Creating My Personal Curriculum for Fall

I have seen many posts over the past year from creators I follow about building a personal curriculum. I always thought it was an interesting idea but never got around to giving it much thought. However, I have been in kind of a rut lately and am struggling with finding the motivation to do the things I enjoy, so here I am, giving a personal curriculum a go. I think having some kind of structure and clear and tangible goals is exactly the kind of push I need. 

There are many articles and videos online explaining exactly what a personal curriculum is. In short, it is a concept originated from the creator Elizabeth Jean where you select topics you have always wanted to explore and develop a lesson plan tailored to those interests for those topics. This is a version of school, except you get to pick the subjects, set your schedule, and make all the rules. 

I have decided to base my curriculum on a quarterly system of three months, with monthly check-ins to assess progress. These goals are rather typical of the ambitious planner that I am, but I will keep expectations low and allow myself plenty of grace if I do not end up completing them. After all, building this curriculum is a large part about the journey and enjoyment of the process, and to set myself targets to achieve. Here is a look at my plans for Fall: 

1. Reading books

I am not a prolific reader, and reading has largely fallen by the wayside nowadays with all my other responsibilities. It is something I really want to get back to. I am going to set myself a goal of one book a month. I have not yet picked out which book, but I know I want to work through the stack of books gathering up dust on my shelf. 

2. Learning Mandarin

I want to get myself more fluent in Mandarin, especially when it comes to reading and writing. I currently have passable conversational skills and limited reading/writing skills thanks to attending six years of Chinese immersion elementary school. However, English is my default language and my Mandarin vocabulary is extremely limited when it comes to speaking, and I really struggle when it comes to reading. To improve, I have set myself tasks to watch shows in Mandarin without subtitles, and to transcribe one short paragraph of text each day. 

3. Art practice

I want to return to creating simple art and just enjoy the process. I have always enjoyed doodling in my down time and in my journals, and this is something I want to consciously make time for every day.

4. Knitting

Knitting is another of my hobbies that have largely been neglected. Now that Fall is in the air, I am finding the interest to pick this up again. One of the projects I have in the works is a scrap yarn blanket and I want to make some progress on it. Bonus if I can also complete a pair of socks.

5. Cooking

I have such a love/hate relationship with cooking. I really enjoy the actual cooking, but absolutely hate meal planning and coming up with ideas of what to cook. I am going to set a goal of trying one new recipe each week, just to add some excitement and fun back to the process. 

I will revisit this list in a month to check on progress. Just the simple act of coming up with this list is already getting me all excited. If you have a personal curriculum that works for you, please do share! I'd love to hear all about it.