A Case for a Monthly Curriculum

What if we could harness back to school energy all year round?

What is it about back-to-school season that has us all in a Rory Gilmore-shaped chokehold? Is it the reading lists? The freshly sharpened pencils? The promise of cooler days, hot coffee with cinnamon, and leaves crunching under our feet? Even for those of us who haven’t set foot in a school for more years than they would care to admit, it’s safe to say academic nostalgia continues to rear its ugly head like clockwork.

I find it especially curious because school was never something that came particularly naturally to me. Sure, I was usually a pleasure to have in class and, for the most part, got all of my homework in on time, but I didn’t “test well,” and crippling social anxiety often resulted in low participation grades. Years later, I still look back on my academic career and I’m in disbelief that I made it to the finish line. To this day I have a recurring nightmare where I forget to attend a class for an entire semester and won’t be able to graduate, much like Jeremiah in The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Despite my love-hate relationship with being a student, I wouldn’t lie to you and say the thought of going back to school hasn’t crossed my mind. I mean it’s akin to the quarter-life crisis, the same way a sports car is to midlife — they go together like Ra ma lama lama ding a de dinga a dong, or whatever those 40-year-olds in Grease were singing about. But in a conversation with my sister recently, where she expressed her frustration over not getting to go Big Brain Mode nearly as often as her heart desires, I reassured her (and myself) that learning and going back to school don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

This is the class from my recurring nightmare, by the way.

Please, don’t get me wrong, this is not right-wing anti-intellectual, “do your own research” propaganda. I love school! School is amazing! I mean, I’m dating a teacher for God's sake! I just think it’s a bit sad that for so many of us, despite unlimited access to information quite literally at our fingertips, the slog of day-to-day life is no longer built around stimulating our brains and expanding our intellect, and in fact, may just be doing the exact opposite.

After stumbling across Elizabeth Jean on TikTok, I’ve become fascinated with the concept of a monthly curriculum. Elizabeth designs units for herself, ranging from Inner Alchemy: Psychology, Dreams, & the Self to A Study on Baking Cookies — aka reading up on anything and everything she wants to learn about in a given month, or as Celine Nguyen would call it, “research as leisure.”

Similarly, TikToker @happy_worldwide went viral recently with a video on designing your summer semester, where she discusses the importance of transferring the same dopamine hit of registering for classes in college to planning the activities in your daily life — this can be as simple as planning a hike with your dogs every Sunday or signing up for a beginner rowing class.

In the age of convenience culture and doomscrolling, it’s been refreshing and, dare I say, even uplifting, to witness so many people re-engage with learning. Postcards by Elle has been writing a brilliant summer Substack series called How to Get Smart Again, where she challenges herself to fix her attention span and build a media syllabus to prioritize intellectual curiosity, or as she calls it, “the anti-brain rot formula.”

Lit Girl is another trailblazer in the art of the curriculum. Every quarter, they release a masterful new syllabus with reading lists, movie recommendations, and playlists around a central theme, confirming my theory that many of us, at our core, just want to learn. Why should this be a privilege reserved for those 22 and under?

While witnessing the monthly curriculum trend pick up steam, I’ve been considering what this would mean for me and how I could most effectively weave it into my own life. As someone who values creativity and community, as well as lifelong learning, is there a sweet spot that combines the three? What does a curriculum look like for chronic-daydreaming art kids who didn’t even study for the SATs?

As much as I want to buff up my reading list, I’ve always been a kinesthetic learner, or someone who learns best through physical activity and hands-on experiences. I tend to process information more effectively when I can move, touch, and actively participate in the learning process, so alongside books, magazines, and articles, I will be incorporating exhibits, live performances, classes, travel, and other activities into my curriculum based on living a more creative, curious, and fulfilling life.

From now on, the monthly creative curriculum will only be available to paid subscribers. This is fully a reader-supported publication, so I want my paid posts to offer something extra special — but don’t worry, all other monthly posts will remain free to all! And I have so many ideas up my sleeve!

Until next time, and don’t forget to handle with care!

xo Michelle