From Kitchen Table to Multi-Location Microschool: How Elite Performance Prep Academy Is Rewriting “School”

When Tasha moved to Las Vegas in 2020, she thought she was stepping away from education. A longtime educator and mom of eight, she tried homeschooling her own kids at the kitchen table then neighbors started asking if they could send their children, too. Word spread. By the next school year, those same families came back.

Fourteen months later, she incorporated Elite Performance Prep Academy and what began around a kitchen table has grown into a multi-location, multi-state microschool network serving learners in person, online, and in hybrid formats.

This is Tasha’s founder story and why her “learning centers” model is resonating with families across the country.

“Do I Have to Teach Here?”

A Drop-Off Learning Center That Meets Families Where They Are

Elite Performance Prep is not a co-op that requires parent volunteering. It’s a drop-off learning center with a clear promise: small ratios, intentional instruction, and practical skills kids can use the same day.

What they offer

• Formats: In-person, online, and hybrid

• Footprint: 4 physical locations (and growing) + learners in ~11 states

• Ratios: ~1:10 so every student is seen and heard

• Schedule: 3 hours/day, ~40 weeks—designed for focus and momentum

• Core academics: Math, science, social studies, reading/writing

• Beyond core: Entrepreneurship, life skills, character education

Families who travel? No problem. Students attend in person while they’re home and seamlessly switch to live online classes from the road (even “the islands,” as Tasha jokes).

They also support brand-new homeschoolers with state law guidance, documentation tips, and monthly consults, accredited and non-accredited pathways tailored to each family’s goals.

Why Microschooling Works When “Big School” Doesn’t

Traditional classrooms ask one teacher to move 30+ kids through the same standard at the same time. Teachers know it’s impossible but they’re trapped by pacing guides and test calendars.

Microschools flip that script:

• Individual pace, not one-size-fits-all. Students work at their level, advancing when ready (not when the calendar says so).

• Multiple ways to learn. You’ll see manipulatives, whiteboards, dice, boxes different kids using different tools to reach the same objective.

• Classical approach, no Common Core. Elite Performance focuses on foundations first clear methods, mastery, and retention.

• Psychological safety. Wiggling, stretching, asking questions, clarifying vocabulary in the moment—all normal. Seen kids learn.

Result: students who were once labeled “behind,” “disruptive,” or “medicated to cope” begin to stabilize, self-advocate, and accelerate. Many families report that the accommodations listed in their IEP/504 are simply how Elite operates, and some students are able to step down from medications (always in partnership with families and doctors).

Innovation by Design: Partner-Led, Real-World Learning

Tasha’s secret sauce is collaboration. Instead of pretending to be experts in everything, Elite Performance brings in the pros:

• Agriculture on a working ranch. At Wagamole Ranch in Crestview, FL, students learn animal care, systems, responsibility, and applied science, the kind you can’t get from a worksheet.

• Money that makes sense. A financial literacy partner equips students with everyday money skills, from budgeting to opportunity cost.

And then there’s the gas station lesson, a quintessential Elite moment:

The class went outside to fill a car with gas. They compared regular vs. premium, talked engines and efficiency, then mapped fuel quality to nutrition for athletes’ bodies. Science, economics, health, and metaphor in one 20-minute stop.

This is how Elite teaches supply and demand too: through lived examples (remember masks during 2020?) that stick far longer than a chart on a whiteboard.

What Happens in Three Hours? More Than You Think.

Short days work because waste is gone. With a 1:10 ratio, teachers spot confusion immediately, re-teach in real time, and let kids tangentially explore when curiosity strikes then connect it back to the lesson. Vocabulary gets defined on the spot. Students practice critical thinking by proposing their own methods to reach outcomes.

“Kids love learning. They just don’t love being ignored,” Tasha says. “Give them voice and choice, and they’ll often propose a better plan than we had.”

Depth beats breadth here. One parent put it perfectly:“I’d rather my child master five things deeply than skim seventeen and forget them next week.”

What Big Systems Can Learn from Microschools

• Measure what matters. De-emphasize letter grades that crush confidence; emphasize mastery, reflection, and transfer.

• Honor neurodiversity. Normalize movement, alternative seating, and multimodal tools as standard practice not “accommodations.”

• Leverage community experts. Let practitioners teach what they do best. Kids read authenticity a mile away.

• Protect belonging. When students feel loved, safe, and respected, they arrive ready to learn. Culture isn’t soft it’s infrastructure.

Where Elite Performance Is Headed

Tasha’s vision is simple and bold:confident, well-boundaried, emotionally healthy young people who can communicate, collaborate, and create value, whether they become entrepreneurs, artists, tradespeople, or surgeons.

She wants parents empowered with real choices, teachers celebrated for their craft, and a country where “good school” doesn’t automatically mean “big school.”

“At the end of the day,” she says, “I care less about your lesson plan than how a child feels when they walk out the door; loved, capable, and safe. When that’s true, the learning takes care of itself.”

Learn More / Get Connected

• School: Elite Performance Prep Academy

• Model: Microschool learning centers (drop-off), online & hybrid options

• Focus: Core academics, entrepreneurship, life skills, character

• Footprint: Multiple U.S. locations + students in ~11 states

Curious if the model fits your family (or want to bring a center to your city)? Reach out to Elite Performance Prep Academy to explore in-person, online, or hybrid options.