As with any social media trend, I’m coming to it several months late, but I’ve recently discovered the whole ‘personal curriculum’ thing, and I’m extremely intrigued! 

If you haven’t heard of it, a personal curriculum is basically a learning plan you make for yourself, composed of topics you’re interested in. The personal curriculum has become popular across Youtube and TikTok in the past few months, and I have to say, this is one trend I’m really loving.

I’ve always really enjoyed learning, especially about history, and so since leaving education over 10 years ago I’ve continued to read a lot, and I started listening to educational podcasts. But I haven’t done any concentrated research or studying in a long time, so I thought I’d try out this trend and see how I get on. 

I’m going to start out with a monthly curriculum in May, and I’ve set it up in this Rhodia exercise book.

Here’s an overview of how I will structure my monthly curriculums, and the topics/resources I’ve chosen for May:

Research Topic

I will choose one overarching topic each month from a list I’ve made of things I’m interested in researching. 

I’ve been on a bit of a sci-fi binge with my reading lately, and so I’ve found myself becoming more interested in space, so that’s going to be my first research topic. My research assignment is going to be to research and take at least a page of notes about the Sun, the Moon, and each planet in the Solar System. 

Reading

I average about 5 books a month already, so this section of my curriculum isn’t necessarily about reading more, but about reading more purposefully. I want one book pick of the month to be a non-fiction book about a topic of interest (possibly the research topic of the month, but not necessarily), and another to be a fiction book. 

Generally with the fiction book I’m hoping to get to some of the classics I’ve been meaning to read for a while, but this month I decided to break myself in gently with an on-topic fiction book I’ve been wanting to read as part of my sci-fi kick: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 

My non-fiction book is also on-topic for the space theme: I’m going to listen to the audiobook The Planets by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen.

Writing Resource

I want to explore one writing resource a month, whether it’s a course, a craft book, a podcast or article. 

I’ve recently started watching Brandon Sanderson’s lectures on writing on Youtube, so I figured I’d watch the next one this month and take some notes. 

Writing

I also want to work on a writing project each month, whether it’s a novel, short story, poem or essay. 

This month I won’t technically be writing. Instead I want to edit at least two of the many rough drafts of short stories I have languishing on my computer. And a bonus action would be to submit one of them to a literary magazine or journal. 

Craft Project

I’m not necessarily good at crafts, but I enjoy them when I take the time to do them. 

I’ve had this cute teapot cross stitch from Hobbycraft for ages, so I’ve decided to start that this month. I’m a slow cross stitcher, so I’m not sure whether or not I’ll finish this month, but I can always roll it into next month. 

So what do you think of the personal curriculum trend? Have you tried it out yourself?