When you live in New York City and have five boroughs of knowledge and adventure at your fingertips, picking up a new skill—be it learning to create a documentary, blow glass, or raise chickens—can all be in a day’s work.
Check out these six classes for an offbeat and affordable education, courtesy of some of NYC’s brightest minds.
Make (Brain) Waves
Whether you’d like to learn how to play chess, make latkes and winter cocktails, or produce films on your phone, there is sure to be a class for you, you, and you on Brooklyn Brainery’s agenda. Classes are cheap and fill up fast, so reserve a space now. For more classes, like How to Write a Book and Get Published, Design Thinking Bootcamp, Presentation Skills, and a workshop on Women & Investing, visit brooklynbrainery.com.
How to get there: Take the F or G to Smith-9th Street.
Get Cracking
Sunnyside up, over easy, or scrambled, prepare your eggs a new way each day when they’re being produced in your own backyard. BK Farmyards turns city folk to farmers, with their step by step instructional courses in raising chickens in NYC. Free workshops are offered throughout the year at the Farmyards’ headquarters, Imani Garden, covering everything from designing the coop to calculating time and cost. For more hands-on instruction, sign up for the (also free) Farmyard’s Apprenticeship program, and spend three months learning what makes chickens cluck.
How to get there: Take the A or C to Utica Avenue.
Flower Power
Forget monthly visits to the florist; Brooklyn Botanic Garden is here to help you fill your corner of the concrete jungle with freshly-cut flowers. From flower arranging to rooftop gardening, composting, terrarium design, Tai Chi, and how not to kill your houseplant, these five and a half hour classes, starting at $53 for nonmembers, offer something for everyone.
How to get there: Take the B or Q to Prospect Park.
A Glass Act
Crack the illustrious, illuminating art of glass blowing and create vases, beads and more, by taking a class at Urban Glass. Operate a kiln, shape glass and leave with a new work of art. If you are looking to pick up a new talent fast, attend an intensive class for two, four hour-long days of instruction. Intensives are around $725 and include a glass bowl workshop.
How to get there: Take the 2, 3, 4 or 5 to Nevins Street.
Above Average Cup of Joe
Sipping a hot caffeinated brew first thing can be the difference between dragging your feet through the day and being the picture of productivity. Craft your own cup of Joe and impress your dinner guests after a lesson in Espresso Basics or Latte Art at Café Grumpy ($50).
How to get there: Take the F to East Broadway
Food for Thought
Free yourself from a trip to the Chinese restaurant or pizzeria for tonight’s meal. With one of Brooklyn Kitchen’s culinary classes, like Vegetarian Couples ($175), Vietnamese Street Food ($75) Molecular Gastronomy ($125), Whole Fish Butchering ($85), Sausage Making ($75), and Home Pizza with Roberta’s ($85), you’ll learn how to create ethnic delicacies and fancy (yet easy) feasts in your own kitchen.
How to get there: Take the L to Graham Ave.
If the pandemic has made you prefer online classes for yourself and your kids, there are many online classes you join. For our followers in Australia for example, you check out this online tutoring or in-home tutoring options for your kids.
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram