We are more than the roles we play. I believe we need to keep learning and growing not just in our role as parents but as individuals.
As a busy hands-on mom, I often find it difficult to to give time for the things that I love like doing crochet projects and learning languages but I know that I need to do them for me to keep in touch with myself. You know, not to lose myself in motherhood. I need to consistently fill my cup in order to give more to others. Besides, they are my happy habits! Also, I need to continue discovering new things not just to avoid feeling stuck but to keep my balance.
Like Einstein said,
“ Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
This means, we need to live life in all directions, experiencing new cultures , upgrading our skills and learning more about ourselves.
I’m sharing some of the best educational websites that offer free and valuable information about a wide range of topics. Whether you’re thinking of becoming a work at home mom or simply want to enrich yourself, these sites are worth checking out. Just take note that most have both FREE and paid courses and many require for you to create an account. I usually search for FREE courses if I’m thinking of nothing in particular then go from that. Think of it as a virtual bargain hunt for free stuff! Excited?
Here we go:
UDEMY
I seriously love UDEMY. Why? Well for one, it’s easy to use. I just created an account and I was able to watch a 30 min course on free blogging tools. Yes, I love free stuff. Next, it has a wide range of topics.
For us moms, they have topics on self-healing, weight loss and home remedies which you might find interesting. If you’re into photography and design, they have courses on how to make a website and improve your shooting skills. Want to be a freelancer? They have a couple of courses to kickoff your career: Introduction to Freelancing and Freelance Jumpstart Course. Awesome right?
OPEN CULTURE
Open Culture is an educational and cultural website founded by the Dean of Stanford University’s Continuing Education Program. What’s amazing about is not just the wide array of subjects it has but the different media used to present the information. It has links to video courses, ebooks and even audio books. I noticed though that you’d need itunes for the audio books.
On top of this, it has 200 FREE educational resources including video lessons, apps and websites. Definitely bookmarking this!
EDX
Like Udemy, Edx also features quality courses from different universities around the world. Some current and interesting FREE courses include topics like The Science of Parenting, The Italian Language and The Science of Happiness. If you need verified course certificates, you’d have to pay $49 and submit a photo with ID.
Interestingly, you could choose current, upcoming and self-paced courses in many categories. The Italian Language course is self paced so grazie EDX!
OPEN2STUDY
This information resource established by Open Universities Australia has various specialized short courses from Humanities to Medicine. Currently, some of their free courses include Early Childhood Education, Financial Planning and User Experience for the Web. Well, I’m actually thinking of enrolling in the last course since it’s relevant and self-paced. I’ll share with you my experience soon.
GCFLEARNFREE
This website is program of Goodwill Community Foundation and Goodwill Industries of Eastern NC Inc. (GIENC) which offers 2000+ lessons from reading to Social Media Marketing completely free. This is a great initiative because learners from all over the world could access it anytime. The best news is you don’t have to create an account to do this! Yey! Just type what you want to learn about in the search bar and start choosing tutorials! Cool, right?
SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL
If you’re leaning towards becoming a work at home mom (WAHM), particularly working as a virtual assistant, you might want to check out this website. It is an authoritative site that has loads of articles on SEO, content marketing, social media, and paid search. You could even get a FREE e-book Search Engine Journal Whitepaper: “What Works in Content Marketing: Case Studies & Tools for Success” if you subscribe. Very tempting, indeed.
ALISON
Alison is a e-learning website founded by Advanced Learning Interactive Systems Online (ALISON). It aims to give basic education and workplace skills.
What I find impressive about ALISON is its 800+ certificate and diploma courses in ten languages. Aside from the academic courses, they have lifestyle courses with topics food safety and design. I just might look into their Journalism in the Digital Age course but I’d have to make an account I’d have to make an account first.
JOBHUNT.ORG
I think this website would be helpful for moms who’d like to go back to the workforce but need a bit of guidance on finding the right job for them. It has heaps of articles on job interviews, resume making, and interview skills needed to make job searching less overwhelming.
BIG THINK
BigThink is a knowledge forum on topics that impact business today. Unlike the others I’ve mentioned, it is centered on topics like personal growth, religion and politics. For instance, you could readily watch a video on “How to Conquer Life’s Challenges by Looking Inside Yourself”.
While the other sites focus on academic and technical skills, I think this site is a hub for motivation. It has videos, articles and podcasts from the best minds on how to succeed both in our personal and professional lives. Isn’t it exciting?
I hope this post helps you pursue your passions, dare to dream and live in all directions. Please share this post so more mommies can remember that we can be mommies and more!
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