In this first episode, I tell you the story of the year I decided I hated Greek mythology — and how I was completely wrong. It's the story of how dead learning convinces you the problem is you, and what it took for a book to finally come alive in my hands. From a Greek mythology class that felt like punishment, to the senior-year teacher who handed the work back to us, to a graduate history class where every student wrote a different true account from the same evidence — this is why I build everything we do the way I do.

In this episode:

• Why the most challenging education can look, from the outside, like the easiest
• What it means that the learning belongs to you, not to me
• Charlotte Mason's habit of attention — and why it shows up everywhere, from a drive-through window to a doctor's office
• What it actually costs a teacher to grade thinking instead of right answers
• A first look at where we're headed this year: Of Mice and Men, the world of Depression-era migrant workers, existentialism as a lens, and the capstone that lets you truly know a character

Whether you're one of my students or simply someone who loves a good book — pull up a chair. There's room in the margin for you.