“Just when you figure out how to teach one way, everything changes – it’s like having a baby. You have to adjust to different stages, but that’s the beauty of homeschooling.”

– Cassie Shepherd, Home-Centered Learning(@homecenteredlearning)

When Cassie Shepard noticed her twin daughters’ spirits dimming in first grade, she took an unexpected leap into homeschooling. Five years later, she shares her evolution from rigid schedules to a flourishing, flexible approach that lets each child’s unique light shine.

In this deeply personal conversation, Cassie reveals how she transformed from a traditional-school mindset to embracing an eclectic, child-led approach to education. She discusses the emotional journey of leaving the school system, overcoming initial fears, and discovering that education can be customized to nurture each child’s innate curiosity and talents.

Learn:

• How to recognize when your child’s “light goes out” and trust your parental instincts
• Why transitioning from traditional school structure to homeschool flexibility is like having a baby – constant adjustment and growth
• The power of “Tell me more about that” in understanding your child’s needs and interests
• How to balance teaching multiple children while maintaining individual attention and growth
• Why creating a customizable lifestyle is key to sustainable homeschooling success

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:08 Cassie Shepard’s Homeschooling Journey

01:49 Making the Decision to Homeschool

03:10 Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

04:37 Initial Challenges and Adjustments

06:19 Emotional and Social Impact on Children

08:42 Balancing Homeschooling and Family Life

17:59 Adapting and Evolving the Homeschooling Approach

20:32 Homeschooling: Adapting to Different Learning Stages

21:31 Eclectic Homeschooling: Mixing and Matching Curriculums

22:15 Nurturing Individual Passions in Homeschooling

24:53 Managing Multiple Children in Homeschooling

30:00 Creating a Customized Homeschooling Lifestyle

34:42 Rapid Fire Questions: Insights and Tips

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Transcript

Introduction and Guest Welcome [00:00]

Ela: Welcome back to the OpenEd podcast. I’m Ela, your sometimes host, and today I’m so excited because I’m joined by Cassie Shepard. How are you doing today?

Cassie: I’m doing great. Thank you so much for having me on.

Ela: Yeah. So a little bit about you – you have four kids, you’re Utah based, and you’ve been doing homeschool for a little while. And you also have a really popular Instagram channel.

Cassie: That’s right. I’m over at Home Centered Learning on Instagram and that’s my main platform. I have a website as well, homecenteredlearning.com. It’s been a great way to connect with other homeschooling families and something I’ve been really passionate about. It’s been a fun creative outlet for me to have that space and also create a community of like-minded mothers and families who embrace this lifestyle.

Cassie’s Homeschooling Journey [01:08]

Ela: Yeah, I love that. The first time I got to know you a little bit and heard from you was at an event where you shared your story and how you got started in this homeschool space. Can you share a little bit about that and the experiences you had?

Cassie: Sure. We started homeschooling almost five years ago, in November 2019. We had started public school like normal with my twin girls, who were in first grade at the time. We’d done a couple years of preschool and half-day kindergarten, and everything went really smoothly.

When we got into first grade, we started to see some red flags right out of the gate. We met with the principal and teacher as issues came up. Homeschooling wasn’t really on my mind at first – we were looking more at options like maybe sending the kids for just half days.

Then I mentioned what was going on to a neighbor, and she asked if I’d ever considered homeschooling. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but she planted that seed. Over the next three weeks as we explored options, we had a spiritual experience where we felt this was the right path for our family. We took a huge leap of faith and decided to pull them out and start homeschooling.

Making the Decision to Homeschool [01:49]

Ela: Was that a difficult decision? You mentioned it wasn’t on your radar before this neighbor mentioned it. I read on your website that you wrote out tons of pros and cons, and you were surprised by how many pros there were to fully pulling them out. What were some of those pros, and what was the final thing that made you make that leap?

Cassie: That’s a good question. When I wrote out our pros and cons, I think some of the issue is we always just do what’s been done, right? I went to public school, my husband went to public school, and that just seemed to be the next step for our kids. We hadn’t really thought beyond that.

Pros and Cons of Homeschooling [03:10]

Cassie: Education has always been really important to us. I was probably a little unusual in how much I researched schools. But when I started making that pro and con list, setting aside outside influences, I realized there were many good reasons to homeschool.

Some key pros were more family time together and being able to customize our kids’ education. My girls were advanced in some areas, and I felt they weren’t being challenged enough in school. We also wanted to travel and have more flexibility. I remember asking the school if I could pick up my kids just five minutes early on Thursdays for activities, and they refused, saying it would disrupt the classroom. Little inflexibilities like that made us want more freedom to explore our children’s interests.

On my con list, the two main concerns quickly changed. One was socialization, and the other was managing everything with a six-month-old baby. But within about three weeks of bringing them home, I saw my girls beaming again – their light had gone out at school, but now it was back. We were especially worried about socialization, but that changed quickly, though COVID happened four months later and made things look different for the first couple years. Now that we’ve been doing it for five years, we feel so confident. We have a great group we do things with, and my kids have thrived.

Initial Challenges and Adjustments [04:37]

Ela: You mentioned managing everything as a parent – being responsible for their learning, making sure they eat, keeping the house orderly, making dinner. It’s a lot to juggle when you don’t outsource education. What was your situation before? Did you have to quit a job, or were you already a stay-at-home mom?

Cassie: We had planned before having kids that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so leaving a job wasn’t something we needed to change. But there was definitely an emotional weight – having a lot on my plate for a long time. It’s not something that ever really goes away, but I’ve learned to embrace it because while it’s heavy, there’s also a really high reward. For me, I’d rather have that weight and responsibility than feel disconnected from my children’s lives.

Emotional and Social Impact on Children [06:19]

Cassie: The red flags we saw – after adjusting to three years of preschool and kindergarten – were dramatic. By the third day of first grade they were falling to pieces, saying “I don’t want to go back.” Initially I thought it was just the longer days. But by mid-October, they were having toddler-level tantrums we hadn’t seen in years.

With my degree in family life education and experience working with trauma kids, I started seeing concerning signs. I put a baby monitor in their room to hear their play conversations, and what I heard about their classroom experiences troubled me. Six-year-olds can’t always verbalize their feelings, so you look for behavioral signs like crying or unusual tantrums.

My daughter was drawing one evening at my desk, tears streaming down her face. The picture showed our family together with hearts and “10 out of 10” written on it. When I asked what was wrong, she said “I just want to be home with my family.” I’d been trying to suppress her feelings, telling her to adjust, but she was clear – she didn’t want to be there.

Three weeks after bringing them home, she drew another picture – a girl in a red dress with snow and flowers. When I asked why the girl was happy, she said “because she knows that she’s loved.” After that I saw them truly thrive. The tantrums stopped, the crying ended, and they returned to being my happy little girls. They’ve been that way ever since.

Balancing Homeschooling and Family Life [08:42]

Ela: That’s an incredible story, even more powerful this time than when I first heard it. Thank you for sharing. I think many parents can relate to watching their kids change or seeing confusing emotional states. Having the curiosity to say “This isn’t normal, what’s going on?” is so important. People often dismiss teen depression or difficult phases as just normal stages, but becoming curious as a parent and wanting to walk with them through it is crucial.

I know you use The Good and the Beautiful now – is that what you started with? How did you begin? Some people talk about starting traditionally then moving to a more flexible model at home. What does your schooling look like?

Cassie: The journey has definitely evolved over these years. I’ve learned so much about myself in this process – I’ve really blossomed because I love it and have the freedom to try different approaches. Even when I worked as a classroom teacher, there were always strict limitations on activities and curriculum.

When I first started homeschooling, I had that fear of needing to mirror traditional school – setting my alarm for 6 AM, prepping everything perfectly, doing five days a week. Then a few days in, I realized I could be more relaxed. We did maintain five days a week that first year, though things were different with COVID since co-ops and groups were shut down.

As I got more comfortable, I could let go of those preconceived notions and be more creative. It was fascinating to discover how my twins learned – whether better together or separate, hands-on or not. Then when I started teaching my boys, I had to learn all over again because they were so different.

I always tell new homeschool moms it’s like having a baby – just when you figure out nursing, they start solids and everything changes. You have to adjust to different stages. What worked with my girls was different from my boys. They have different talents that I’m still discovering daily. That’s what I love about it – I really know my kids and see sides of them I might have missed if they were gone all day.

Now I’m very eclectic in what I use. I started with The Good and the Beautiful and still love it because it’s easy, but instead of rigidly following lessons, I use it more as a guide and bring in other books and activities. We love using literature – my older girls love to read. This year we’re excited to do more art and creative projects. I have one son who loves Legos and engineering, so we give him lots of opportunities to build and draw. If we see recurring interests, we provide materials to let them explore and potentially develop passions.

Nurturing Individual Passions in Homeschooling [22:15]

Ela: How did you initially find your kids’ passions and start to nurture them? And what does it look like to educate four children at once?

Cassie: For passions, I follow whatever they show interest in. I used to do formal homeschool interviews, asking “What do you love? What would you like to see different?” Now I check in periodically about their interests. Sometimes they don’t know, like my girls who’ve loved animals for years. Sometimes I provide a feast of options. Once I was reading different subjects to my girls when they were nine or ten, and they lit up at plants and gardening. We dove into botany, plant cells, got lots of books, did hands-on activities, and brought in YouTube videos to support their interest.

Managing Multiple Children in Homeschooling [24:53]

As for teaching four kids – you have to constantly adjust rhythms. Instead of a rigid schedule like public school, we have rough outlines. I’m more structured than some homeschool families because I feel it’s good for kids to know what to expect, but I stay flexible.

We always start with morning time – a devotional where everyone’s together. We set the stage for the day, discuss schedules, extracurriculars, or address any family issues. Then I work youngest to oldest. My older girls have independent work they can do – watching math lessons, completing assignments. I work with my kindergartner first, then my second grader who has simple independent work like handwriting and phonics. I meet with my girls either before or after lunch to review math and writing.

After lunch, we usually do family-style lessons where we all come together – science, history, art projects. Then the kids can relax and play, though we try to keep the whole environment learning-focused, always offering opportunities to explore their interests.

Creating a Customized Homeschooling Lifestyle [30:00]

Ela: You mentioned meeting with each kid individually. Are you meeting in the same room? Where are the rest working? I imagine it’s distracting.

Cassie: We have a rule that when I’m working one-on-one with someone in our main school room, the others can’t interrupt. My girls have desks upstairs, but they do school all around the house – this morning they were doing math on the front porch while my son did his independent work on the couch.

This wasn’t the case with toddlers, since interruptions are developmentally appropriate then. I wouldn’t want my toddler feeling they couldn’t come to me, so I’d often have them on my lap or toys on the floor while working with the others. You just push through those times.

Rapid Fire Q&A with Cassie [34:42]

Ela: What are some of your favorite questions to ask your kids?

Cassie: “Tell me more about that.” It’s not really a question, but it’s my favorite response when they’re drawing or explaining something. Instead of asking “What are you drawing?” which looks for a specific answer, “Tell me more” opens up conversation.

Ela: What’s your favorite story of something that really works for your kids?

Cassie: Hands-on things work really well. I bring in lots of manipulatives since my passion is early childhood education – movable alphabets, sandpaper letters, number boards. These work especially well for early childhood when they need more hands-on learning.

Ela: What’s your favorite story of seeing your kids succeed with this flexible education model?

Cassie: Definitely my seven-year-old son. He’s a wiggler, needs one-on-one attention, and is easily distracted. Sometimes I think we were meant to homeschool just for him – he wouldn’t thrive in a big classroom. He has such a creative mind and thinks differently. He’ll surprise me by joining complex discussions I’m having with my older girls. He loves drawing and fills notebook after notebook – we just let him follow that passion.

Ela: This has been great. Thank you for coming on. Where can people find you?

Cassie: Just my website, homecenteredlearning.com and Instagram at homecenteredlearning.

Ela: We’ll definitely check out Cassie. She’s incredible.

Cassie: Thank you so much. Have a great day.