This short-form, how-to series aims to teach you valuable skills in your spare time. Each 10-minute visual episode provides a quick overview of a topic and gives insight on how to complete a specific task at hand.
Learn in a Weekend
Things we could do this weekend: laundry, gardening, dusting ... OR learn a powerful, useful, and helpful skill to make our lives better or more fun.
01: Learn a Card Trick in a Weekend
Being able to astonish your friends and family with card tricks is easier than you think. Join award-winning “mathemagician” Art Benjamin to master a surprisingly easy, yet wow-worthy, card trick that involves simple counting and spelling.
4 min
02: Learn to Build a Campfire in a Weekend
Building an outdoor fire to provide light, heat, and a cooking source is not as easy as putting a match to a pile of wood. Elizabeth Andre shows you step by step the best way to lay, maintain, and properly terminate a campfire.
9 min
03: Learn to Play a Van Halen Riff in a Weekend
Playing the guitar is a fun and relaxing way to enjoy yourself, but nothing beats being able to master a song by one of the masters. Spend some time with Colin McAllister and discover you can emulate Eddie Van Halen’s two-handed tapping technique.
6 min
04: Learn to Grill BBQ Chicken in a Weekend
Chicken is probably the most common food item you'll find in people's homes because it's accessible, affordable, and relatively easy to cook. Taught by expert chef Bill Briwa of The Culinary Institute of America before his passing, learn how to break down a chicken; get insights into flavoring methods, including dry rubs and sauces; and get tips on how to perfectly bar-b-que chicken, all in one quick and easy session.
11 min
05: Learn to Saber a Champagne Bottle in a Weekend
Is there anything more impressive than sabering off the top to a champagne bottle? However, there are certain things you need to know in order to do it right, and there are many ways it can be done wrong. This fast and fun lesson shows you how to open champagne with a flair and how to avoid the pitfalls of this dramatic action.
5 min
06: Learn to Sleep Better in a Weekend
Partly due to smartphones, laptops, and other devices, we generally are getting less “good” sleep than ever. Join Molly Birkholm to get eight easy, yet impactful, tips to help you achieve quality restorative sleep more often.
10 min
07: Learn to Plant a Tree in a Weekend
Not only are trees lovely additions to your landscape, but they also can keep your home cooler in warm seasons, and they benefit the environment. Although planting a tree may seem like a daunting task, it is easier than you think. Melinda Myers provides you with tips and tricks to use for your new tree to root and thrive.
12 min
08: Learn to Cut an Onion in a Weekend
It seems like a fairly easy skill, but much like an onion, properly cutting an onion has many layers. Learn how to correctly peel an onion, how to hold your knife, which direction to cut, and different cuts for different types of cooking. You’ll see how accurately cutting an onion is nothing to cry over.
7 min
09: Learn to Tie Three Knots in a Weekend
Mastering the art of knot tying has dozens of practical uses. With this accessible lesson, you’ll learn how to tie three useful and utilitarian types of knots: a clove hitch, a bowline, and a trucker’s hitch. You’ll also get examples of uses for each type of knot and ways to customize them to suit your specific needs.
12 min
10: Learn Smartphone Photography in a Weekend
Just because a picture is taken with a smartphone, it doesn’t mean it should be less interesting. Smartphones offer great photo-taking features these days and they can do some amazing things. Join National Geographic Photographer Joel Sartore to reveal all the features your Smartphone camera offers. Discover how to use them to their best advantage, so you can capture breath-taking photos when, and wherever, you come across opportune moments.
11 min
11: Learn Fruit & Vegetable Canning in a Weekend
Canning is an age-old practice used to keep perishable foods preserved safely. The canning process uses heat to kill the microbes that cause food to spoil. It also is a great way to test your culinary skills with delicious results. Join modern homesteader Greg Pryor to learn how to can common fruits and vegetables and how to make jam.
10 min
12: Learn to Waltz in a Weekend
The waltz is the epitome of grace and refinement, yet it’s surprisingly easy to learn. Join Rob and Alyssa to learn the basics of the Waltz and then perfect your technique by learning how to create the "floating" effect that makes this dance appear so effortless and elegant.
8 min
13: Learn to Smoke-Roast a Turkey in a Weekend
Frying your turkey is so last year. Take your turkey up a level this year—along with your culinary skills—by learning the totally tasty and surprisingly simple methods to smoke-roast it. Perfect the seasonings, time it for perfectly moist meat, and even get tips on the carving and complementary sides.
12 min
14: Learn to Stay Fit at Work in a Weekend
“Eight-Minute Abs” are great, but you can give yourself a full-body workout in just 10 minutes that will help you relax, improve your balance, and tone all your muscles. No fancy equipment needed—just a quiet space, 10 uninterrupted minutes, and the motivation to feel better.
13 min
15: Learn to Play Blackjack in a Weekend
Out of all the games in which you play against the casino, blackjack is the one that gives you the best chance of winning if you play it properly. On the other hand, if you don’t use a savvy strategy, blackjack can be a very expensive game. Learn how to keep the odds in your favor with simple math tricks.
10 min
16: Learn to Draw a Head in a Weekend
Effective figure drawing comes with many challenges. In this quick lesson, you can get ahead—by mastering the head. Using a tried-and-true formula, you’ll gain tips and tricks to perfect the ratio; symmetry; and shaping of the face, head, and neck.
5 min
17: Learn to Make Fresh Pasta in a Weekend
Making your own pasta can seem like a daunting and time-consuming task, but with this quick and easy lesson, you’ll find yourself rolling out the rigatoni, in no time. If your pasta machine has been sitting in the pantry, it’s time to pull it out, dust it off, and put it to work.
12 min
18: Learn to Pour a Beer in a Weekend
It may seem a simple task to pour a beer. Open, pour, drink. But much like wine, beer can be poured in a way that enhances your enjoyment of drinking it. Small details such as the angle of the glass you are pouring into, to the actual glass you use, can make a difference. Join Charles Bamforth to master the perfect pour.
6 min
19: Learn Basic Tai Chi Positions in a Weekend
Tai chi is practiced all over the world by people of various ages and stages of health because it uses slow pacing and low-impact motions that anyone can master. Follow David-Dorian Ross as he walks you through the simple but effective Snake and Crane positions step by step.
9 min
20: Learn How to Pan for Gold in a Weekend
Mining is one of the oldest and most important applications of practical geology. Discover how and where to go prospecting for gold, using the panning process perfected by the Forty-Niners.
8 min
21: Learn How to Grill Dulce de Leche Fruit in a Weekend
End your summer menu on a sweet note by discovering how easy it is to cook fruit outside. Plus, the chefs provide an easy recipe for a Cajeta, also called dulce de leche, that becomes a tasty sauce for any sort of grilled fruit.
5 min
22: Learn to Play Chess in a Weekend
Make "check" and "mate" part of your everyday chess vocabulary, with help from an international master of the game.
11 min
23: Learn How to Scape Your Space in a Weekend
Discover how to reshape your space through 'scaping.' Learn how you can scape literally any surface in your house all by selecting objects and placing them into the right spot, all while playing with scale, shape, and color.
6 min
24: Learn How to Fix a Running Toilet in a Weekend
The two most common problems when a toilet is running are a faulty flush handle and a worn-out flapper—and both are relatively easy and fast to fix. With some new parts, a few simple tools, and the know-how you gain from this accessible lesson, you’ll have your toilet back to normal in no time.
7 min
25: Learn to Regulate Your Emotions in a Weekend
Regulating your emotions is not the same as suppressing them. Learn how to strike a balance with your emotions and avoid knee-jerk reactions or outbursts when unexpected issues arise, or things don’t go the way you had hoped.
12 min
26: Learn to Create a Financial Plan in a Weekend
Learn how to create a solid and realistic financial plan. Then, apply the fundamentals of this course to achieving your financial goals.
12 min
27: Learn to Install a Smart Thermostat in a Weekend
Discover how a digital “smart” thermostat is one of the most exciting upgrades you can install, allowing you to connect and control your HVAC system from anywhere.
9 min
28: Learn to Maintain Your Posture in a Weekend
How can you use physical activity to take better care of yourself? Find out with this helpful info on the components of physical fitness, including posture, that specifically support healthy aging.
4 min
29: Learn to Make Three Kinds of Cheese in a Weekend
Learn the “when, why, and how” of milking goats. Then, discover how to make paneer, chevre, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese, fresh from the milk.
7 min
30: Learn to Take Great Photos with Your Pet in a Weekend
Discover the secrets of interesting animal photography—the kind that stands out from the boring pet pictures we’ve all seen before. As you’ll learn, the most important aspects of great animal photography are repeated access and plenty of time and patience.
10 min
31: Learn Your Way around the Night Sky in a Weekend
Stars and constellations are some of the most commonly sought-after features of the night sky. Discover how to spot such iconic star patterns as the Big Dipper; locate some of the sky's brightest stars, and learn just why it is that stars twinkle.
6 min
32: Learn to Achieve Work-Life Balance in a Weekend
Did you know that 83% of America's workforce experience signs of burnout? Too often, the demands of work-life carry over to personal life, bringing exhaustion, irritability, hopelessness, and guilt. Discover some easy and practical ways to help you feel more in balance, even if your workload stays the same.
14 min
33: Learn to Garnish Cocktails in a Weekend
What does a fully stocked home bar look like? The kind that makes entertaining both fun and a breeze? Find out in this bonus lecture that covers the right selection of spirits, mixers, and garnishes to always have on hand.
6 min
34: Learn to Decorate with Light in a Weekend
Discover how lighting choices can make or break a room, and spend time considering three different categories of light. Along the way, you’ll discover how to use any natural light to its best advantage, what to look for in window treatments, and how to map out the perfect light plan for whatever room you’re designing.
7 min
35: Learn to Make French Onion Soup in a Weekend
A good bowl of soup can warm you in cold weather, cool you in hot weather, fill up an empty stomach, and offer ready nutrition for a weak appetite. Here, master the recipe for a hearty bowl of French onion soup.
12 min
Overview Course No. 90093
