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Originally Posted by
TalkToMeNow 
Not to bump Kali's thread at all, but there were two things I wanted to ask you and never got back on. We can have simultaneous spotlights, right...? Anyway, how did you get started in teaching crafting workshops/ classes? That sounds so interesting! It's something I've thought about before.
Can you describe your city living situation a bit more? I know you are car free... Do you live walking distance to a lot of things? Are you really in the middle of the city? That is so cool! And how does it work when you need to use a car?
I live in a car heavy city. Not only that, but it is looked down upon to have a family in an apartment or condo. Families live in houses. When I was buying my second home, I really wanted a town home right in the city. I could have walked to so many places! But every single person I talked to seemed horrified at the idea of my kids not having a yard. So silly!! I think it is the culture here. Atlanta is definitely a McMansion/ SUV kind of place. So I am fascinated and envious of families who live in the city!
I started teaching workshops right out of high school, when I worked at the art gallery in our town. Then, in art school I had a summer job as the Art Director at a summer camp (a Jewish, zionist summer camp modelled on a Kibbutz, so it was really budget and hands on which was awesome.) I also taught adult craft workshops through the craft collective I was in, Seamrippers. Then I ran an afterschool program at the Jewish Community Centre, and because of that they started hiring me to teach craft workshops too. And then on from there... I would say that all you need to do to get started teaching workshops is have experience in teaching SOMETHING, and experience with crafty things. And a lot of motivation. Plan workshops, write out workshop outlines including age ranges, length of series, class, materials, cost for materials, learning outcomes, facility needs (like do you need a sink, storage, access outside etc) and send them around to community centres with your CV. Or find your own venue and advertise, or run them from home, or contact a homeschooling group. The options really are endless. If you are teaching to kids, make sure you are offering workshops that appeal to the kids (things that are novel, messy, or making something themselves that they would normally buy) but also the kinds of things that parents would not normally be doing at home with their kids. And of course, fostering creativity not just having them assemble something. It's a delicate balance. Oh, I could go on. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
And yes, we live pretty much as downtown as you can get, without having to do the downtown condo thing. Walking I could be downtown in about 10 mins, and to the centre of City Centre in 20. We live in a co-op, in a townhouse with a small courtyard. But lots of the neighbour-families around here live in houses (or really, a suite in a house) with yards for the kids (though lots of families I know live in apartments without yards too - if Atlanta is McMansions and SUVs then Vancouver is Victorian conversions-to-apartments and Priuses). And we can definitely walk to everything, and what we can't walk to is a very short bus ride away. Vancouver public transit is really fantastic, and it's very accessible so there is (usually) never a problem taking the stroller on the bus. And that's the trick for me, and I know that many AP families don't use a stroller for babies, but my stroller is like my car. It schleps my groceries and diapers and kids around, walking or on the bus. And really, after hearing everyone talk about how they deal with screaming babies in the car, I am glad I go everywhere on foot. If I don't need the cargo, or toddler harnessing, I just go with baby in the Ergo, but if I have to take the stroller, the Ergo comes too and no matter where we are, if the baby starts to cry I can pull him out of the stroller and he's on me and nursing in just a minute.
We belong to a car co-op if we need a car, and DH can sometimes use the company car. But that's just weekends, since DH has to do the driving. I don't have my drivers' license, so it's all legs all the time for me and the kids. And honestly, we don't need a car that much, this city is really easy to be in without a car (no freeways in town, good LRT and bus system, lots of walkable neighbourhoods, fantastic bike routes.) And DH rides his bike to work every day, rain or shine (and I did too, when I worked). It's a good thing too, because if we had to have a car, living here would not be financially viable. The cost of living is almost insupportable as it is.
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Originally Posted by
LunaLady So are you a Canucks fan?! My DH is really into hockey and the Canucks are the closest team to us, so he's adopted them as his own. He just loooves hockey. And we like to say Rhyko has some Canada in his blood as he was conceived in Victoria... 
Do you live in downtown Vancouver? Or in a close suburb?
I am too emotionally fragile to follow sports. I was a big playoff-bandwagon jumper one year, and we lost of course, and I was so crushed. I couldn't get that involved again! But my DH is a fan, and most everyone else I know is too. Hockey is our sport, after all. I have national pride in hockey in general, does that count? Rhyko definitely has some Canada in him!
We are as urban as you can get. Our neighbourhood is considered inner-city, and is quite... hmmm... colourful. Gritty. But amazing. A super close-knit honest-to-goodness community, full of kind, passionate and compassionate people, and if I wanted to I could be surrounded all day and night by people who parented like me, or who can challenge me by being more crunchy. Or not - our neighbourhood is incredibly diverse - we're right next to Chinatown, and part of Vancouver's infamous Downtown Eastside (that's where the gritty comes in, as the DTES is where you will find most of Van's population suffering from addiction and untreated mental illness and poverty.) This place where I live is beautiful and raw and alive, and I love it.
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