Swap a Skill

There are so many skills and none of us can have them all. A skill I wish I had? Speaking more than one language. One of my goals in life is to help my children have the opportunity to learn a second language. My husband can speak German, but he says that Spanish is more useful :)

A while back I did a Skill Swap with one of my piano students. I taught her piano lessons and she came and tutored us in Spanish. It was great. Then we moved. For the past year I haven't had anyone to swap that skill with. My husband is a full-time student right now so we don't have the extra cash for a Spanish tutor.

But guess what? I found a friend to swap with again even though we are only living here for the summer. So we are doing a summer skill swap. I am teaching her son piano lessons and she is teaching mine Spanish. It is a win win for us both.

My sister has a preschool co-op that is a great example of a skill swap.  My sister teaches the dance and music classes, and the other Moms teach what they are best at.  I went and observed and I can tell you this: It was better than any other pre-school I'd ever scene!  How often do you have an expert in her field teaching EVERY subject at preschool?!  They would have been paying big bucks for something they all could share.  Bonus: It was a ton of fun, a great way to make friends, and a fun way to teach their children, and an awesome way to use their skills!

I have 5 sisters and when we all lived in the same state we would get together and teach each other the new things we had learned (making soft pretzels, stitcheries, etc.)  It was quality time all around: fun together, fun learning together, a new skill learned to share with others.


Have you ever done a Skill Swap? If you have I would love to hear about it!
If not, I hope you are inspired to try one. Tutoring for homemade bread, Sewing lessons for babysitting, bicycle maintenance for cooking lessons, music for Spanish lessons... The possibilities are endless and it is a fun way to make a friend!

It may take you a little out of your comfort zone to ask someone if they want to do a skill swap with you, but what do you have to loose? Summer is a great time to do skill swaps and it is certainly a FUN Little Project!

2 comments:

elspeth said...

I taught piano lessons in exchange for cooking lessons. It was fun and good for both of us.

emegren said...

It is not a skill, per se but I sell adorable totes and accessories and a friend of mine sells books. We are swapping a tote bag (to carry her books) for books!

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