Restoration Wellness of Idaho LLC

Apparently I have reached the stage of adulthood where I voluntarily give myself homework, create a checklist for it, and then invite other people to join me. At some point, curiosity has to become a commitment if we actually want to learn something deeply. Considering the price of groceries, utilities, housing, and nearly everything else right now, going back to school for fun may sound like an unusual use of free time. Once I realized how much serious educational material is available without tuition, though, I started looking at it differently. If meaningful education is sitting in front of me for free, I want to take advantage of it.

The Rabbit Hole That Started This

The idea began when I came across the list of Hillsdale College courses Charlie Kirk had enrolled in and saw the range of subjects he chose to study. Hillsdale later launched its Learn Like Charlie campaign, encouraging people to work through the same free online courses he studied, including courses focused on the Bible, the American founding, classical thought, philosophy, history, economics, and constitutional government.[1] What caught my attention was not simply Charlie Kirk or politics, but the intentional decision to continue learning outside of a traditional degree program. There was something about seeing all of those subjects together that made me wonder why I could not do the same thing.

The list includes Genesis, Aristotle, C. S. Lewis, Western philosophy, theology, economics, literature, American history, the Constitution, civil rights, Rome, Churchill, and other subjects that have shaped Western civilization and the way people understand government, faith, morality, and human nature. I already spend a ridiculous amount of time researching things simply because a question gets stuck in my head, so the idea of following an actual course sequence felt strangely appealing. Instead of opening another forty-seven browser tabs and forgetting which question started the whole ordeal, I could actually sit down and study the subject from beginning to end. Even better, I could find other curious people who wanted to do it with me.

That is how Rooted Study Hall started.

Learning Does Not Have to End With a Degree

We often treat education as something attached to a particular stage of life. We go to school, earn whatever degree or credential we are pursuing, enter adulthood, and somehow begin acting as though structured learning belongs to the part of life we already finished. I do not think curiosity has an expiration date, and I certainly do not believe that everything worth learning has to end with college credit attached to it. Sometimes learning something simply because it is worth understanding is reason enough.

There is also freedom in studying when there is no grade hanging over your head. We can listen to an argument, read the source material, question what we hear, research something further, disagree with part of it, change our minds about something else, and keep going until we understand the subject better than we did before. The purpose is not to memorize enough information to pass an exam and immediately forget it. The purpose is to develop a deeper understanding of the ideas themselves.

Why Free Education Matters

Hillsdale offers online courses without tuition, giving people access to substantial material across history, literature, philosophy, religion, politics, economics, mathematics, and other subjects without enrolling in a traditional college program.[2] The Charlie Kirk Path organizes a selection of courses connected with his studies, while the larger Hillsdale catalog contains many additional options. When education is available without adding another tuition bill to the household budget, the main investment becomes our time and willingness to actually use it.

In this economy, if someone is offering me Genesis, Aristotle, C. S. Lewis, economics, history, philosophy, and constitutional studies without mailing me a student loan statement afterward, I am paying attention.

Free does not mean effortless, of course, because good education still requires attention, reading, thought, and time. That is actually part of what makes the opportunity valuable. We can strengthen our knowledge in areas we never studied, return to subjects we barely remember from school, and challenge ourselves with material we might never otherwise encounter. We can also learn without having to justify whether a subject will increase our income, qualify us for another credential, or fit neatly onto a resume.

Sometimes it is enough to become a more informed human being.

Why I Created Rooted Study Hall

The one problem with free online education is that it is extremely easy to start a course enthusiastically and quietly abandon it when life becomes busy. You watch a lecture or two, tell yourself you will return next Tuesday, and six months later the course is living peacefully beside all the other things you absolutely intended to finish. I know myself well enough to recognize that having other people involved changes that equation because conversation and accountability make learning harder to quietly forget.

Rooted Study Hall is my answer to that problem. Rather than everyone watching courses separately and disappearing back into everyday life, we will work through one lesson during the week and meet together once each week to discuss what we studied. We can talk about what stood out, what we questioned, what we disagreed with, what connections we noticed, and which questions deserve more investigation. I am much more interested in a real conversation than I am in everyone politely agreeing with one another.

We Are Starting With Genesis

Our first course will be The Genesis Story: Reading Biblical Narratives through Hillsdale College. The course contains six lessons totaling approximately six and a half hours, which makes it a manageable place to begin while we figure out what works best for our group.[2] We will complete one lesson during the week and then meet once each week to discuss the material together. Nobody needs to arrive with a background in theology, biblical studies, literature, or philosophy because the entire point is that we are there to learn.

There will be no grades from me, and I am not creating surprise tests to see who was paying attention. I do want people to take the study seriously because a discussion group only becomes worthwhile when the people involved actually engage with the material. Questions are welcome, disagreements are welcome, and not understanding something is certainly welcome. Pretending to understand something because everyone else seems to understand it is probably the least interesting thing we could bring to the table.

Yes, I Made a Checklist

I also created a Charlie Kirk Hillsdale Education Plan checklist so we can keep track of the courses as we move through them. There is something deeply satisfying about putting a check beside a course after actually finishing it, and apparently free education alone was not nerdy enough for me. I needed paperwork. At this point I have simply accepted who I am.

The checklist also lets people see the larger project without feeling as though they need to tackle everything at once. We are not attempting to consume several dozen courses simultaneously and emerge six weeks later speaking exclusively in Aristotle quotations. We will take one course at a time, move through it thoughtfully, and then decide what comes next. The point is sustained learning, not an educational endurance contest.

I Am Looking for People Who Actually Want to Participate

I want Rooted Study Hall to remain small enough that people can actually talk to one another, which means I am more interested in committed participants than a large membership number. I would rather have six people who complete the lesson and arrive ready to talk than sixty people who join because the idea sounded interesting and disappear after the first week. This does require some commitment because we will be setting aside time each week to study and then meet together. Life obviously happens, but I want to begin with people who genuinely intend to participate.

You do not need a particular degree, educational background, or level of expertise to join. You need curiosity, a willingness to complete the weekly material, and enough intellectual humility to listen to other people while also being willing to ask difficult questions. Nobody sitting at the table will know everything, including me. That is rather the point of having a study hall in the first place.

Want a Seat at the Table

If Rooted Study Hall sounds like something you would genuinely enjoy and you are willing to make the weekly commitment, I would love to hear from you. We will begin Sunday, September 27, and meet every Sunday at 4:00 PM Mountain Time for a 40 minute Zoom discussion after completing the assigned Hillsdale lesson during the week, we can go longer if we need to.

To join, email info@restorationwellnessofidaho.com with your name and the email address you would like me to use for your Hillsdale invitation. Once I receive your information, I will send your invitation and the weekly Zoom details so you can join us for our first course.

We are all busy, and there will always be another reason to postpone something that is not absolutely necessary. Maybe that is precisely why making room for learning matters. An hour spent wrestling with Genesis, history, philosophy, theology, economics, literature, or another important idea is not wasted simply because nobody is giving us college credit for it. If you have been missing the experience of learning simply because you want to know more, there is a seat at the table.

References

1. Hillsdale College. “Hillsdale College Announces Learn Like Charlie Campaign During TPUSA All American Halftime Show.” February 9, 2026.
https://www.hillsdale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/HC-PR-Learn-Like-Charlie.pdf

2. Hillsdale College Online Courses. “The Charlie Kirk Path” and “The Genesis Story: Reading Biblical Narratives.” Accessed September 17, 2026.
https://online.hillsdale.edu/paths/promo/the-charlie-kirk-path/
https://online.hillsdale.edu/courses/promo/genesis

If you enjoy this kind of deeper learning, research, and thoughtful discussion, you can also subscribe to Rooted Dispatch, my paid subscriber content through Restoration Wellness of Idaho. That is where I share longer research pieces, commentary, Rabbit Hole of the Month features, and material that goes beyond what I post publicly.