There is no right or wrong way to study the course. You can begin by reading the text (the 31 chapters at the beginning), or you can jump right into the workbook lessons. And you can even read the manual for teachers at the back if you wish.
The only suggestion the course would make is that when you do decide to practice the lessons, do them in order starting with Lesson 1. And don’t do more than one per day. The reason for one per day is that the course suggests we spend an entire day with each lesson. Not physically - but in our mind.
Starting out with the course can be very challenging without an understanding of the metaphysics of the course. But you can rest assured knowing that the course will always meet you right where you are. With gentleness and patience. And without judgment.
As you read, some concepts will make sense to you and resonate with you. Others you’ll find challenging. And still others will seem downright confusing. That’s all ok. Just take it all in. And just like the course meets us with gentleness and without judgment - we should treat the course the same way.
So when we hit on a concept we either don’t like or don’t understand - we can smile and say to ourselves: “I’m not quite ready for this yet. But when I am, I can be sure it will be presented to me once again.”