Volunteering can be a very rewarding experience, especially if you have a pet project that you are volunteering for. Some people just love to volunteer for anything that they can do. But for still others, they require a good amount of interest in the project in order to volunteer.

I’m usually willing to help almost anyone anyway I can, but I still have a pet project. My pet project is education. No, I’m not a certified teacher, counselor, or even an aide at a school. I’m a parent.

I take great pride in the fact that education is a very important key to our future. If we educate ourselves, our children, and our neighbors children, they will be more apt to make the positive decisions that is needed to make this world a better place.

No it isn’t going to happen overnight by doing one school project with a local public school. But given the effects of the ripple effect, each time one parent helps, the circle will expand to effect others that come into contact with those that are helped.

This takes time. It won’t happen overnight, and one person can’t do it all. But for every parent that helps, the circle can expand at a quicker rate to include more people that have been effected. The time it takes to make a real difference shortens with each person that helps.

You may be thinking, what can I do to help? I’m not trained to help. There are more than enough ways that parents, community leaders, and anyone else that has the time can help education. It just takes spending a little time and asking a lot of questions to find a place that you can help.

If you have a child in school, talk to the principal, teachers, librarian, and even the secretary. Ask if there is anything that you can do to help them. It is amazing what some of them need help with. I once helped laminate folders for a class to use for games. I have also helped with a book fair, and even with reading to children. Once I even helped organize the book cards in the library card file.

None of these things took any great skills, but they were a big help to the school staff. They didn’t take much of my time, but boy did I get a big reward from it. The staff often appreciates the help so much that they speak to you regardless of where they see you at. Now that is a good feeling, especially compared to seeing your child’s teacher and them not speaking to you. They often don’t mean to snub you, but it is sometimes hard to remember all the faces, names and which parent goes with which kid.

Volunteering puts you in their face more, so they are more familiar with you. It also gives you good insight into just exactly what goes on at the school. You know the teachers on a more one to one basis, so if there is any sort of trouble, you feel more comfortable talking to them about it.

But if you don’t have children or if they are already out of school or not old enough, there are still plenty of volunteering opportunities for you also. If your children are still too young for school, check out a mother’s day out program. If you know several mothers with children about the same age, start your own. Take turns keeping the children and giving the mom’s a break.

If you don’t have children or if they are already out of school, call your local public or private school and ask if they need help. It seems that they are always looking for people to help out on a regular and sometimes on a one time only basis.

But don’t just consider the public and private schools. Call your local homeschooling groups and ask if they could use some help. If you have an area of expertise, they may could use a talk, demonstration, or even a class taught on that particular subject. They are many ways you can help them, even if it is something as seemingly mundane as helping to mail out newsletters, help with the resource center, or even to help with special events.

You don’t have to have a degree in education to help educate children. You just have to have a desire to help and a willingness to do what is needed. That is why education is my pet project. Do you have a pet project that you would like to share with others? I would love to hear about your project and your ideas for an article on it. So you want to share your pet project?