Currently, I work in an Educational office helping to create graphics for students with impaired visions. So far I've been using Microsoft Word with decent to good results. Our office wants me to start using Inkscape as a regular tool and get away from Word all together. I have been creating graphs for economics and some science homework. I'm still searching for a great way to learn Inkscape besides just opening the book and trying to decipher the language. I found a couple of Youtube videos that were really helpful, but I'm the type of learner that wants "exercises" to test out my knowledge. Can anyone offer any suggestions for "homework" type exercises that could help me with this?

HTK

I'd first proceed through the built-in tutorials Menu: Help>Tutorials.

Then check the sig files of any number of members here for more tutorials.

Like td, I would suggest Help menu > Tutorials. But for a newbie, I would say the first 3, Basic, Shapes, and Advanced will be the most helpful. Even though the 3rd one is called "advanced" it's not really advanced. It's an introduction to paths and editing paths. I usually think of paths as the most basic element of vector graphics.

Personally, when I was learning Inkscape, I didn't find any of those other tutorials helpful, until I had learned a lot more. But the first 3 are really a good start.

Next, I would go to Help menu > Inkscape manual > Quick Start chapter. There the first 3 or maybe 4 tutorials are good for beginners. I've noticed a lot of newbies get stuck on the 4th one (hiking club logo). And the rest of those are more advanced.

I have sort of a fantasy of making an Inkscape school. But as for now, I don't know of anyone who runs classes, or anything like that. I've collected all the best tutorials that I know about here: https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php. You could work your way through the Beginner Skills section.

For what it's worth, I would agree that Inkscape will be much, much better than Word. After all, Word is primarily for making text documents.