn how to make the most of your trip to the produce aisle? The $12 class on finding the best produce at the grocery store will hopefully save you plenty at the supermarket on future trips Need a refresher on the Arab Spring? Catch up on three years of current events on September 16. Or check out the $10 lesson on the history of Royal Scotland on September 29. The country’s possible secession is definitely something worth learning about!
Saturday, September 13 brings a free weaving class to Gowanus’ Textile Arts Center from 3-5 p.m.
Sunday, September 28 brings novelist Jessica Penner to WORD in Greenpoint for a free fiction writing workshop! If you want to pay it forward, you can also purchase her book “Shaken in the Water” for $18.
The NY Writers Coalition also offers free drop-in workshops for writers of all backgrounds. Check out their Monday afternoon sessions at the Brooklyn Public Library from 3pm-5pm.
A free event at Williamsburg’s co-working space The Yard on Tuesday, September 16 will teach you the basic legal stuff you need when creating your own website. You know, so you don’t get sued over some embarrassing photo on your blog.
Edible tours of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden will teach you about the origins and uses of common ingredients, hopefully improving your cooking.
The Brooklyn Museum offers a monthly drawing class in their galleries, for an $8 materials fee. They also offer free tours and talks, if you want to expand on your syllabus from art history 101.
Learn to speak all good and confident in public so that you can represent yourself at trial and convince the jury that you were in fact wearing pants on the night in question, at a free public speaking class on Wednesday, September 17 at MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn.
Get schooled by following Melissa at @melissabethk