Introducing the Chaos Curriculum

I created my own curriculum as a serial hobbyist who loves learning - and you can, too!

Sep 11, 2025

Chaos Curriculum is a new creative project-based feature on my Substack where I share my self-guided, whim-based study in a variety of special interests. Each semester lasts roughly 3 months, and will include homework assignments, optional field trips, & a final project. Feel free to join along and share your progress, or create your own personal curriculum!

About the “Personal Curriculum”

If you’ve never heard the term and haven’t seen all the videos and articles around lately about the infamous “personal curriculum”, let me explain: it’s just a very personalized way to lean into learning or hyperfocusing on a specific area of study, mostly associated with hobbies instead of real-world school subjects. For example, there may be a personal curriculum subject of “Soupmaking & Chill” instead of something like “Applied Mathematics” - unless math is your hyperfocus, of course, then by all means!

The ability to continue learning outside of a formal educational setting is enticing to lots of people, so there’s been a big surge in popularity of designing & sticking to a personal curriculum. It’s also super customizable - you can design a full syllabus, like I have, or you can just stick to a short TBR stack of books or list of films within a small subject. Whatever works for you, works! There are no real rules or requirements, and the subjects can be absolutely anything you want to learn more about, providing the freedom to really lean into the things that pique your curiosity and interest.

I’m the kind of person that loves learning and has a hundred questions about everything, with “I wonder…” playing on repeat in my mind almost constantly. In school, I was the one that raised my hand to remind my teacher about our homework - and, no surprise here, I was not very popular for it, lol. Despite the lack of popularity in my nerdy need to acquire knowledge, I’ve been really wanting to lean into it recently as a way to help focus on more creative hobbies instead of work or things that I feel obligated to do. By narrowing down my fields of study to just a couple fun things, I’m going to be able to really deep dive into stuff I find very interesting, without feeling guilty or like I’m wasting time or being unproductive. After all, it’s for the sake of the curriculum, right? :)

I decided to bring my personal curriculum journey to the public because I love to share things I learn with people, and hope to even inspire someone to create their own form of what I - and so many others - are having fun with right now. Before I moved across the country, I was one single math class away from a degree in Elementary Education, and my favorite part of studying for my degree was planning out the curriculum and making little mini-subject mock ups, so this is really fun for me as its own hobby, even without having started the Fall term yet. I’m naming mine the “Chaos Curriculum” because I want to go hard into a variety of subjects and areas, fully embracing the chaos of my desire to acquire knowledge and learn more about everything that strikes my immediate interest.

That all said, please know that sharing this publicly isn’t a requirement, and if you’re inspired to do so, you can keep a little secret Notes app file or something with your own plan & study notes outside of public perception or social media. It doesn’t have to be fully structured if that isn’t your thing; just the fact that you’re embracing your curiosity and leaning into learning something that you didn’t know before is enough!

What can you expect from each semester of the Chaos Curriculum?

The Chaos Curriculum is specific in that all of the things I study will be somewhat creative in nature, or able to be thought about in a creative way. I am pretty loose with this, as I can find inspiration and creativity almost anywhere, which I think allows for a very wide & fun set of areas for me to study and choose from.

I do plan to try to stick with seasonally appropriate courses, whenever possible. I won’t be learning to knit a sweater in July, or perfecting my butterfly stroke in January, as some weird examples of things I probably will not do during any month at all, honestly, so I’m not sure why I brought those up, but there you go!

Every 3-4 months on my Substack, I’ll share a detailed syllabus detailing that semester’s full course breakdown, including:

Required tools & materials
Assigned homework
Optional field trips
Final projects to apply what I’ve learned
Recommended reading & viewing options

I plan to share a mid-term check-in here to share my progress halfway through the semester, and then I’ll also do an end-of-term reflections post to recap the course experience as well.

Thanks for reading chaos + curiosity! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Grading & Rating Scale

My grading system is very simple: it’s pass/fail, and the only requirement is that I complete the course. I don’t even have to complete it within that semester - if I’m not finished, it can roll over to the next one. And I’ll be gentle with myself here, because this will be new and all for fun - if I’m really not vibing with something as I go, it’s okay to stop. That said, the goal is to “pass” all my courses by completing the assignments & final projects.

At the end of each term, I want to rate the courses to gauge whether this was time well spent or not. I think reflecting on this is really important, as it could help me guide my way into the next term’s studies as well as help me find new hobbies and things to try in my everyday life. Completing stuff just to complete it can feel kind of pointless, so I want there to be clear goals here: am I learning? Is the takeway from each course useful, and can I apply it to my life somehow?

Here’s the Rating Scale I’ve come up with for this purpose:

LEARNING METRIC

How much did I actually learn from this course?

1 - Barely scratched the surface,
10 - Mind expanded, brain tingling
Reflections stuff that was most interesting to learn, things I already knew, etc.

FUN METRIC

How much did I enjoy this course overall?

1 - I’m not actually as interested in this subject as I thought
10 - I’m obsessed!
Reflections on my favorite parts of the course

CREATIVITY METRIC

How much did I explore, experiment, or create in this course?

1 - Minimal effort, I didn’t really put my heart into it
10 - I went wild & leaned into my inspirations
Reflections on future projects or applications, things I would change

VALUE METRIC

How much did this course add to my life, hobbies, or perspective?

1 - Not very useful, I won’t think about it again
10 - Life altering, I’ll use what I learned in daily life and/or plan to continue my studies within this topic
Reflections on how it’s improved my life, what I want to continue studying

CHAOS METRIC

How surprising or unexpected was this course & what I learned in it in terms of my everyday life?

1 - Pretty predictable
10 - Joyfully chaotic

Want to participate or create your own personal curriculum?

You can do both, or either! If you’d like to join in with the Chaos Curriculum and follow along with the things I’m learning every semester, I’d love that! Drop a comment below and let me know you’ll be joining me.

Or, if you’d prefer to craft your own fun little curriculum, go for it! Dive into the things you’re curious and want to learn more about; start with a list of 5-10 subjects or topics, then try to see if you can narrow them down into specific courses to use as framework. Feel free to use my Fall semester as an outline for inspiration, or try searching “personal curriculum” on Substack, Tiktok, or Instagram to find other people’s examples with their own topics and formats.

FALL SEMESTER: Stamps, Spells, & Sips

Pocket Prints: The Art of Mini-Linocut
- An introductory course to DIY mini-linocut stamp making
Season of the Witch: A Guided Binge & Media Analysis
- An exploration of witches in history and media
Caffeine Alchemy: Experiments in Cold Brew
- A study of all things cold brew: origins, methodology, flavor profiles, syrups, infusions, & mock up menu creation

Stay tuned for my full Fall Syllabus, or if you’re a member of my Patreon, I’ll be sharing that tomorrow - sign up here if you’re interested in early access!