.png)
Creating a Personal Curriculum
- Hannah Whatley
- Jan 18
- 6 min read
Hello, loves! I may or may not have taken an...extensive...holiday break, but I'm back now, and I've noticed an uptick in readership, despite the fact that Chaos Lingo is still just getting off the ground, so I wanted to show my appreciation. I'm now shooting for one post a week, ideally on Thursday. Is it late at night on a Sunday for me right now? Maybe. Moving on...
The topic of today's post plays a large part in my "resolution" to keep a consistent post schedule: creating a personal curriculum. Depending on your own brand of neurodivergence, you may be either repulsed by the idea of bringing anything resembling schoolwork into your personal life or, like me, excited just by the word curriculum (I see you, fellow weirdo). Either way, stick with me.
One of the biggest barriers I've experienced as an AuDHD language learner, particularly a self-directed one, has been consistency. Because consistency has always been a weakness of mine, I launched into an exploration of where it was coming from:
Was I just lazy? (Anyone with ADHD and/or executive dysfunction knows that's simply not true.)
Did I not have enough dopamine stimulation? (Probably, which is where the constant background YouTube noise comes in.)
Was language learning truly a passion of mine, or was I dedicating time to an old dream that I had based on a novel about a polyglot that I read in high school? (The Girl From the Train by Irma Joubert, still my favorite novel, currently rereading it.)
However, what came to me in the end was structure. I was homeschooled from kindergarten through senior year and completed the majority of my BA online. Many labeled my education, particularly in high school, as "self-directed." However, the only difference between my education and that of my public- or private-schooled peers was the presence of a teacher. My mother chose a high-grade curriculum with rigorous standards and a well-organized structure that laid out exactly what was expected of me: what to read, what to pay attention to, what to review, what to continue to think about. My college experience was similar, but with one key difference: cohesion. About 75% of my college journey was facilitated by Pearson Accelerated (formerly Lumerit Education, formerly formerly College Plus), a service that connects you with accredited courses from a range of colleges that all count toward a singular, recognized degree. It's an optimal program for those who want to save significant money on college fees and/or for working adults who want to work toward their degree, while working. While the overall layout felt a little less organized than my high school experience, the structure contained within each course kept me on a specific track.
Once I graduated, I desired to keep my love of learning going, but I quickly became overwhelmed with the sheer number and types of resources--regular books, textbooks, YouTube videos, learning platform courses, college-based courses, podcasts, and on and on into infinity. Which ones were worth my time? How could I retain the information without study questions and testing?
There were certainly other personal factors that influenced how I drifted away from active learning, such as living independently for the first time, dealing with autistic skill regression, and working behind a computer for eight hours a day, but I know that my evolution from an enthusiastic, former gifted kid to a brain-rot addict who subconsciously avoided reading at all costs wouldn't have progressed so quickly had I still had someone directing my learning journey.
Despite my passion for languages and the founding of Chaos Lingo being a huge theme for my 2025, I found myself not seeing progress, feeling stuck, almost as if my brain and body were in hibernation mode. My range of interests and difficulty giving priority to any of them had me attempting to learn five languages at one time, three of which were ranked as some of the most challenging languages for native English speakers to acquire (Korean, Japanese, and Thai) by the author of Fluent Forever (anticipate much more about this book in upcoming posts).
Once 2026 finally arrived, a shift happened in my brain. I knew I needed to do the hard work of getting myself organized, as no one was going to come to my rescue and do that for me. So, in addition to a drastic haircut, a new piercing, and long-shot applications to grad school, one of the most important ways I'm renovating myself in 2026 is to create a personal curriculum.
The idea was sparked by a video I came across from the YouTube channel Lady of the Library, run by the lovely Cinzia DuBois. I won't go into the details of how I put my own together because the video creators I list at the end of this post will explain it much better (Cinzia's is the first in the list), but here's a preview of my first draft (with a cameo from Francis):
In putting this plan together and experimenting with my first two weeks of implementation, I've identified areas to adjust and, for the first time in my life, haven't felt guilty about that. Instead, I'm excited for the first time in a long time that I might make progress on something, because now I have days.
The idea of a schedule and a list of "musts" does make me a little queasy, but fellow neurospicies might know the comfort that comes from "[insert thing here] Day." Applying to the languages I'm learning, now I have an "ASL Day," a "Spanish Day," a "Thai Day," and so on. What I've learned from that is two-fold:
Assigning days to to-dos reduces overwhelm by at least 30% (a personal percentage). Instead of approaching each day with the entirety of my language goals in mind, having "days" for each language gives me mental permission to ignore the rest to focus on one. It also gives character, contrast, and excitement to each day.
Learning five languages is ridiculous. I'm not a genius. I might have tested at a high IQ at age 10, but since my doom-scrolling era began, I often question whether that's still the case. But the harsher truth is, in order to gain expertise in any one thing, you have to sacrifice the pursuit of others. So, update: I've reduced the load by two, focusing now on ASL, Spanish, and Thai.
What you can learn from this process is three-fold:
If you're either at the beginning of your language learning journey or have started the process but feel stuck/overwhelmed, creating a personal language curriculum of your favorite resources can give you a jumpstart.
If you're interested in learning several languages, you can dedicate each language to a different day.
If you're focusing on one language (wise choice), you can evaluate your regular schedule and assign days to different time constraints or energy levels. For example, say you are in school or work full-time on weekdays and have commitments on certain weeknights. On those busy days, you don't have to lose progress; instead, choose a low-energy task, such as completing one lesson of an app, like Duolingo or Busuu. On days with more spare time, you can plan for more extensive study, incorporating a podcast and a reading assignment or a vocab review.
One additional plus: Choosing a notebook for your curriculum can add a fun, personalized element to your curriculum. I'm using an elegant green sketchbook with no lines; it isn't so nice that I can't bear to write in it (I bought it from Five Below), but its hardback style and clean, parchment-like paper give it an academic, elevated feel that transports me to the light academia classroom I'd always rather be in. However, if I had a gift for art, I would have chosen something more whimsical and creative; if you enjoy making your notebooks a work of art with your own unique touches and doodles, that can make your study plan less like a rigid curriculum and more like a living entity, or a magic wisdom diary.
Use the following resources to kickstart your personal curriculum; you can apply it solely to your languages or incorporate your other interests, as well. I've included generalized personal curriculum guides, a couple specific to studying languages, and some links to guides on what to include, such as goals, time constraints, and ideas for activities to implement. Don't worry about consuming all of them, as they all include similar information -- check out a couple that interest you or present the info in a way you connect with and go from there.
Happy curriculum-making!
Videos:
Links:
Comments