Leading Online Schools partner with Mumsnet Academy to enable mums to study from home with world-class experts

Online Courses From MyPhotoSchool & MyGardenSchool:  Child & Baby Photography,  How to Make Money From Photography, & Edible Gardening Made Easy are being piloted as a new initiative to help mums study stimulating subjects from home whilst their children are young

www.my-photo-school.com and www.my-garden-school.com, rapidly growing online schools, have teamed up with Mumsnet Academy, to run a pilot of rolling online courses.  This powerful combination of internet companies is giving mums all over the world tuition from experts via virtual classrooms over the internet.  The Mumsnet community can now do four week online photography or gardening courses with world experts (all tutors are published authors), all from the comfort of their own home and at hours to suit them.  Mother and Co-founder of MyPhotoSchool and MyGardenSchool, Elspeth Briscoe explains:  “These courses are the perfect fit for Mumsnet Academy as they suit the lifestyle and needs of busy mothers.  The courses are totally unique and just right for mums who want to learn a new skill or educate themselves in new areas, whilst looking after their children.  Unlike traditional correspondence or distance learning courses, you actually get personal contact from world experts who critique your work online in virtual classrooms.  You get that buzz from chatting to classmates that you get in a real classroom.   I’ve had photographs of my babies critiqued by Sony Fashion Photographer of the Year, David Handley, via his online child photography course.  It’s amazing how you can learn with the personal support of a world-class expert. ”

Briscoe continues:  “How to Make Money from Photography is also another highly appropriate course for mothers that’s being made available via Mumsnet Academy as part of the pilot.  Many mothers have given up income streams to have children – and this is the perfect way to add another salary to the family, by doing something you enjoy from home.  This online photography course is taught by acclaimed photographer David Taylor, who is also a best-selling photography author with dozens of photography books published.”

Finally, many mothers have a new found interest in nutrition when they have children.  So the third course being offered as part of the pilot is Edible Gardening Made Easy.   This course is taught by mother and well known gardening author, Alex Mitchell.  Alex takes you through the process of growing your own food, and draws upon endless examples of delicious food you can grow in your backyard.  The course is based on Alex’s experiences growing her own food with her children in her prolific city garden in Greenwich, London.

Patrick Keogh of Mumsnet Academy, commented:  “We’re delighted to have teamed up with these pioneering online schools.  We think the courses are a great fit for our users, and look forward to increasing the number of MyPhotoSchool and MyGardenSchool courses over time to fit the demands of our ever growing audience .  Online learning is a great way for Mumsnet users to do something that they enjoy in a way that fits in with their own lifestyles”.

Mumsnet is the UK’s largest website for parents, with over 50 million page views and over 9 million visits per month. It has 200 local sites, as well as a network of 3,300 bloggers. It regularly campaigns on issues such as support for families of children with SEN, improvements in miscarriage care and freedom of speech on the internet.

 About Mumsnet Academy:  Mumsnet Academy was established in May 2012 to bring together Mumsnet users offline by offering a series of thought-provoking masterclasses, workshops, courses and events.  Mumsnet users were asked what they wanted from the courses, and the programme is a reflection of their responses - creative writing, history and scholarship, entrepreneurship, social media, and business, to name a few.  The courses have been run by some of the biggest names in the business including: Kate Mosse; Meg Rosoff; Louise Doughty; David Nicholls; Julie Myerson; Mary Beard; Lynne Franks; and Alain de Botton among others. The Mumsnet Academy is now offering online courses too, including those on Starting Your Own Business, Marketing Your Business and Photography.

MyPhotoSchool Ltd is a global online photography classroom. Whether you are a novice, a hobbyist or an aspiring professional, MyPhotoSchool has an online photography course to inspire you. At MyPhotoSchool, world class photographers can teach you everything there is to know about photography: virtually. From back yard to big game photography; from black and white photography to discovering colour; from low light to understanding light, as well as how to take beautiful baby, wonderful wedding, perfect pooch and fantastic flower photos. For more information, please go to www.my-photo-school.com

MyGardenSchool is the world's first online gardening school where students can learn from gardening experts about how to do absolutely everything in the garden from keeping bees or hens, landscaping, design, growing vegetables and herbs, building treehouses or growing the perfect roses. And everything in between. All of our tutors are outstanding in their field (and gardens), being accomplished gardeners and acclaimed gardening writers. Gardening courses are four weeks long, and video tutorials are delivered weekly, together with course notes and assignments assessed by your tutor. You also get to chat to your tutor online, as well as your classmates, in the 'virtual classroom'. MyGardenSchool will teach you everything about gardening – virtually. But don't take our word for it - check out our course pages here: www.my-garden-school.com