My little sister has always had a rough life. She's been very emotional and dealt with things that have led her down dangerous paths. Although she's not as bad off as she once was, she still wants to open a tattoo parlor in a very bad neighborhood and makes other dangerous decisions all the time.
Due to some recent events in her life, I've been trying harder than ever to 'be there' for her, so each weekend, we've gone out to exercise and grab a bite to eat. Usually we go to a nearby state park, but we decided to try something different yesterday. She kept telling me that she felt dumb and wanted to learn things.... and it really broke my heart. She spent a lot of time living in trailer parks, has absolutely no credit, and has so much debt that I don't know when she will get out of it. Nonetheless, I took her on a 2.5 hour tour of the college I attended. I showed her where my office was at, where certain events happened, the places with the best views.... I even took her to the library where we took down books and flipped through them.
She absolutely lit up during the tour, re-emphasizing with more and more determination, "I want to learn!"
I've been trying to find more positive things for her life, and I adore learning myself. What would be better, than for us to do something together in which we learn 'stuff'?
How do you go about finding cheap / free classes? I know my college allows students to audit classes and I plan on asking about it... but what about outside of college? I'm sure she'd love to learn about anything, and I'd be right alongside her in anticipation. I do worry though, about the college thing, because those are likely to reach above our scopes of knowledge.
Is there some type of location where you can usually find out about such things and what are they like?
Do you have any other ideas for positive learning experiences I can enjoy with my sister?
My little sister has always had a rough life. She's been very emotional and dealt with things that have led her down dangerous paths. Although she's not as bad off as she once was, she still wants to open a tattoo parlor in a very bad neighborhood and makes other dangerous decisions all the time.
Due to some recent events in her life, I've been trying harder than ever to 'be there' for her, so each weekend, we've gone out to exercise and grab a bite to eat. Usually we go to a nearby state park, but we decided to try something different yesterday. She kept telling me that she felt dumb and wanted to learn things.... and it really broke my heart. She spent a lot of time living in trailer parks, has absolutely no credit, and has so much debt that I don't know when she will get out of it. Nonetheless, I took her on a 2.5 hour tour of the college I attended. I showed her where my office was at, where certain events happened, the places with the best views.... I even took her to the library where we took down books and flipped through them.
She absolutely lit up during the tour, re-emphasizing with more and more determination, "I want to learn!"
I've been trying to find more positive things for her life, and I adore learning myself. What would be better, than for us to do something together in which we learn 'stuff'?
How do you go about finding cheap / free classes? I know my college allows students to audit classes and I plan on asking about it... but what about outside of college? I'm sure she'd love to learn about anything, and I'd be right alongside her in anticipation. I do worry though, about the college thing, because those are likely to reach above our scopes of knowledge.
Is there some type of location where you can usually find out about such things and what are they like?
Do you have any other ideas for positive learning experiences I can enjoy with my sister?