If you’re thinking about furthering your education, I recently discovered a website that compares Mormon schools. Whether you are LDS or not, planning on going back to college full-time or not, you can get a lot of information at www.besmart.com.
“Be Smart” is one of President Hinckley’s 6 B’s.
1. Be grateful.
2. Be smart.
3. Be clean.
4. Be true.
5. Be humble.
6. Be prayerful.
“Be smart” refrences the prophet’s desire for each member of the church to gain as much education as possible. “Be smart. The Lord wants you to educate your minds and hands, whatever your chosen field. Whether it be repairing refrigerators, or the work of a skilled surgeon, you must train yourselves. Seek for the best schooling available. Become a workman of integrity in the world that lies ahead of you. I repeat, you will bring honor to the Church and you will be generously blessed because of that training.”
As I was looking around the site thinking of my own daughter who will be leaving home for college in 4 years, I was surprised at how affordable the tuitions were at the LDS schools–ranging from just $2600/year to $7600/year. There is also admissions information and options for financing college, among other helpful preparation tools.
One of the things that I found most interesting was the section on Independent Study. The personal enrichment courses start at only $28, although the college and high school courses are a little more pricey. There are a wide variety of classes offered.
The great thing about the Independent Study courses is that it’s something that you can do at your own pace. So if money is an issue, and you can’t go to school full-time, maybe you could still go slowly just one class at a time. Or maybe you are a stay-at-home-mom and aren’t ready to leave the kids to pursue your education, this is something you could do during naptimes and after the kids went to bed. Or maybe you just don’t live close to a school that offers these classes.
Suddenly I’ve got myself thinking that after last summer’s garden failure, maybe the gardening class is something I should look into after Christmas…
