May 5, 2025 • 43 mins
What if you could transform your child's education into a personalized adventure based on their unique interests? Join us as we chat with Treece Davis, a devoted homeschooling mother of eight, who shares her remarkable homeschooling journey of 32 years. Get ready to explore the vibrant world of unit studies, a method Treece has mastered to turn her children's passions into immersive learning experiences. Don't miss this chance to be inspired by Treece's journey and learn how to create a nurturing and dynamic learning environment tailored to your family.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Janae Daniels (00:00):
Hello, my friends, and welcome back.
I am very excited today to have the author
of Living Homeschool Create a Learning
Environment tailored to you and your
children, which is so good today.
This is Treece Davis.
She is the mother of eight children.
She's been homeschooling y'all for 32 years
and the last one is about to graduate after
(00:22):
32 years, and she hails from my beloved,
blessed home state of Texas.
So, therese, thank you so much for coming
on today, thanks for having me, and it's so
fun to talk to an original homeschooler,
like where you fought for the laws and, you
know, did it without a million curriculums
(00:43):
and just trying to figure things out.
So, so thank you for for being the giants
that we can stand on your shoulders.
So thank you Okay.
So first, what made you decide to start
homeschooling, especially back in the day
when it was not a thing yet?
Trece Davis (01:00):
Right, Uh, I grew up in Wisconsin and never
had heard of it ever actually and we moved
to Virginia shortly.
Right around the time we got married and we
started going to a church that the kids
were so interactive with their parents and
(01:26):
extremely well-behaved and we babysat for
some of them and we started realizing these
kids are like top notch.
What is the difference?
And there we found out oh, we homeschool
lots and lots of homeschoolers in that
church.
So, yeah, we observed and we said we want
this, Whatever they're doing, that's how we
(01:49):
want to raise our kids.
Janae Daniels (01:51):
Wow.
So then, how old was your oldest at the
time?
Trece Davis (01:58):
Oh, that was right, as we got married so we
didn't even have kids yet.
And then one of those couples gave us a
book that was very instrumental what the
Bible says about child training, and I was
like I didn't even know.
The Bible said anything about child
training, you know.
So we read that kind of as like our first
(02:19):
parenting anything, but mostly it was just
watching these families how they interacted
with their kids, how the kids really
respected their parents, but also how the
parents genuinely viewed their kids as
whole people and not just an annoyance or
whatever.
We just we really appreciated the value
(02:40):
that they put on their kids and they really
listened to them.
So, yeah, so we had no kids at that time.
And then by the time we started
homeschooling we had moved to Texas so I
didn't have any of them around anymore, but
we did connect with a brand new homeschool
(03:01):
group in the town we moved to, and so then
I started learning from all of these, you
know, seasoned homeschoolers Whoa, she's
got a middle school child.
How did she do it?
You know, and just started observing,
listening to their conversations.
I can remember, honestly, one of the early
(03:24):
meetings the ladies were all sitting around
talking about what do you use for phonics?
What do you use for phonics?
And they thankfully didn't ask me, because
I didn't even know what phonics was.
I thought to myself I don't know what
they're talking about, I just know I need
to teach my kid how to read somehow.
So that's where I was, at Ground zero, knew
absolutely nothing.
Janae Daniels (03:46):
Okay, so you meet with these moms.
They talk about phonics Like how did you
start?
Like what resources did you use?
What, what did you do?
Trece Davis (03:58):
Well, again, I'm not sure I recommend this,
but I just started with all right.
I know we can start with just simple words
like three letter words, and I just started
going through the alphabet.
What word starts with the letter B and
maybe has an A in the middle and then has a
(04:18):
different consonant at the end?
So I just said, bad bat, you know all these
different.
It was a very organic way of learning
myself and I think in that whole process I
was learning to understand our language.
I was the one receiving the education.
So incrementally I taught my son how to
(04:40):
sound those words out and that by the time
our second one came around, I discovered a
wonderful set of readers that did the exact
same thing and I thought, okay, I can trust
this.
You know, I understand it now.
So that's really what we did then.
From that point on, they would have little
(05:01):
sample words and then little stories that
use those words, and it really was just a
matter of giving their brains a little time
to be exposed to those things and very
naturally they learned it all at different
rates.
Like you said, we have eight kids.
(05:21):
Some were ready for those readers at age
four and some were struggling at age seven.
You know they're all different, boys versus
girls as well, but also just different
giftings.
And so there was a point early on where my
husband heard another little boy reading
(05:44):
fluently and he was five and he's like
Therese, why isn't our son reading like
that?
And I said he's not ready yet.
He's not ready, you don't have to worry,
you don't need to compare, and that's
something I would still say to parents
whose kids are maybe five or six,
especially parents of boys.
(06:04):
Their brains need to be ready and that's
not something you can rush.
It's just going to cause a lot of
frustration and anxiety and there's no need.
You know they will eventually get it.
So, learning to, you know, just continually
expose them to a variety of things, but not
having these expectations.
(06:25):
Oh, they're in kindergarten, they should be
reading blah, blah, blah, you know.
Janae Daniels (06:29):
Yeah Well, and I think I think that's
valuable, especially now we have the
research out of that that pushing academics
too early is detrimental in the long run.
And yet I still see on Facebook pages like
yesterday a young mom had a two-year-old
and she's like, oh, what curriculum should
I get for my two-year-old?
Trece Davis (06:49):
I'm like read to them, read and let them
play Exactly, and I think there's a lot of,
I think, sometimes pressure that people put
on themselves, probably because, oh, what
are my in-laws going to say?
Or are they going to think I'm failing
their grandchild or neighbors or whoever.
(07:12):
Oh, my kid is doing X, y, z.
But we really do need to appreciate where
they're at and just take them step by step
and, as you said, when they're very young,
I mean putting that kind of pressure on
them really young is just not healthy.
If a child is showing readiness, you will
know and you'll see that right.
(07:34):
Because I was really concerned when my
four-year-old was like wanting to read and
I thought, oh, we can't be doing this, this
is not good for her.
But she was, she was doing it on her own.
I said, yeah, and she's always been that
way, just like a, a brilliant kid.
So I'm like, well, it'd be wrong to hold
her back too.
So you just kind of have to gauge it with
(07:54):
each one.
Janae Daniels (07:56):
But yeah, it's true.
It's true Because I look at with my six
kids.
They are all so different and whereas I
have one child that, like, understands math
and has had a mathematical brain forever,
reading came a little bit later, whereas
other children reading came a lot earlier,
and but when they were developmentally
ready for each thing, they they showed it.
(08:18):
You know, like you could see that Right.
Trece Davis (08:21):
Most of them went through public school at
the beginning, but so relaxing and not
putting that kind of pressure on about how
your homeschooling morphed over the years,
(08:49):
because I just find this super fascinating
and really really cool and your approach
really cool, oh sure.
So again back in 1993 when we started,
there were only like three curriculums out
in the market and I looked at those.
I know it's hard to believe.
(09:10):
Today there's hundreds now 7,600.
Janae Daniels (09:15):
Somebody counted?
Trece Davis (09:17):
Wow, that's amazing.
That is amazing.
So, yes, at that time it was very limited
and they were very traditional, and I
looked at each one and I said I can't do
this.
I feel like it's strangling me.
It just felt so artificial and I felt like
(09:38):
it was sort of um, um I I'm trying to find
the right word sort of like an insult to my
intelligence.
They'd say, okay, now take a breath, now
say this sentence.
And I'm like I can't do that, I can't live
like that.
And so I started sharing my frustration
(09:59):
with a friend who, you know, was the leader
of this little group, and she said well,
why don't you create your own?
I said can you do that?
He said, absolutely, yeah, right, well, are
we allowed?
And so she told me about this book, how to
Create your Own Unit Study, by Valerie Bent,
and I read that and I said this is me, this
(10:23):
fits me exactly, this is exactly what I
wanted to do.
And so I started looking at other.
I mean, I had never even heard of unit
studies actually.
So, basically, I started looking at some
samples of little let's say, a unit study
on ancient Rome, let's say, for example.
And I looked through it and I said, well,
well, there's a lot of busy work in there.
(10:44):
They were trying to cover all the different
subjects, um, government and literature and
all of that.
And I said, I think I get the idea, but I
think I'd rather do it with the books I
choose.
And so we started going to the library and
finding, let's say, looking up for a
(11:04):
specific book that was maybe recommended in
a homeschool catalog, and I would maybe
find one or two of those titles, but
they're on the shelf for 20 more that I
just.
I said, well, these all look really good,
so I would check them all out, bring them
home, look through them and then just glean
from them what I wanted to use.
(11:28):
So we would make it as multisensory as
possible.
I had learned from, I think from that
Valerie Bent book, that the more senses you
involve, the more retainable the
information will be, so therefore, the
longer that they'll remember it.
(11:49):
And I thought, okay, that's a good thing,
right.
So I'm like, well, we could, let's say
we're doing ancient Rome.
We could make some of the food that they
would prepare.
We could don some togas, you know, take a
flat bed sheet and the kids would put a
(12:11):
little olive wreath on their head, and I'm
Socrates, I'm Aristotle.
You know, they were really fun.
Actually, I think that's ancient Greek.
Sorry but they had a lot of fun dressing up
like them, and then we would try to do
different field trips.
Let's say we were learning about the
ancient aqueducts.
(12:31):
Well then we would go to, let's say, a
modern day water treatment plant and try to
see how things have changed over the years.
We would study their artwork.
We would try to replicate whether it's
mosaics or frescoes or weaving or anything.
We tried to really do a lot of multisensory
(12:52):
activities we would.
Certainly the most important thing we did
was read living history books, books, which
is basically books that are fictional but
are set in a time period where you feel
like you're living there and you immerse
(13:12):
yourself in all of the different things
that are going on.
Another thing we would do is listen to the
music or read the plays or poetry that was
popular from that culture.
Um, we would always spend some time trying
to understand their either mathematical
(13:33):
contributions or scientific discoveries,
and so it was.
It really encompassed all the different
subjects and I felt like at the end of a
unit each unit was a semester long At the
end of that semester, we had deep dived and
immersed ourselves so much that our kids
(13:55):
really got it.
It wasn't what I really was trying to avoid
was oh, you know the textbook.
You dip in, you learn three things and you
move on.
I didn't want it to be that way.
I really wanted them to experience it, and
so I I.
I feel that we really did that.
We all really lived it, whether it was the
(14:17):
ancient Mayan culture or Canada, or African
countries, antarctica We've just been all
over the world with our studies.
Some years we do more of like a world tour
where we'll do one month we'll be in
Australia, one month we'll be in Japan, one
(14:39):
month the Middle East, that kind of thing,
russia, india we've done all of those.
And what I love about that is our kids grow
to have an appreciation for different
cultures because they're going to come
across all of these cultures and different
(15:00):
people that they meet.
Now you know they live on our street, we're
at the grocery store with them, and I just
really wanted my kids to have a heart for
people who may not be exactly like them but
are still enough.
(15:21):
They're humans and they're enough to
appreciate and become friends with, and I
just really wanted my kids to appreciate
the beauty in every culture.
Janae Daniels (15:27):
I love that.
So, whereas I've heard some people use like
they'll choose a topic such as like
butterflies or springtime and then use that
as the springboard into their unit studies,
what was your main area of topic that you'd
use as your springboards?
Trece Davis (15:49):
Uh, history for sure.
Um, we started out doing those kinds of say
okay, unit study on horses or unit study on
dinosaurs or big machinery.
Um, one day our oldest son said, mom, I
really want to learn about presidents.
I'm like, really Okay.
Okay, not sure I'm ever going to hear
(16:11):
somebody else ever say that, but great.
So to this day he's 37.
He loves biographies of different
presidents.
I don't know.
He was like seven when he told me that.
So we built our whole 1800s curriculum
around the presidents and that was kind of
like the structure from where we, where we
began and launched each each decade.
(16:35):
I had another son who was crazy about
penguins, and still is to this day.
So we spent a unit learning about
Antarctica and incorporated the love of
penguins into that.
So everyone in the family, from pre-K up to
10th grade, we're all learning that one
unit of whatever history or culture that
(16:57):
we're studying, of course at different
levels of difficulty.
I had another son who said, mom, I'm just
crazy about planets and outer space.
And I said, okay, that fits in perfect with
an ancient Mesopotamian, because the
Babylonians and Assyrians were really
incredibly wise about astronomy and of
(17:20):
course, the ancient Greeks were too.
So we fit that into those studies.
So I tried to key in on their interests,
definitely.
And then I just got more and more
comfortable, I think, with saying, okay,
how about we study ancient China?
We did that one for an entire year because
it's so huge.
Janae Daniels (17:41):
As you say, it's a long history and a lot
of land, and it's so colorful, it's so huge.
As you say, it's a long history and a lot
of land.
Trece Davis (17:46):
And it's so colorful, it's so fascinating.
So, within that year, okay, well, this
daughter over here is really into making
paper.
Well, the ancient Chinese invented paper,
perfect.
Yeah, so that was a phenomenal way to tie
in and kind of connect her interest.
(18:11):
Some of the kids are really into animals
and you know different ages.
Okay, well, that fit in perfect.
With Every single study we've done, you're
studying Australia.
Think of the unique animals that are only
found in Australia the kiwi bird or the
kangaroo or the.
There's a lot of, actually koala, a lot of
(18:32):
K animals in Australia we came to find out.
So, trying to kind of find their interests.
Like one daughter, huge into fashion, loves
fashion interests.
Like one daughter, huge into fashion, loves
fashion.
When we studied the 1900s, she wanted to do
a book where she would dress up in a
particular decades clothing and she found
(18:54):
all of the accessories hats, umbrellas,
shoes.
Did her hair that way?
Because if you think about, let's say, 1905,
america was still in the victorian age
where it was full length dresses, black,
big hats.
You showed no skin, basically.
Then you look at the 1920s and we've got
(19:16):
the flappers, the jazz age, where hair is
cut short.
You show a lot of skin for those days, you
know, sleeveless shirts, short dresses, and
so she had a lot of fun with that.
So trying to key in on their interests
within a unit helped a lot, but I also
wanted them to learn all the other things
(19:36):
that they might not have necessarily been
gravitating to to begin with, just for a
general knowledge type of thing.
Janae Daniels (19:44):
I love it.
Do you know, you bring up something
interesting with your daughter and, going
through the decades, my degree was in
costume design and I had to study clothing
history and that's how they did it.
They started with one time period and we'd
have to research it and research it, and
then we'd have to design, you know,
clothing based on it, and then, when we
went into the makeup, um, we'd have to,
(20:06):
we'd be given you know, a time period and
we'd have to study the pictures and the
paintings and the history behind it and
then recreate the makeup.
So what you did which which is what you did
with your daughter as college level work
you know like, because that's what what I
did in college to learn you know how to do
costume design, and that I mean that,
granted, that was like three classes of
(20:27):
costume design, but still I appreciate you
sharing that.
Trece Davis (20:31):
I've never had anybody tell me that before
but it was a fabulous project that she
totally took ownership of Um and we I still
show that book when I I mean speaking in um,
like homeschool groups and everybody's like
that's a fun idea.
So you know, just try to stay open mainly
(20:51):
to what your kids are interested in and
expand that and help them to develop it.
Janae Daniels (20:56):
Um, yeah, what were some of the challenges
over the years?
Um, as they were getting older and going
into high school, what did you find as as
some of the challenges over the years, as
they were getting older and going into high
school?
What did you find as some of the bigger
challenges?
Trece Davis (21:08):
Well, there's always I think it's less so
much the academic as it is.
I'm one mom and I've got eight kids.
For me it was time eight kids For me it was
(21:29):
time and I really made a big effort to be a
mom first and a teacher second, or a guide
or a mentor, whatever you want to call
yourself, because I don't think I was
teaching them so much as I was exposing
them to where what they could learn.
But yeah, here I've got one going to
driving us to his college orientation and
I've got a newborn in an infant seat in
(21:52):
right behind him.
This feels a little surreal.
All three of us went to his college
orientation that day, so trying to meet the
needs of them at all of the different
levels.
I will say, before we started homeschooling,
I broke down one day crying, saying I'm
(22:15):
going to have to teach high school
chemistry.
One day I was really afraid and having a
meltdown and my husband said you know what?
When we get to that you'll know what to do,
but you're only in kindergarten right now.
Let's not worry about that now.
And he was right.
By the time we got to the high school years,
I had a wonderful set of um science to be
(22:39):
taught from.
Uh, the book itself like teaching textbooks
or apologia that contained all the
information.
I didn't need to know as much as oversee it
and watch them kind of take ownership of it,
and a lot of it was explained in the text
(22:59):
itself.
So I would say that was a.
It's a common fear.
I think.
A lot of people are like how am I going to
do high school?
I remember barely making it through high
school or I didn't complete high school.
Some people will say how can I teach high
school?
There's loads and loads of co-ops, loads
and loads of online programs people can
(23:22):
take Absolutely, and what we have found to
be a wonderful help is starting in 11th
grade.
Our kids take dual enrollment classes at
our local community college and that just
completely takes it off my shoulders.
That has been wonderful because then
they're earning college credits at the same
(23:44):
time as taking their 11th and 12th grade
years.
So they ended that, they've already got
their transcript, the school has made the
transcript for them and then they transfer
to four-year college.
So all eight of our kids have either
already finished college the first six have
finished college and had, and the last two
are in it currently, but had little little,
(24:05):
to no help from me at all.
So I felt like that was a really amazing
thing.
I remember thinking my husband was like,
well, let's, it's time for our oldest to
apply for college.
I said, well, he'll never get in.
And he was like, well, I think we should at
least try.
And so we applied and sure enough, he got
(24:29):
in.
And they were like we'll help pay for lots
of this.
And we were just like amazed.
I was amazed.
My husband was like well, of course he can
go through college.
He's a bright kid.
He's done well so far.
And what I learned when they started
college?
I was so encouraged that all of these years
(24:52):
of, I guess, just building discipline in
their lives I never really thought of it at
all.
But they became responsible.
They were in charge of when they had to
turn in their homework, when they had to
write their paper.
It was incremental and maybe that's why I
never really put it together.
(25:12):
But by the time they started college and
went in college, all of their fellow
students were like not even attending class,
let alone turning in assignments or papers,
and they were failing.
And I'm like, wow, my sons, my daughters,
they're all getting A's.
And I'm like.
I mean they're not like Albert Einstein,
(25:34):
but they were being diligent to do their
work because they'd never known anything
different.
You know, of course I'm going to do it.
So I was really encouraged that
homeschooling, I think, really taught them
that self-discipline and responsibility.
Janae Daniels (25:52):
I found that my daughter, who's 17 and
she's a junior, is doing concurrent
enrollment.
She took last year off and then, as a
freshman, she did concurrent enrollment.
She took last year off and then, as a
freshman, she did concurrent enrollment,
and I was.
I was really really worried about that
because we pulled her in the, you know, in
sixth, just finishing sixth grade, and that
was during the pandemic and you know all
(26:12):
the things that I thought, oh, how she,
how's she going to do this?
I mean, all we've had was the last couple
of years with me, and yet she, she just
took.
She's like, oh yeah, I've got this
assignment, I've got to get it done.
She was pretty funny because she was like,
wait a minute, if I do exactly what the
teacher says and jump through all of their
hoops, I get an, a yes.
(26:35):
And she's like, okay, I don't love that,
but you know, and here she is finishing up
the semester and that's like we have a, so,
but.
But I was surprised at how she just took,
you know, had the, took the responsibility
and she's like, oh yeah, I've got this
assignment to do.
I didn't have to ask her Exactly.
Trece Davis (26:55):
They take ownership?
Janae Daniels (26:56):
Yeah, yes, they sure do.
And she rose to the occasion with her peers,
realizing that there was a couple of people
in her classes that were older than me, and
she's like, oh okay, I and they're treating
me as their equal, so I need to rise to the
occasion.
That's beautiful.
That blew me away.
Trece Davis (27:13):
So she was ready.
She was mature and ready to handle that.
And I think they do.
They do generally speaking, and I think, as
they go along, I mean I've had different
ones saying why do I need to take an
English class?
I can already know English.
Like it's just sort of basic.
Like you know, got to write papers, you'll
(27:35):
be doing it all your life.
And now they're like oh yeah, obviously
that was very, very basic class, but they
kind of some of them kind of put up a
little bit of a fight about it initially,
but yeah, they grow into it, I think so.
Janae Daniels (27:51):
I remember telling my mom when I was 14,
she would do cooking schools during the
summertime and I'd have to help.
I was like when am I ever going to use this
stuff?
Trece Davis (28:02):
Like every day.
Janae Daniels (28:05):
Three times a day?
That's adulting.
What are you going to eat for the rest of
your life?
Three times a day?
That's adulting.
What are you going to eat for the rest of
your life?
So let's talk about living homeschool.
Well, actually, before we go into living
homeschool, what are your kids doing now?
Trece Davis (28:19):
Okay, yeah, our oldest is a senior
statistician with Amazon Wow.
Our second is a designer with Apple out in
San Francisco.
He's like Mom, I can't believe I get paid
to do what I do.
He was my kid that I was really worried
about.
Okay, I was like he doesn't love math, he
(28:44):
doesn't really enjoy reading, all he wants
to do is computer stuff.
I think this is bad for him, you know, and
I was like really worried.
No, that's the way he's wired.
I mean, that kid was always like that and
he's got a great personality and I think he
just kind of wove his way into people's
(29:04):
hearts and they trained him and taught him.
Of course, he got a college degree as well,
but he also said, yeah, a lot of what I've
learned.
I've learned on the job.
It's not so much my degree, but it gave me
credibility.
But he is the most creative person and I
think they see that and obviously they see
that.
(29:24):
So, yeah, so he's at Apple.
Our third son is a fire protection engineer
down in Houston and our fourth is a
daughter.
Our first daughter is a communications
specialist out in Maryland.
Our fifth is computer science here in the
Dallas area.
(29:46):
Our sixth is an ER nurse in Phoenix.
Our sixth is an ER nurse in Phoenix and the
last two, probably number seven is probably
going to be mechanical engineering.
He's kind of deciding his major right now
brilliant mathematician, but he's like,
yeah, there's not a lot of money in that,
so he's probably going to go into
(30:06):
engineering.
And our eighth, our last, is computer
science, for sure.
Janae Daniels (30:11):
Very cool, very cool.
Let's talk about living homeschool, which
y'all.
This is such a good book.
I think the story behind how it was
developed is super cool and fascinating and
actually inspired me, because I'm like,
okay, I'm going to start journaling better,
so can you share how you developed the
(30:33):
living homeschool?
Trece Davis (30:34):
book.
Sure, my daughter, I've never wanted to
write a book, never even considered it,
never thought of it.
My daughter-in-law had, let's see, they had
a, I think, a three-year-old and a
one-year-old at the time and she said
Therese, how did you homeschool?
Because she actually was raised being
homeschooled as well.
She says my mom did it differently than you.
(30:55):
We used textbooks pretty much.
And she says but Josiah keeps telling me
how you homeschooled and that sounds so
cool, how did you do it?
So I sort of explained it to her and she
says I like that, could you write that out
for me?
And I said, sure.
(31:17):
So I just kind of gave her a little example
of, let's say, an ancient Egypt study, and
so I gave it to her.
She read it.
It was maybe five pages worth or something,
and she said now, I get it, I love this.
I said, okay, great, so you good to go
right.
And she's like, no, I need more examples, I
(31:40):
need more details.
Could you do that same kind of thing with
every one of the civilizations and cultures
you've studied?
I said, whoa, okay, that's going to take
some time.
So I went back through my journals and it
took me.
I would only work on it in the month of
June, because that was the only month I had
where I could completely lose myself in it
and I would just go through all my journals
(32:01):
at that time was 25 years worth and look at
all the books we read and all the
activities we did.
And it took me six years, but by the end of
it I had written this book and I could see
by that point, you know, maybe more than
just my daughter-in-law could benefit from
(32:22):
this.
And so, yeah, then we had a friend who did
self-publishing and my other son helped me
design the cover, and so it just kind of
came together.
Another friend who's a phenomenal editor.
So God provided lots of help for me and
here I am.
I love it Okay.
Janae Daniels (32:44):
So one question that I've heard a lot and
this has been a hard question that I've not
been able to answer because when we started
homeschooling my kids, my youngest was four,
turning five, and then I had two adult kids
who had gone through public school and so I
had, you know, teenagers and then an
elementary and one about to go into
elementary.
But I hear often from young moms with
(33:05):
littles, like how do you do it?
How do you balance moms with littles?
Like, how do you do it?
How do you balance With eight kids?
What would you do, especially when you had
a baby in tow or several babies at once?
What would you?
Trece Davis (33:20):
do Right.
Well, one thing that really helped us was
that we were all studying the same things,
so we were all thinking about the same
thing and our lunch conversations we'd be
discussing hey, what did you learn today?
Hey, this is what I found out, and it was
very, very exciting and very invigorating.
(33:44):
So they were all kind of on the same page,
understanding the older ones would often
work independently, always work
independently.
Um, I'd say, hey, these are the books, go
tell me what you can find from those the
very youngest, of course I wasn't doing as
much like the baby and the three-year-old,
Um, and then I would be working one-on-one
with, let's say, the five-year-old, the
(34:07):
nine-year-old, the 10-year-old, 12, you
know that range and so then I would have
one of them take turns playing with the
three-year-old.
Could you go in the next room and read them
some books while I help this child kind of
thing with math.
So we would do a lot of that where they I
(34:29):
always had helpers who I could call in, so
they would do it kind of like in shifts.
I would say for moms, let's say they've
only got two, one's a five-year-old and
one's a two-year-old let's say, and you're
really wanting to work on reading with that
five-year-old or something a little more
brain intensive.
Keeping that two-year-old occupied is
(34:53):
always a challenge.
The one and two-year-olds they're busy,
they don't understand what's going on and
you know you're their mommy.
So I always try to fill their tanks first,
attention wise, read them some stories and
then set them at a little chair next to us
with some snacks and some stickers and some
(35:13):
watercolors or Play-Doh or whatever, and
then we'd maybe have a 20 minute window
where we could work with the five-year-old
kind of thing.
So I mean, it got increasingly easier for
me as my kids got older because they could
help me with that two and you and three
year old.
I always say that the two year old is the
variable in every equation.
(35:34):
If they're having an awful day, you're
going to have an awful day If they're
teething or they're tired or they're sick.
Be a mom and meet their needs and try to
you know, make up for it when they're
napping.
And one day is not going to be the end of
the world if you have to have a wash day,
kind of thing.
(35:59):
But yeah, it's a balancing, juggling act a
lot of days.
And I think the biggest thing that I would
say is homeschooling is not so much about
the academics, it's a lifestyle, it's
compassion.
Schooling is not so much about the
academics, it's a lifestyle and it's
compassion.
And your kids are watching and they're,
they're imitating everything I do.
So I was really wanting to be, wanting to
(36:20):
be, but often failing wanting to be a
patient, listening person in their lives,
because I I wanted that to be part of who
they are.
So just kind of stepping back from like a
lot of the pressures of oh, we've got to
get through this today and just saying you
know, we're going to live today and that's
(36:42):
why my book Living Homeschool I didn't want
it to be something artificial, I didn't
want it to be something dead, I wanted it
to be life-giving.
I love that and truly, where we're
breathing in and breathing out, breathing
in the story, breathing back.
(37:05):
What did we learn?
It's really that simple.
Let's read a book together and you tell me
what you got out of it and then write about
it.
I mean it really it, it, it's.
It can be very simple and but I wanted it
to be genuine learning.
So, yeah, that's kind of how we did it with
the, the littles.
I love it.
Janae Daniels (37:20):
Now, as far as like with math, would you
ever go through curriculums with them or
would you stick to?
Okay, we're doing this unit study on Greece,
and so we're gonna, you know, study
Pythagoras.
Trece Davis (37:33):
Yeah Right, Um oh, we always had a separate
math curriculum in addition to the unit
study.
Yeah, cause I, there's just so many skills
that I wanted them to learn incrementally.
So, yeah, we, we definitely used umPress
were the workbooks we we love.
It's published by Key Curriculum.
(37:54):
They also have a very dynamic called
Interactive Math Program IMP or IMP for
short for the high school years.
I absolutely love because it was story form,
is built off of real life examples.
I loved it but, um, I kind of ran out of
time to do it because by the time I was
(38:18):
there in high school, you know, um, I had
so many other kids that were under.
So then we began more independent math work
when they got to that age level.
Yeah, so we definitely, we definitely still
had a math curriculum and starting in fifth
grade we'd also have a science curriculum
and my, our favorite, was lyrical life
(38:38):
science, and that again fifth through
seventh grade.
There are these topics that they put to
music really well done, very comical, but
helps to remember it when you sing the
little song over and over and over again.
And lots of you know stuff that they can
(39:00):
investigate and deep dive into.
Very cool, yeah.
So math and science we had additional, but
it also I didn't feel so worried about it
because I was also touching on it within
the unit studies as well.
Janae Daniels (39:15):
Yeah, and I love what I've, as you shared
about the unit studies that I've been
reading in your book with the.
So, for those of you listening, in the back
of the book she gives examples with all the
different individual subjects and
historical unit study examples, which are
so great.
But I love how integrated it is, where we
(39:39):
get to see in real time like, oh, this is
how it all fit together, this is how the
science and the math and the art all
created this culture, you know, and added
to it.
Trece Davis (39:50):
I think laying that context it helps them
to understand it exactly as you said, to
understand where they were in the human
history and to appreciate the incredible
things that they were able to figure out
without calculators, you know.
Janae Daniels (40:12):
I also think we'd die If everything went
down.
Trece Davis (40:15):
We're in trouble, yeah without the internet,
without AI.
They figured it out with their own brains.
So that's really.
It develops a beautiful appreciation for
what was discovered and how now we build
off of that today and advance it far, much
(40:36):
farther.
I love it.
Janae Daniels (40:38):
What would you give?
Last bit of advice that you'd give to
homeschooling moms, especially newer
homeschooling moms who've just pulled their
kids, whether teenagers, elementary, middle
school.
What would you tell them?
Trece Davis (40:53):
The most valuable thing is your time with
them.
It's not the academics, it's helping them
to become healthy human beings and giving
them that security, that unconditional love.
That security, that unconditional love that
you know as a parent, you love them more
than anyone else, you have more invested
(41:19):
than anyone else and you care more than
anyone else that they are going to succeed.
So you've got a lot of natural motivation
already.
So I'd say, trust the fact that you're
going to be learning right alongside of
them.
In fact, I am certain I was the primary
student.
It was not my kids, I was the one learning.
I was finally getting an education.
(41:39):
So yeah, just develop your relationship and
all the other stuff will fall into place.
Janae Daniels (41:46):
I love it.
Therese, thank you so much for coming on
today.
The book is Living Homeschool Create a
Learning Environment tailored to you and
your children.
I'll have a link to it in the show notes if
you're interested in picking that up,
therese.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your
time with us today.
Trece Davis (42:06):
Mamas and Papas.
Janae Daniels (42:07):
Oh, it is my.
It is an honor and pleasure to have you.
So, Mamas and Papas, Grandmas and Grandpas,
you are doing so much better than you think
you are and you got this.
We'll talk next week.
Hello, my friends, and welcome back.
I am very excited today to have the author
of Living Homeschool Create a Learning
Environment tailored to you and your
children, which is so good today.
This is Treece Davis.
She is the mother of eight children.
She's been homeschooling y'all for 32 years
and the last one is about to graduate after
(00:22):
32 years, and she hails from my beloved,
blessed home state of Texas.
So, therese, thank you so much for coming
on today, thanks for having me, and it's so
fun to talk to an original homeschooler,
like where you fought for the laws and, you
know, did it without a million curriculums
(00:43):
and just trying to figure things out.
So, so thank you for for being the giants
that we can stand on your shoulders.
So thank you Okay.
So first, what made you decide to start
homeschooling, especially back in the day
when it was not a thing yet?
Trece Davis (01:00):
Right, Uh, I grew up in Wisconsin and never
had heard of it ever actually and we moved
to Virginia shortly.
Right around the time we got married and we
started going to a church that the kids
were so interactive with their parents and
(01:26):
extremely well-behaved and we babysat for
some of them and we started realizing these
kids are like top notch.
What is the difference?
And there we found out oh, we homeschool
lots and lots of homeschoolers in that
church.
So, yeah, we observed and we said we want
this, Whatever they're doing, that's how we
(01:49):
want to raise our kids.
Janae Daniels (01:51):
Wow.
So then, how old was your oldest at the
time?
Trece Davis (01:58):
Oh, that was right, as we got married so we
didn't even have kids yet.
And then one of those couples gave us a
book that was very instrumental what the
Bible says about child training, and I was
like I didn't even know.
The Bible said anything about child
training, you know.
So we read that kind of as like our first
(02:19):
parenting anything, but mostly it was just
watching these families how they interacted
with their kids, how the kids really
respected their parents, but also how the
parents genuinely viewed their kids as
whole people and not just an annoyance or
whatever.
We just we really appreciated the value
(02:40):
that they put on their kids and they really
listened to them.
So, yeah, so we had no kids at that time.
And then by the time we started
homeschooling we had moved to Texas so I
didn't have any of them around anymore, but
we did connect with a brand new homeschool
(03:01):
group in the town we moved to, and so then
I started learning from all of these, you
know, seasoned homeschoolers Whoa, she's
got a middle school child.
How did she do it?
You know, and just started observing,
listening to their conversations.
I can remember, honestly, one of the early
(03:24):
meetings the ladies were all sitting around
talking about what do you use for phonics?
What do you use for phonics?
And they thankfully didn't ask me, because
I didn't even know what phonics was.
I thought to myself I don't know what
they're talking about, I just know I need
to teach my kid how to read somehow.
So that's where I was, at Ground zero, knew
absolutely nothing.
Janae Daniels (03:46):
Okay, so you meet with these moms.
They talk about phonics Like how did you
start?
Like what resources did you use?
What, what did you do?
Trece Davis (03:58):
Well, again, I'm not sure I recommend this,
but I just started with all right.
I know we can start with just simple words
like three letter words, and I just started
going through the alphabet.
What word starts with the letter B and
maybe has an A in the middle and then has a
(04:18):
different consonant at the end?
So I just said, bad bat, you know all these
different.
It was a very organic way of learning
myself and I think in that whole process I
was learning to understand our language.
I was the one receiving the education.
So incrementally I taught my son how to
(04:40):
sound those words out and that by the time
our second one came around, I discovered a
wonderful set of readers that did the exact
same thing and I thought, okay, I can trust
this.
You know, I understand it now.
So that's really what we did then.
From that point on, they would have little
(05:01):
sample words and then little stories that
use those words, and it really was just a
matter of giving their brains a little time
to be exposed to those things and very
naturally they learned it all at different
rates.
Like you said, we have eight kids.
(05:21):
Some were ready for those readers at age
four and some were struggling at age seven.
You know they're all different, boys versus
girls as well, but also just different
giftings.
And so there was a point early on where my
husband heard another little boy reading
(05:44):
fluently and he was five and he's like
Therese, why isn't our son reading like
that?
And I said he's not ready yet.
He's not ready, you don't have to worry,
you don't need to compare, and that's
something I would still say to parents
whose kids are maybe five or six,
especially parents of boys.
(06:04):
Their brains need to be ready and that's
not something you can rush.
It's just going to cause a lot of
frustration and anxiety and there's no need.
You know they will eventually get it.
So, learning to, you know, just continually
expose them to a variety of things, but not
having these expectations.
(06:25):
Oh, they're in kindergarten, they should be
reading blah, blah, blah, you know.
Janae Daniels (06:29):
Yeah Well, and I think I think that's
valuable, especially now we have the
research out of that that pushing academics
too early is detrimental in the long run.
And yet I still see on Facebook pages like
yesterday a young mom had a two-year-old
and she's like, oh, what curriculum should
I get for my two-year-old?
Trece Davis (06:49):
I'm like read to them, read and let them
play Exactly, and I think there's a lot of,
I think, sometimes pressure that people put
on themselves, probably because, oh, what
are my in-laws going to say?
Or are they going to think I'm failing
their grandchild or neighbors or whoever.
(07:12):
Oh, my kid is doing X, y, z.
But we really do need to appreciate where
they're at and just take them step by step
and, as you said, when they're very young,
I mean putting that kind of pressure on
them really young is just not healthy.
If a child is showing readiness, you will
know and you'll see that right.
(07:34):
Because I was really concerned when my
four-year-old was like wanting to read and
I thought, oh, we can't be doing this, this
is not good for her.
But she was, she was doing it on her own.
I said, yeah, and she's always been that
way, just like a, a brilliant kid.
So I'm like, well, it'd be wrong to hold
her back too.
So you just kind of have to gauge it with
(07:54):
each one.
Janae Daniels (07:56):
But yeah, it's true.
It's true Because I look at with my six
kids.
They are all so different and whereas I
have one child that, like, understands math
and has had a mathematical brain forever,
reading came a little bit later, whereas
other children reading came a lot earlier,
and but when they were developmentally
ready for each thing, they they showed it.
(08:18):
You know, like you could see that Right.
Trece Davis (08:21):
Most of them went through public school at
the beginning, but so relaxing and not
putting that kind of pressure on about how
your homeschooling morphed over the years,
(08:49):
because I just find this super fascinating
and really really cool and your approach
really cool, oh sure.
So again back in 1993 when we started,
there were only like three curriculums out
in the market and I looked at those.
I know it's hard to believe.
(09:10):
Today there's hundreds now 7,600.
Janae Daniels (09:15):
Somebody counted?
Trece Davis (09:17):
Wow, that's amazing.
That is amazing.
So, yes, at that time it was very limited
and they were very traditional, and I
looked at each one and I said I can't do
this.
I feel like it's strangling me.
It just felt so artificial and I felt like
(09:38):
it was sort of um, um I I'm trying to find
the right word sort of like an insult to my
intelligence.
They'd say, okay, now take a breath, now
say this sentence.
And I'm like I can't do that, I can't live
like that.
And so I started sharing my frustration
(09:59):
with a friend who, you know, was the leader
of this little group, and she said well,
why don't you create your own?
I said can you do that?
He said, absolutely, yeah, right, well, are
we allowed?
And so she told me about this book, how to
Create your Own Unit Study, by Valerie Bent,
and I read that and I said this is me, this
(10:23):
fits me exactly, this is exactly what I
wanted to do.
And so I started looking at other.
I mean, I had never even heard of unit
studies actually.
So, basically, I started looking at some
samples of little let's say, a unit study
on ancient Rome, let's say, for example.
And I looked through it and I said, well,
well, there's a lot of busy work in there.
(10:44):
They were trying to cover all the different
subjects, um, government and literature and
all of that.
And I said, I think I get the idea, but I
think I'd rather do it with the books I
choose.
And so we started going to the library and
finding, let's say, looking up for a
(11:04):
specific book that was maybe recommended in
a homeschool catalog, and I would maybe
find one or two of those titles, but
they're on the shelf for 20 more that I
just.
I said, well, these all look really good,
so I would check them all out, bring them
home, look through them and then just glean
from them what I wanted to use.
(11:28):
So we would make it as multisensory as
possible.
I had learned from, I think from that
Valerie Bent book, that the more senses you
involve, the more retainable the
information will be, so therefore, the
longer that they'll remember it.
(11:49):
And I thought, okay, that's a good thing,
right.
So I'm like, well, we could, let's say
we're doing ancient Rome.
We could make some of the food that they
would prepare.
We could don some togas, you know, take a
flat bed sheet and the kids would put a
(12:11):
little olive wreath on their head, and I'm
Socrates, I'm Aristotle.
You know, they were really fun.
Actually, I think that's ancient Greek.
Sorry but they had a lot of fun dressing up
like them, and then we would try to do
different field trips.
Let's say we were learning about the
ancient aqueducts.
(12:31):
Well then we would go to, let's say, a
modern day water treatment plant and try to
see how things have changed over the years.
We would study their artwork.
We would try to replicate whether it's
mosaics or frescoes or weaving or anything.
We tried to really do a lot of multisensory
(12:52):
activities we would.
Certainly the most important thing we did
was read living history books, books, which
is basically books that are fictional but
are set in a time period where you feel
like you're living there and you immerse
(13:12):
yourself in all of the different things
that are going on.
Another thing we would do is listen to the
music or read the plays or poetry that was
popular from that culture.
Um, we would always spend some time trying
to understand their either mathematical
(13:33):
contributions or scientific discoveries,
and so it was.
It really encompassed all the different
subjects and I felt like at the end of a
unit each unit was a semester long At the
end of that semester, we had deep dived and
immersed ourselves so much that our kids
(13:55):
really got it.
It wasn't what I really was trying to avoid
was oh, you know the textbook.
You dip in, you learn three things and you
move on.
I didn't want it to be that way.
I really wanted them to experience it, and
so I I.
I feel that we really did that.
We all really lived it, whether it was the
(14:17):
ancient Mayan culture or Canada, or African
countries, antarctica We've just been all
over the world with our studies.
Some years we do more of like a world tour
where we'll do one month we'll be in
Australia, one month we'll be in Japan, one
(14:39):
month the Middle East, that kind of thing,
russia, india we've done all of those.
And what I love about that is our kids grow
to have an appreciation for different
cultures because they're going to come
across all of these cultures and different
(15:00):
people that they meet.
Now you know they live on our street, we're
at the grocery store with them, and I just
really wanted my kids to have a heart for
people who may not be exactly like them but
are still enough.
(15:21):
They're humans and they're enough to
appreciate and become friends with, and I
just really wanted my kids to appreciate
the beauty in every culture.
Janae Daniels (15:27):
I love that.
So, whereas I've heard some people use like
they'll choose a topic such as like
butterflies or springtime and then use that
as the springboard into their unit studies,
what was your main area of topic that you'd
use as your springboards?
Trece Davis (15:49):
Uh, history for sure.
Um, we started out doing those kinds of say
okay, unit study on horses or unit study on
dinosaurs or big machinery.
Um, one day our oldest son said, mom, I
really want to learn about presidents.
I'm like, really Okay.
Okay, not sure I'm ever going to hear
(16:11):
somebody else ever say that, but great.
So to this day he's 37.
He loves biographies of different
presidents.
I don't know.
He was like seven when he told me that.
So we built our whole 1800s curriculum
around the presidents and that was kind of
like the structure from where we, where we
began and launched each each decade.
(16:35):
I had another son who was crazy about
penguins, and still is to this day.
So we spent a unit learning about
Antarctica and incorporated the love of
penguins into that.
So everyone in the family, from pre-K up to
10th grade, we're all learning that one
unit of whatever history or culture that
(16:57):
we're studying, of course at different
levels of difficulty.
I had another son who said, mom, I'm just
crazy about planets and outer space.
And I said, okay, that fits in perfect with
an ancient Mesopotamian, because the
Babylonians and Assyrians were really
incredibly wise about astronomy and of
(17:20):
course, the ancient Greeks were too.
So we fit that into those studies.
So I tried to key in on their interests,
definitely.
And then I just got more and more
comfortable, I think, with saying, okay,
how about we study ancient China?
We did that one for an entire year because
it's so huge.
Janae Daniels (17:41):
As you say, it's a long history and a lot
of land, and it's so colorful, it's so huge.
As you say, it's a long history and a lot
of land.
Trece Davis (17:46):
And it's so colorful, it's so fascinating.
So, within that year, okay, well, this
daughter over here is really into making
paper.
Well, the ancient Chinese invented paper,
perfect.
Yeah, so that was a phenomenal way to tie
in and kind of connect her interest.
(18:11):
Some of the kids are really into animals
and you know different ages.
Okay, well, that fit in perfect.
With Every single study we've done, you're
studying Australia.
Think of the unique animals that are only
found in Australia the kiwi bird or the
kangaroo or the.
There's a lot of, actually koala, a lot of
(18:32):
K animals in Australia we came to find out.
So, trying to kind of find their interests.
Like one daughter, huge into fashion, loves
fashion interests.
Like one daughter, huge into fashion, loves
fashion.
When we studied the 1900s, she wanted to do
a book where she would dress up in a
particular decades clothing and she found
(18:54):
all of the accessories hats, umbrellas,
shoes.
Did her hair that way?
Because if you think about, let's say, 1905,
america was still in the victorian age
where it was full length dresses, black,
big hats.
You showed no skin, basically.
Then you look at the 1920s and we've got
(19:16):
the flappers, the jazz age, where hair is
cut short.
You show a lot of skin for those days, you
know, sleeveless shirts, short dresses, and
so she had a lot of fun with that.
So trying to key in on their interests
within a unit helped a lot, but I also
wanted them to learn all the other things
(19:36):
that they might not have necessarily been
gravitating to to begin with, just for a
general knowledge type of thing.
Janae Daniels (19:44):
I love it.
Do you know, you bring up something
interesting with your daughter and, going
through the decades, my degree was in
costume design and I had to study clothing
history and that's how they did it.
They started with one time period and we'd
have to research it and research it, and
then we'd have to design, you know,
clothing based on it, and then, when we
went into the makeup, um, we'd have to,
(20:06):
we'd be given you know, a time period and
we'd have to study the pictures and the
paintings and the history behind it and
then recreate the makeup.
So what you did which which is what you did
with your daughter as college level work
you know like, because that's what what I
did in college to learn you know how to do
costume design, and that I mean that,
granted, that was like three classes of
(20:27):
costume design, but still I appreciate you
sharing that.
Trece Davis (20:31):
I've never had anybody tell me that before
but it was a fabulous project that she
totally took ownership of Um and we I still
show that book when I I mean speaking in um,
like homeschool groups and everybody's like
that's a fun idea.
So you know, just try to stay open mainly
(20:51):
to what your kids are interested in and
expand that and help them to develop it.
Janae Daniels (20:56):
Um, yeah, what were some of the challenges
over the years?
Um, as they were getting older and going
into high school, what did you find as as
some of the challenges over the years, as
they were getting older and going into high
school?
What did you find as some of the bigger
challenges?
Trece Davis (21:08):
Well, there's always I think it's less so
much the academic as it is.
I'm one mom and I've got eight kids.
For me it was time eight kids For me it was
(21:29):
time and I really made a big effort to be a
mom first and a teacher second, or a guide
or a mentor, whatever you want to call
yourself, because I don't think I was
teaching them so much as I was exposing
them to where what they could learn.
But yeah, here I've got one going to
driving us to his college orientation and
I've got a newborn in an infant seat in
(21:52):
right behind him.
This feels a little surreal.
All three of us went to his college
orientation that day, so trying to meet the
needs of them at all of the different
levels.
I will say, before we started homeschooling,
I broke down one day crying, saying I'm
(22:15):
going to have to teach high school
chemistry.
One day I was really afraid and having a
meltdown and my husband said you know what?
When we get to that you'll know what to do,
but you're only in kindergarten right now.
Let's not worry about that now.
And he was right.
By the time we got to the high school years,
I had a wonderful set of um science to be
(22:39):
taught from.
Uh, the book itself like teaching textbooks
or apologia that contained all the
information.
I didn't need to know as much as oversee it
and watch them kind of take ownership of it,
and a lot of it was explained in the text
(22:59):
itself.
So I would say that was a.
It's a common fear.
I think.
A lot of people are like how am I going to
do high school?
I remember barely making it through high
school or I didn't complete high school.
Some people will say how can I teach high
school?
There's loads and loads of co-ops, loads
and loads of online programs people can
(23:22):
take Absolutely, and what we have found to
be a wonderful help is starting in 11th
grade.
Our kids take dual enrollment classes at
our local community college and that just
completely takes it off my shoulders.
That has been wonderful because then
they're earning college credits at the same
(23:44):
time as taking their 11th and 12th grade
years.
So they ended that, they've already got
their transcript, the school has made the
transcript for them and then they transfer
to four-year college.
So all eight of our kids have either
already finished college the first six have
finished college and had, and the last two
are in it currently, but had little little,
(24:05):
to no help from me at all.
So I felt like that was a really amazing
thing.
I remember thinking my husband was like,
well, let's, it's time for our oldest to
apply for college.
I said, well, he'll never get in.
And he was like, well, I think we should at
least try.
And so we applied and sure enough, he got
(24:29):
in.
And they were like we'll help pay for lots
of this.
And we were just like amazed.
I was amazed.
My husband was like well, of course he can
go through college.
He's a bright kid.
He's done well so far.
And what I learned when they started
college?
I was so encouraged that all of these years
(24:52):
of, I guess, just building discipline in
their lives I never really thought of it at
all.
But they became responsible.
They were in charge of when they had to
turn in their homework, when they had to
write their paper.
It was incremental and maybe that's why I
never really put it together.
(25:12):
But by the time they started college and
went in college, all of their fellow
students were like not even attending class,
let alone turning in assignments or papers,
and they were failing.
And I'm like, wow, my sons, my daughters,
they're all getting A's.
And I'm like.
I mean they're not like Albert Einstein,
(25:34):
but they were being diligent to do their
work because they'd never known anything
different.
You know, of course I'm going to do it.
So I was really encouraged that
homeschooling, I think, really taught them
that self-discipline and responsibility.
Janae Daniels (25:52):
I found that my daughter, who's 17 and
she's a junior, is doing concurrent
enrollment.
She took last year off and then, as a
freshman, she did concurrent enrollment.
She took last year off and then, as a
freshman, she did concurrent enrollment,
and I was.
I was really really worried about that
because we pulled her in the, you know, in
sixth, just finishing sixth grade, and that
was during the pandemic and you know all
(26:12):
the things that I thought, oh, how she,
how's she going to do this?
I mean, all we've had was the last couple
of years with me, and yet she, she just
took.
She's like, oh yeah, I've got this
assignment, I've got to get it done.
She was pretty funny because she was like,
wait a minute, if I do exactly what the
teacher says and jump through all of their
hoops, I get an, a yes.
(26:35):
And she's like, okay, I don't love that,
but you know, and here she is finishing up
the semester and that's like we have a, so,
but.
But I was surprised at how she just took,
you know, had the, took the responsibility
and she's like, oh yeah, I've got this
assignment to do.
I didn't have to ask her Exactly.
Trece Davis (26:55):
They take ownership?
Janae Daniels (26:56):
Yeah, yes, they sure do.
And she rose to the occasion with her peers,
realizing that there was a couple of people
in her classes that were older than me, and
she's like, oh okay, I and they're treating
me as their equal, so I need to rise to the
occasion.
That's beautiful.
That blew me away.
Trece Davis (27:13):
So she was ready.
She was mature and ready to handle that.
And I think they do.
They do generally speaking, and I think, as
they go along, I mean I've had different
ones saying why do I need to take an
English class?
I can already know English.
Like it's just sort of basic.
Like you know, got to write papers, you'll
(27:35):
be doing it all your life.
And now they're like oh yeah, obviously
that was very, very basic class, but they
kind of some of them kind of put up a
little bit of a fight about it initially,
but yeah, they grow into it, I think so.
Janae Daniels (27:51):
I remember telling my mom when I was 14,
she would do cooking schools during the
summertime and I'd have to help.
I was like when am I ever going to use this
stuff?
Trece Davis (28:02):
Like every day.
Janae Daniels (28:05):
Three times a day?
That's adulting.
What are you going to eat for the rest of
your life?
Three times a day?
That's adulting.
What are you going to eat for the rest of
your life?
So let's talk about living homeschool.
Well, actually, before we go into living
homeschool, what are your kids doing now?
Trece Davis (28:19):
Okay, yeah, our oldest is a senior
statistician with Amazon Wow.
Our second is a designer with Apple out in
San Francisco.
He's like Mom, I can't believe I get paid
to do what I do.
He was my kid that I was really worried
about.
Okay, I was like he doesn't love math, he
(28:44):
doesn't really enjoy reading, all he wants
to do is computer stuff.
I think this is bad for him, you know, and
I was like really worried.
No, that's the way he's wired.
I mean, that kid was always like that and
he's got a great personality and I think he
just kind of wove his way into people's
(29:04):
hearts and they trained him and taught him.
Of course, he got a college degree as well,
but he also said, yeah, a lot of what I've
learned.
I've learned on the job.
It's not so much my degree, but it gave me
credibility.
But he is the most creative person and I
think they see that and obviously they see
that.
(29:24):
So, yeah, so he's at Apple.
Our third son is a fire protection engineer
down in Houston and our fourth is a
daughter.
Our first daughter is a communications
specialist out in Maryland.
Our fifth is computer science here in the
Dallas area.
(29:46):
Our sixth is an ER nurse in Phoenix.
Our sixth is an ER nurse in Phoenix and the
last two, probably number seven is probably
going to be mechanical engineering.
He's kind of deciding his major right now
brilliant mathematician, but he's like,
yeah, there's not a lot of money in that,
so he's probably going to go into
(30:06):
engineering.
And our eighth, our last, is computer
science, for sure.
Janae Daniels (30:11):
Very cool, very cool.
Let's talk about living homeschool, which
y'all.
This is such a good book.
I think the story behind how it was
developed is super cool and fascinating and
actually inspired me, because I'm like,
okay, I'm going to start journaling better,
so can you share how you developed the
(30:33):
living homeschool?
Trece Davis (30:34):
book.
Sure, my daughter, I've never wanted to
write a book, never even considered it,
never thought of it.
My daughter-in-law had, let's see, they had
a, I think, a three-year-old and a
one-year-old at the time and she said
Therese, how did you homeschool?
Because she actually was raised being
homeschooled as well.
She says my mom did it differently than you.
(30:55):
We used textbooks pretty much.
And she says but Josiah keeps telling me
how you homeschooled and that sounds so
cool, how did you do it?
So I sort of explained it to her and she
says I like that, could you write that out
for me?
And I said, sure.
(31:17):
So I just kind of gave her a little example
of, let's say, an ancient Egypt study, and
so I gave it to her.
She read it.
It was maybe five pages worth or something,
and she said now, I get it, I love this.
I said, okay, great, so you good to go
right.
And she's like, no, I need more examples, I
(31:40):
need more details.
Could you do that same kind of thing with
every one of the civilizations and cultures
you've studied?
I said, whoa, okay, that's going to take
some time.
So I went back through my journals and it
took me.
I would only work on it in the month of
June, because that was the only month I had
where I could completely lose myself in it
and I would just go through all my journals
(32:01):
at that time was 25 years worth and look at
all the books we read and all the
activities we did.
And it took me six years, but by the end of
it I had written this book and I could see
by that point, you know, maybe more than
just my daughter-in-law could benefit from
(32:22):
this.
And so, yeah, then we had a friend who did
self-publishing and my other son helped me
design the cover, and so it just kind of
came together.
Another friend who's a phenomenal editor.
So God provided lots of help for me and
here I am.
I love it Okay.
Janae Daniels (32:44):
So one question that I've heard a lot and
this has been a hard question that I've not
been able to answer because when we started
homeschooling my kids, my youngest was four,
turning five, and then I had two adult kids
who had gone through public school and so I
had, you know, teenagers and then an
elementary and one about to go into
elementary.
But I hear often from young moms with
(33:05):
littles, like how do you do it?
How do you balance moms with littles?
Like, how do you do it?
How do you balance With eight kids?
What would you do, especially when you had
a baby in tow or several babies at once?
What would you?
Trece Davis (33:20):
do Right.
Well, one thing that really helped us was
that we were all studying the same things,
so we were all thinking about the same
thing and our lunch conversations we'd be
discussing hey, what did you learn today?
Hey, this is what I found out, and it was
very, very exciting and very invigorating.
(33:44):
So they were all kind of on the same page,
understanding the older ones would often
work independently, always work
independently.
Um, I'd say, hey, these are the books, go
tell me what you can find from those the
very youngest, of course I wasn't doing as
much like the baby and the three-year-old,
Um, and then I would be working one-on-one
with, let's say, the five-year-old, the
(34:07):
nine-year-old, the 10-year-old, 12, you
know that range and so then I would have
one of them take turns playing with the
three-year-old.
Could you go in the next room and read them
some books while I help this child kind of
thing with math.
So we would do a lot of that where they I
(34:29):
always had helpers who I could call in, so
they would do it kind of like in shifts.
I would say for moms, let's say they've
only got two, one's a five-year-old and
one's a two-year-old let's say, and you're
really wanting to work on reading with that
five-year-old or something a little more
brain intensive.
Keeping that two-year-old occupied is
(34:53):
always a challenge.
The one and two-year-olds they're busy,
they don't understand what's going on and
you know you're their mommy.
So I always try to fill their tanks first,
attention wise, read them some stories and
then set them at a little chair next to us
with some snacks and some stickers and some
(35:13):
watercolors or Play-Doh or whatever, and
then we'd maybe have a 20 minute window
where we could work with the five-year-old
kind of thing.
So I mean, it got increasingly easier for
me as my kids got older because they could
help me with that two and you and three
year old.
I always say that the two year old is the
variable in every equation.
(35:34):
If they're having an awful day, you're
going to have an awful day If they're
teething or they're tired or they're sick.
Be a mom and meet their needs and try to
you know, make up for it when they're
napping.
And one day is not going to be the end of
the world if you have to have a wash day,
kind of thing.
(35:59):
But yeah, it's a balancing, juggling act a
lot of days.
And I think the biggest thing that I would
say is homeschooling is not so much about
the academics, it's a lifestyle, it's
compassion.
Schooling is not so much about the
academics, it's a lifestyle and it's
compassion.
And your kids are watching and they're,
they're imitating everything I do.
So I was really wanting to be, wanting to
(36:20):
be, but often failing wanting to be a
patient, listening person in their lives,
because I I wanted that to be part of who
they are.
So just kind of stepping back from like a
lot of the pressures of oh, we've got to
get through this today and just saying you
know, we're going to live today and that's
(36:42):
why my book Living Homeschool I didn't want
it to be something artificial, I didn't
want it to be something dead, I wanted it
to be life-giving.
I love that and truly, where we're
breathing in and breathing out, breathing
in the story, breathing back.
(37:05):
What did we learn?
It's really that simple.
Let's read a book together and you tell me
what you got out of it and then write about
it.
I mean it really it, it, it's.
It can be very simple and but I wanted it
to be genuine learning.
So, yeah, that's kind of how we did it with
the, the littles.
I love it.
Janae Daniels (37:20):
Now, as far as like with math, would you
ever go through curriculums with them or
would you stick to?
Okay, we're doing this unit study on Greece,
and so we're gonna, you know, study
Pythagoras.
Trece Davis (37:33):
Yeah Right, Um oh, we always had a separate
math curriculum in addition to the unit
study.
Yeah, cause I, there's just so many skills
that I wanted them to learn incrementally.
So, yeah, we, we definitely used umPress
were the workbooks we we love.
It's published by Key Curriculum.
(37:54):
They also have a very dynamic called
Interactive Math Program IMP or IMP for
short for the high school years.
I absolutely love because it was story form,
is built off of real life examples.
I loved it but, um, I kind of ran out of
time to do it because by the time I was
(38:18):
there in high school, you know, um, I had
so many other kids that were under.
So then we began more independent math work
when they got to that age level.
Yeah, so we definitely, we definitely still
had a math curriculum and starting in fifth
grade we'd also have a science curriculum
and my, our favorite, was lyrical life
(38:38):
science, and that again fifth through
seventh grade.
There are these topics that they put to
music really well done, very comical, but
helps to remember it when you sing the
little song over and over and over again.
And lots of you know stuff that they can
(39:00):
investigate and deep dive into.
Very cool, yeah.
So math and science we had additional, but
it also I didn't feel so worried about it
because I was also touching on it within
the unit studies as well.
Janae Daniels (39:15):
Yeah, and I love what I've, as you shared
about the unit studies that I've been
reading in your book with the.
So, for those of you listening, in the back
of the book she gives examples with all the
different individual subjects and
historical unit study examples, which are
so great.
But I love how integrated it is, where we
(39:39):
get to see in real time like, oh, this is
how it all fit together, this is how the
science and the math and the art all
created this culture, you know, and added
to it.
Trece Davis (39:50):
I think laying that context it helps them
to understand it exactly as you said, to
understand where they were in the human
history and to appreciate the incredible
things that they were able to figure out
without calculators, you know.
Janae Daniels (40:12):
I also think we'd die If everything went
down.
Trece Davis (40:15):
We're in trouble, yeah without the internet,
without AI.
They figured it out with their own brains.
So that's really.
It develops a beautiful appreciation for
what was discovered and how now we build
off of that today and advance it far, much
(40:36):
farther.
I love it.
Janae Daniels (40:38):
What would you give?
Last bit of advice that you'd give to
homeschooling moms, especially newer
homeschooling moms who've just pulled their
kids, whether teenagers, elementary, middle
school.
What would you tell them?
Trece Davis (40:53):
The most valuable thing is your time with
them.
It's not the academics, it's helping them
to become healthy human beings and giving
them that security, that unconditional love.
That security, that unconditional love that
you know as a parent, you love them more
than anyone else, you have more invested
(41:19):
than anyone else and you care more than
anyone else that they are going to succeed.
So you've got a lot of natural motivation
already.
So I'd say, trust the fact that you're
going to be learning right alongside of
them.
In fact, I am certain I was the primary
student.
It was not my kids, I was the one learning.
I was finally getting an education.
(41:39):
So yeah, just develop your relationship and
all the other stuff will fall into place.
Janae Daniels (41:46):
I love it.
Therese, thank you so much for coming on
today.
The book is Living Homeschool Create a
Learning Environment tailored to you and
your children.
I'll have a link to it in the show notes if
you're interested in picking that up,
therese.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your
time with us today.
Trece Davis (42:06):
Mamas and Papas.
Janae Daniels (42:07):
Oh, it is my.
It is an honor and pleasure to have you.
So, Mamas and Papas, Grandmas and Grandpas,
you are doing so much better than you think
you are and you got this.
We'll talk next week.
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