Weekend Journaling Prompt

A guest post on creating your own back-to-school syllabus

Last week I went on holiday and actually relaxed. It was restful, but exciting too - I stayed in a lighthouse! I swam with a seal! - and to be completely honest, it’s been a bit of a wrench returning to reality. So I’m easing myself in gently, and trying to hold onto the feeling of spaciousness that being away from home brings.

Thus, today’s journaling prompt is a guest post from the wonderful Caroline Donahue who recently told me about a back-to-school custom in her adopted homeland of Germany that I wanted to hear more about. I couldn’t love Caroline’s approach to an academic autumn more, and I hope that you enjoy it, too.

Take care,

Katherine

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As the weather cools this week in Berlin, my heart is already in September. Despite the sudden schedule acceleration that comes with them, I’ve always enjoyed back-to-school preparations. As a child on the US East Coast, this meant gathering new school books and an intoxicating trip to Staples for notebooks, pens, binders and other delights. Since moving to Germany seven years ago, this time of year brings a new treat: the appearance of the Schultüten.

Beginning in the early eighteen hundreds in Thuringia and Saxony, children were presented with a Schultüte, or “School Cone,” a container filled with school supplies and sweets, to celebrate entering school for the first time. The practice soon spread through all of Germany, and in some regions the colorful cones are called “Zuckertüte,” or sugar cones, meant to sweeten the big step the children are taking.

Parents make a big deal out of starting school here — one student of mine hosted a huge family party for her twin sons a few years ago when the big day came for them. Her boys were delighted to receive their cardboard cones, nearly as tall as they were, filled with pens, pencils, crayons and other stationery, topped up with sweets.

After a few years watching parades of children wielding bright cones of stationery, I got envious. With a birthday at the end of August, however, I knew what to do. When my husband asked me what I’d like as a gift, I requested my own Schultüte. He delivered. I still have the cone he found me, which is covered in mermaid-patterened fabric and came to me topped up with candy-colored erasers, striped pencils and notepads. It remains one of my favorite presents to this day.

The birthday Schultüte in all its glory.

The beginning of September has always felt as powerful as New Year to me and functions as a second fresh start. I thrived on the academic calendar when at college and getting my masters and have found it a brilliant way to organize my work through the year. There is something about a crisp morning, new books, sharp pencils and a blank page in a brand-new notebook, isn’t there?

What if we didn’t have to give this up as adults?

Over the past few years, I’ve built a practice that gives me special joy in early September: creating my own curriculum. University was a joyful time for me, with the chance to dive into countless subjects and spend the autumn reading and exploring new topics. I often mourned the classes I didn’t get to take until I realized nothing was stopping me from building my own now.

The yearning for learning becomes unignorable as summer draws to a close.

Late August is when I usually get the itch to begin. I spend some time journaling about topics that have caught my attention through the year. When one feels especially sparkly and delicious, I imagine what the most magical class in that subject would look like. Who would I study with? What would the class cover?