Meet the Advisors
We believe the support needed in raising a teenager is just as important as it was when they were a newborn. Our advisors are here to support your family and provide a second set of eyes and ears for you and your student when you sign-up for the Advisory or Unlimited Membership. We have chosen three of our own teachers at Trellis, who also happen to be parents with a wide array of experiences in education and homeschooling. This is not counseling or tutoring but instead a way to support a student’s educational goals and be a sounding board.
Trina Jaconi Biery
trina@tellislearning.org
Trina is a former public school teacher. She taught fourth, fifth, and second grades at the elementary level, as well as high school English. She was an English major at UCLA, with a minor in French, has an expired multi-subject teaching credential, a certificate in professional baking, and an ADHD diagnosis. Trina wrote a food blog for years, loves plants and words and learning and exploring.
“People always say, “Oh that’s why you can homeschool! You are a teacher!” But I think the opposite is true. It was a lot of work to overcome my teacher instincts and trust my own children to take charge of their own learning”.
“I strongly believe that kids know how to learn if we get out of their way, pay attention, and offer support when they need or want it. I am delighted that Trellis is giving me the opportunity to offer that support to your kids too”.
Trina has experience with charter schools for elementary, middle school, and high school. Her family was with Blue Ridge for five years. She loves learning differences.
“One of my children is on the autism spectrum. The challenge to understand how an individual thinks and learns motivates me as a teacher and advisor. Our family is currently navigating the college application process with our oldest son, and I hope I get to put all this new knowledge to further use!”
While Trina appreciated the accountability and funding that the charter school provided, her families real school was the whole city. She is good at helping students find the opportunities and resources to support their interests and unique learning paths, whether that’s a new class at Trellis or a volunteer opportunity or a community college class or a book to read, but most likely all of those things, and more that “I will learn from paying attention to these unique students”.
Michele McCole Moss
michele@trellislearning.org
Michele has been an unschooling mom for 20 years. Her children’s younger days were filled with trips to the Aquarium of the Pacific, Legoland, and the Natural History Museum. They were always capped off with reading aloud together. Michele is a big believer in children exploring their interests and having fun while learning. For her own children, this has meant family campaigns in D&D, bagpipe lessons, and passing along her cooking and baking knowledge. She also puts this practice into her English, grammar, and writing classes at Trellis and into coaching archery in the Lower Arroyo. Play is a big part of how she teaches. In the past, Michele has worked as a writer of cartoons, an editor of city guides, and an online content writer for restaurant, spa, and movie reviews. She has a BFA in Writing from the USC School of Cinema and a BA in English Literature from USC.
Michele loves helping kids find their passions and explore them thoroughly whether it is recommending the perfect book or encouraging them to take a class or assist them in research.
Lindsey Nelson
lindsey@trellislearning.org
Lindsey has independently homeschooled her three children through their entire educational journey to date, filing her first private school affidavit (PSA) in 2012. Through the experience of homeschooling her children, Lindsey has discovered firsthand the joy of connection-centered education and the liberation of interest-driven learning. Lindsey’s parenting approach, homeschooling philosophy and community involvement are rooted in a belief in honoring a child’s agency and innate desire to learn; that learning is a natural outcome of having access to the tools and time to engage in their passions.
In her years of homeschooling and engagement with the local community of home educators, Lindsey has observed time and again that it is entirely possible to have a connected, satisfying, enriching, self-directed approach to learning without closing pathways to major life goals and milestones.
As a Trellis advisor, Lindsey will be able to support independent homeschooling families in filing a private school affidavit (PSA) and crafting a holistic learning plan that centers the interests of the learner. She can mentor students in identifying their goals and accessing resources to achieve them, aligning their interests with a unique pathway toward success. Additionally, Lindsey can offer insights into collating a non-traditional learning path into a transcript that communicates the accomplishments of a learner’s unique experiences as well as providing letters of recommendation as needed.
Lindsey holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in costume design from a small liberal arts college and is an avid maker, learner, traveler and DIY enthusiast. Her greatest passion is homeschooling her children. Her enthusiasm for nurturing families with respect and empathy led her to become an accredited La Leche League Leader in 2011 and an Attached At The Heart certified parent educator in 2013. She was thrilled to become a part of the Trellis community, both as a teacher and a parent, and looks forward to working with families to make homeschooling a wonderful experience.