And now for something completely different......

Signed up for the O.U. when I was 59 and just taken early retirement. Taking a more leisurely punt at it than you. When I eventually get there I'll have been studying 6 years and no regrets at all. It's keeping the grey matter ticking over, I'm meeting new people.

 

Good luck! I'm a relatively youthful 29, but am finishing my own Open University course in Maths next June (assuming I can cope with the workload I've given myself next year). It's focused on applied maths and I've done a few of the stats modules along the way (including M248/M249/M343), so if you need any advice about any of them let me know!

The teaching material at the OU is top notch, and I've really enjoyed myself - so much so that I'm looking at a Masters next year.

 

I've always been interested in the subject, having read & collected books for donkey's years. Any programme on the television was avidly watched. Funnily enough, when I started my studies I then realised just how little I knew about the subject. However, my hunger for knowledge increased and I realised I didn't just like the subject, I loved it. The first time I went on a dig blew my mind. I had the opportunity to put into practice all that I'd learned in theory. I'll never forget the thrill of carefully digging up my first piece of Romano-British pottery. To others it would mean nothing. To me, I felt so excited holding this piece of pot, the first person to do so in nearly two thousand years. That thrill has never left me.
I'm well aware that archaeology is regarded by many as dull and tedious, so I'm reluctant to go overboard on here with my thoughts, opinions and feelings. Unfortunately, I usually fail on that score as my enthusiasm tends to get the better of me!

 

Best of luck with it. Even if it doesn't lead to anything, I hope you enjoy it, but there's every chance it will.

My cousin is a personal tutor for kids doing their Maths GCSEs and A-Levels. Adults too I guess. Not a school teacher, extra classes for those that might be struggling or kids of pushy parents who want their children to get an A*. He does a lot of it from home and speaks to the pupils on a PC with Skype, or some other similar application. It's his own business, he set it up himself, and although I haven't asked him outright how much he earns, I believe he's doing very well.

 

The rates for this are very lucrative in English and Maths.

Advertise West of the M1 where all the 'keep up with the joneses' live.

 

The tutor for the course I'm currently studying is an archaeologist and is based in North Yorkshire.

Lu Cooke

 

I've just checked his web page. £25 an hour. £5 extra if he drives to you, but he only goes within a 10 mile radius of his house. Once he's set himself up, very few overheads.

 

Are you studying archaeology too, mate?

 

Fair play. There's that much pressure to get the grades these days.

Cash preferred if it was me....

 

No way am I grubbing about in the muck like you guys.

I'll be Studying literature and philosophy in the main for my degree and my next 4 full length modules will focus on those areas. I've done 3 modules the O.U. recommend as a loosener and A151 Making sense of things sits alongside A150 Voices and texts.

 

"Grubbing about in the muck", love it!
'The Young Knowledgeable Eloquent Scholars' appears to be an ever expanding clique!

 

I don't think you are bonkers. I was in my late 28 when I started my OU degree and 43 when I finished it. So I was a bit younger than you.

I did take time out to do a B.Sc at Leeds University and a PGCE at Huddersfield Polytechnic as it was called then.

Way back in 78 you had to do 8 full credits to get your OU degree not 6 like you can now.

I took my time completing my OU degree as I only did a half credit a year when I returned to study with them again.

Best of luck with it. It was the best thing I ever did in my educational life.