Volunteering Programming for Dummies

Tios writes: I've been studying programming languages (C++, Java, C, Visual Basic) on my own with the self-guided basic textbooks and tutorials and am starting to get tired of working with examples that are not put in real use. I'm motivated to utilize my programming potential but I've not had an experience programming in a team environment with lead developers, mentors, or collaborators. If finding a programming job isn't an option, I wonder if I could volunteer programming in an open-source community... If this is a good idea, how do I start? What are resources out there that could get myself oriented in volunteering? What kind of projects that is basic with supportive team/mentor for me to develop, practice, learn, and contribute?