But I'll be the first to admit that, despite its sweet little joys, the life of a stay-at-home-mom isn't really...shall we say...intellectually challenging. Though tiring, my job's demands on my brain to solve problems, analyze situations, research questions, and generally think and learn kept me feeling mentally fit and engaged in the world. Many times since quitting work, I've felt like my brain was just rattling around in a jar with nothing to do (and screaming to get out!). Picking another cute little project to do from Pinterest just isn't going to cut the mustard. Figuring out the perfect laundry routine, learning basic car maintenance, or teaching a toddler how to feed himself have their own rewards, but you couldn't exactly call them mentally stimulating. Maybe years and years of school and college and work have made me a homework junkie, but honestly, I've just missed feeling smart.
So I did some digging. Pretty quickly I realized that for my situation, both community college classes and online master's degrees would just be too expensive and more of a drain on my time than I was willing to commit to. I wanted to do something that felt "big," something more interesting and more challenging than just surfing for trivia on Wikipedia, some sort of recognizable task or goal that I could measure my progress toward. But I needed it to be brain food that I could digest in small chunks, at home, on a flexible schedule. For me, that means something I could work on while my son is napping but that I could put away for the day when he woke up. And wouldn't it be great if it were the sort of thing that other moms could get involved in, too?
Well, why don't we learn Spanish together? I took one semester of Spanish 105 in college, which was enough to make me fear stem-changing verbs (but not enough to remember what they are), so I'm essentially starting from scratch. Learning Spanish is something that definitely takes a good bit of brainpower to tackle, but it's also something that can be done in baby steps--something that can be broken down into small, achievable, celebrate-able goals. There is a plethora of online resources available to use, and perhaps best of all, learning Spanish is something that you can do without spending much money (or even any money at all).
Why Spanish? Well, it's the #2 language in the United States and the number of speakers is growing every day. (As just one example, it's estimated that something like 1 in 5 Utahns is Hispanic.) Being more verbally and culturally fluent opens up doors to friendships and other opportunities that may not have been available otherwise. An ability to understand Spanish, and especially to speak it, looks great on a resume; it may lead to special bonuses or a higher base pay, and it may even make it easier to get hired in the first place. Spanish is beautiful. And besides all that, Spanish is often considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn.
Jump on in! You won't become fluent today or next week, but I bet in a few months you'll be able to read a menu or introduce yourself. Setting and reaching educational goals is a great way to motivate ourselves and to set an example for our kids. If nothing else, hopefully Naptime Spanish will become a place to meet other smart moms and nurture some old (or new!) friendships.
Buena suerte,
Cathryn
