I saw a trend on TikTok and my brain went, “immediately yes.” It’s all about creating a personal curriculum for yourself. Whatever you want to learn about or deep dive into, as if you’d signed up for a college course… But it’s completely designed and directed by you.
Elizabeth Jean is the original creator and the first video I saw was of Queen Ragmar who shared how Elizabeth Jean inspired her to create her own personal curriculum.
I’ve been meaning to share some of the ways I’ve been fighting brain rot and being more conscious about my media consumption. (I have a few posts coming on that…) When I watched these women talking about deep diving into their own curriculuma though, I realized it was something I was craving too. I think I’ve been subconsciously doing this in a very mini way– like when I read Atmosphere earlier this summer and found myself deep diving into all things space exploration for weeks. But it wasn’t very structured. Mostly just following my whims whenever the mood struck. I also got excited knowing the boys will soon be in school and I was excited (I’m embarrassed to even type this out loud ) to go through their math textbooks alongside them. Yes, I was on the math league, if you must know.
The thought of sitting down and creating a curriculum to follow during a set time sparked something deep within me! I don’t miss much about the whole college experience– I have found the real world much more freeing– but I do miss the days when I was excited to really learn things. (It’s actually why I think I find myself gravitating towards hobbies so much– that scratches the itch to an extent.)
I don’t know exactly what my curriculum is going to look like. I’m going on a vacation this weekend and I’m kind of considering it a personal retreat where I’m goal setting for the rest of 2025 as I gear up for Q4. I think this would also be a good time to sit down and come up with this curriculum. I need to figure out what I’d want to study, if I want to study one subject or multiple, what the timeframe would be, and what the actual flow would look like. I actually like that it’s completely in my hands and completely open-ended. It’s the best part of learning without the pressures of actual school.
Even before I decided to do this, I had ordered a bunch of books of poetry. I have always loved reading books and even short stories occasionally, but poetry was never something that I was drawn to outside of the classroom and assigned reading. (I think I was a little scarred, too, by signing up for a class solely focused on The Prelude with one of the most intimidating professors I ever had.) But slowly I’ve found myself wanting to read more poetry… and learn more about it… and just overall introduce more poetry into my life besides what I scroll past quickly on Instagram. So I think I might focus on that or work that into one of the units.
Would love to know if you’ve done something similar or what you’d add to your own curriculum!
