The days are getting shorter, the tomatoes are ripening and A4 lined pads are back on sale. It is time for children everywhere to don their uniform and go back to school. But education doesn't have to be the preserve of the young. There are plenty of opportunities for adults to join in on the fun. Whether you want to learn a new skill, a new hobby or even retrain for a new career, with careful navigation, the web is the place to tell you all you need to know.
For those lucky souls based in London, your first port of call should be www.floodlight.co.uk/index.shtm, the website that lists all of London's various courses, from antique collecting to wines, beers and spirits and everything in between.
There are several government websites that can help you find out about access to adult learning, grants and courses. Start at www.dfes.gov.uk/adultlearners/index.shtml . Everything you might wish to know about learning opportunities is found at www.dfee.gov.uk/secondchances/home.html while at www.my-ila.com you can find out how an Individual Learning Account (ILA), could save you money in your quest for knowledge.
The Workers' Education Authority (WEA) is the UK's largest voluntary provider of adult education. Their courses cover a range of subject areas, from the serious - "communications technology" - to the more unusual - "songs that change the world".
Learning has no age limit, as proved by the University of the Third Age at www.u3a.org.uk which provides learning for older people. Courses are purely for pleasure and are taught and organised by "third agers" themselves, so as well as learning, you can also get involved and impart some of the knowledge you have gained throughout your life.
If you are more of a New Ager than a Third Ager, there are plenty of interesting and unusual disciplines out there for the learning. You may have a burning desire to practise vibrational healing, or cure all ills with acupuncture. And if you want your qualification to count, check out the websites of the British Complementary Medicine Association ) or the Complementary Medicine Association to find out which schools they approve of.
If sharing a class with others is too intimidating, then distance learning is the way to go. The OU is the most famous and runs all sorts of qualifications but home study is not restricted to traditional courses. You could learn more about your sun sign at www.astrology.org.uk, or the blues at www.earlyblues.com/blues_courses.htm.
If you have been accused of having a loud voice, then silence your critics by taking the nation's first remote learning course in town crying at http://homepages.tesco.net/~congratulations. With your own computer and a modem you can learn at home with auntie at www.bbc.co.uk/education or go to your nearest Learn Direct centre and learn online with the government's Learn Direct initiative at www.learndirect.co.uk.
So you think you could do my job? Home study courses in journalism are offered by the writers' bureau, the London School of Journalism and the Writing College.
The London College of Printing has short and long courses on journalism throughout the year. If you have a best-seller buried inside and have no idea where to start, then take a residential course at the Arvon Foundation.
Summer might be over, but if you start learning that foreign language now you could be fluent by your next holiday - start at www.nll.co.uk. However, if you have always wanted to live abroad, then a TEFL qualification could help you finance that fantasy.
Or you might prefer to spend all future holidays underwater. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors and The British Sub-Aqua Club are both internationally recognised organisations that can teach you the basics. Once you have communed with the fish, your life will never be the same again. The idea of scuba diving might be too ambitious if you have never learned to swim. Residential courses at www.learn-to-swim.co.uk promise to have you waving, not drowning, by the end of the week.
If your life is lacking in fun then a course in circus skills could be just what you need - try www.circusarts.org.uk/training/classes.html. Or maybe you just need to rediscover your inner wild woman at www.wild-woman.co.uk or (in the interests of gender balance) man: www.mensdevelopment.co.uk/day_workshops.html.
Sadly, after a hard search, there do not seem to be any courses allowing women to discover the wild man inside them, or vice versa. Maybe next year.
