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PODCAST

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast

Welcome to Making Everyday Magic, the podcast where we explore the ins and outs of homeschooling, family life, and finding joy in the everyday moments. Join Shanna as she shares real-life experiences, tips, and insights on navigating homeschool with a secular perspective, making family memories, and balancing the highs and lows of home education. From practical advice to mindset shifts, each episode is designed to inspire and empower you to create a fulfilling and magical life that"s uniquely your

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All Episodes

10:41

Homeschool Isn't the Answer. It Isn't the Enemy Either.

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/10/05

After 10 years of homeschooling, I'm increasingly convinced that we need a better way to talk about education. Homeschool can be wonderful. It can also have serious problems. Public school can serve children beautifully. It can also fail them. The same is true of private schools, charter schools, Montessori schools, and pretty much every other educational model we could name. So why do we keep trying to turn these choices into absolutes? In this episode, I'm talking about why I don't believe

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16:08

How I Homeschool Multiple Grades: 9th + 5th Grade

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/10/01

How do you homeschool multiple children when they're in completely different grades? In this episode, I'm sharing exactly how we make our 9th-grade and 5th-grade homeschool work after 10 years of homeschooling. My kids are four grade levels apart, so they obviously don't do everything together. Math and language arts stay individual, while we combine subjects like history, science, art history, geography, and French whenever it makes sense. I'll talk about our "teach to the older child and pull the

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12:56

What Do Homeschool Parents Actually Do?

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/25

What happens when you don't homeschool and your idea of homeschooling comes mostly from the loudest and most extreme examples? I understand the skepticism. After 10 years of homeschooling, I've seen things in the homeschool world that concern me too—including educational neglect and rejection of science. But that's not the whole story. In this episode, I'm talking about what our secular homeschool actually looks like, why I don't think homeschool parents need to be experts in every subject, and why

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11:20

I Don't Love Homeschooling Every Day: The Truth About...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/24

I've been homeschooling for 10 years, and I don't love homeschooling every day. I know that's probably not what you're supposed to say when you have built an entire life around homeschooling—but it's true. In this episode, I'm talking honestly about the hard homeschool days: the pressure, the stress, the lack of sleep, the cost, the mess, the expectations, and those days when you simply do not want to homeschool. But I'm also talking about what we can actually do about it. Sometimes we change the

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12:30

What's Next? Life After Homeschooling, Learning New...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/22

We're entering our 10th year of homeschooling, and with a 9th grader and a 5th grader, I'm starting to think about what life looks like when my kids need me less. Not because I'm done being a mom. Because I'm still a person, too. In this episode, I'm talking about learning new things, being a beginner, and figuring out what comes next. And apparently, that currently means learning the art of wig making and wig styling. I have a cosmetology background, a child pursuing theater, and a lot of

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13:07

What You Tolerate, You Endorse: Boundaries in...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/19

There is one phrase I come back to over and over again in homeschooling, parenting, relationships, business, and honestly... life: What you tolerate, you endorse. And I know that might feel a little uncomfortable. Because sometimes the things causing chaos in our homeschool, our homes, and our relationships aren't things we actively chose. They're things we let slide. One more late bedtime. One more skipped lesson. One more meltdown that ends with us giving in because we're tired, embarrassed, or

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09:55

I Don't Want My Kids to Have a Normal Childhood

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/18

I don't want my kids to have a normal childhood. After 10 years of homeschooling, I'm realizing that I'm not trying to recreate the childhood I had—or the childhood society tells us our kids are supposed to have. I'm trying to build a family life that gives my girls room to learn, explore, play, ask questions, and become the people they're meant to be. In this episode, I talk about what "normal" means to me, why I'm proud of the ways our homeschool and family life are different, and why I want my

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22:33

Building a Custom High School: Our Magnet-Style...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/17

What happens when you stop trying to recreate traditional high school at home and start building an educational experience around the actual learner? In this episode, I'm talking about our first year of homeschooling high school and how we're creating a custom, magnet-style experience for our daughter. She's pursuing performing arts, but we're not choosing between passion and academics. We're building both into her education: advanced academics, Algebra 2 in ninth grade, a future dual-credit path,

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13:02

Homeschool Guilt Lives Between Idealism and Reality

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/12

What did you think homeschooling would look like before you actually started? Because I can tell you... mine did not look like this. In this episode, I'm talking about the space between our ideal homeschool and our real homeschool—and why I think that space is where so much homeschool guilt lives. We see the curriculum, the classes, the field trips, the beautiful homeschool rooms, the art projects, the co-ops, and all the things our kids could do. And before we know it, we've planned approximately

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17:12

Homeschool Haters, Internet Trolls, and Why I Don't...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/10

I recently got a hateful comment about my homeschooling, my parenting, my personality, and apparently my nose ring. And honestly? I thought it was hilarious. In this episode, I'm talking about how I handle internet trolls, homeschool criticism, and the people who become strangely confident experts on your entire life after seeing a tiny piece of it online. But this conversation is about more than one nasty comment. We're talking about boundaries, knowing who you are, sharing your life without

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20:22

The Systems That Keep Our Homeschool Running After 10...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/09/03

After a decade of homeschooling, I have learned that sustainability doesn't come from doing more. It comes from building systems. In this episode, I'm sharing the practical systems that help our family manage homeschooling, chores, meals, laundry, planning, and everyday life. We talk about why systems work better than rigid schedules, how we divide responsibilities as a family, and the small routines that make a huge difference in reducing mental load. This isn't about creating a picture-perfect

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13:09

10 Years of Homeschooling: What Actually Matters

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/08/27

After ten years homeschooling two children, I'm sharing the lessons that have actually lasted. From learning styles and curriculum to consistency, socialization, college, freedom, and protecting your relationship with your children, these are the ideas I wish someone had told me when we first started homeschooling. Whether you're brand new or years into your homeschool journey, I hope this conversation helps you build a homeschool that works for your unique family.

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18:25

Things I'm Seeing That Make Me Think the Economy Is...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/08/13

I'm not an economist, financial advisor, or market expert. I'm just a mom who's paying attention. In this episode, I share the real-world changes I've been noticing that make me wonder whether we're entering a different economic season. From empty tourist destinations and lower theme park crowds to unsold summer camps, changing travel deals, car inventories, rising prices, and shifts in family spending, these are the everyday patterns that have caught my attention. This isn't about politics or

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10:18

Why Doing Less Makes Your Homeschool More Successful

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/08/06

As we head into our 10th year of homeschooling—and our very first year of high school—I'm reminding myself of something I seem to forget every single year: I always try to plan a homeschool that doesn't actually fit real life. In this episode, I'm sharing why "less is more" has become one of the most important principles in our homeschool. We'll talk about curriculum overload, homeschool guilt, delaying the start of elective subjects, building consistency, planning a realistic four-day homeschool

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14:47

How We're Building a High School French Plan Without...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/07/17

When we started homeschooling, I knew there would be moments where I had to learn alongside my kids. High school French is one of those moments. In this episode, I'm sharing how we're creating a complete foreign language plan for our homeschool—even though I am not fluent in French. We'll talk about: letting kids have ownership over educational choices building homeschool high school credits combining resources instead of searching for one perfect curriculum why family learning has become such an

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14:10

The Homeschool Problem Nobody Talks About: How We...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/07/14

Homeschool parents spend a lot of time looking for solutions. A new curriculum. A better schedule. A different planner. Another resource. And sometimes those things are exactly what we need. But after nearly 10 years of secular homeschooling, I have started to recognize another important piece of the puzzle: the environment where learning happens. In this episode, I share an honest reflection about the role parents play in creating homeschool culture. We talk about stress, routines, expectations,

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16:04

Planning Homeschool High School History: Making...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/07/10

Choosing homeschool curriculum is often the exciting part. But what happens after you buy it? In this episode, I share how I'm planning world history for my upcoming ninth grader and fifth grader, why I almost always adapt curriculum, and how I approach creating a homeschool plan that works in our actual everyday life. After almost ten years of homeschooling, I have learned that the best curriculum is not necessarily the one with the most features. It's the one that fits your family. We talk about:

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24:22

The Homeschool Conversation Nobody Wants To Have:...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/07/06

Homeschooling gives families incredible freedom — but that freedom comes with responsibility. In this episode, I'm having an uncomfortable conversation about educational neglect, homeschool accountability, and the importance of honestly evaluating whether our choices are serving our children. After nearly 10 years of homeschooling, I believe deeply in this path. I also believe our children deserve us being willing to question ourselves. This episode explores homeschool blind spots, progress,

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13:56

The Homeschool Curriculum Question I Stopped Asking...

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/07/03

After 10 years of homeschooling, I make homeschool decisions very differently than I did in the beginning. When I first started, I was searching for the right curriculum. I wanted to know I was doing enough, choosing enough, and providing enough. Over time, I realized that the better question wasn't: "Is this the right curriculum?" It was: "What is my goal?" In this episode, I share how that shift has changed the way I plan our homeschool, modify curriculum, prepare for high school, and decide what

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15:04

Family-Centered vs Kid-Centered: A Parenting Perspective

Making Everyday Magic: The Podcast ·

2026/07/02

What happens when children aren't the center of everything? In this episode, I'm sharing why our homeschool family intentionally built a family-centered home instead of a kid-centered one. We talk about parenting culture, maternal burnout, teamwork, family relationships, homeschooling, and why I believe children benefit from belonging to something bigger than themselves. This isn't about neglect or strict parenting. It's about connection, contribution, and creating a family culture where everyone

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