Back when my daughters were young, I created a preschool and enrichment program to give them stimulating activities with a few other children. I developed the curriculum, trained the teacher, and hosted the program in my rec room. My girls LOVED the program and their academic skills were off the charts. I loved being able to set up the lesson plans to ensure that they were challenged and intrigued by their classes. By charging tuition to the 2-3 other families that joined the program, their contributions paid for the teacher and material expenses. It was a win-win situation for all of us.
Today, Bay Area families are scrambling to set up pandemic pods for their children to either enhance their school curriculum or to replace it. My consulting firm, Merit Educational Consultants, is helping parents set up their pandemic pods as coops (all parents contribute funds to pay for expenses), as independent programs (parents pay the hosting family to cover expenses), or as private schools (parents pay hosting family for program and/or work with Independent Studies programs for school credits.)
I’ve written a book that lays out exactly how to set up these programs and it comes complete with forms, policies, and tips. Check it out: The Millennial’s Guide to Free Child Care in Your Home. I have also written curriculum framework for all subjects starting at 18 months old to 12th grade; the high school courses are all UC A-G approved. DIY parents love customizing their family programs by utilizing the book and curriculum.
Creating a pandemic pod is similar to setting up in-home child care or starting a small homeschool. The only real difference is selecting families who share similar coronavirus safety protocols. You could imagine how this adds a new layer of complexity because there are still many unknowns about how this virus spreads and how to protect everyone.
Choosing students for your pandemic pod requires looking beyond the students themselves. You’ll need to evaluate how the family lives, who they socialize with, how they protect themselves, and most importantly, how honest they’ll be about their social interactions when not in the pod. In other words, you are interacting with everybody THEY interact with.
So if they don’t wear masks when stopping at the grocery store, it’s like you went with them to the store and didn’t wear your mask – and you may be exposing your family and the entire pod to the coronavirus. If one of the parents is having a sexual affair with someone out of the pod family group, you’re essentially in bed with their lover too. Get my drift? Now the big questions are can you trust them to tell you these private details about who they’re socializing with and can you operate your pandemic pod safely for your teacher and the students?
I’m helping families design their pandemic pods and vet students/families to find good matches. It’s best to keep pods to just 2-4 families. By doing the interviews and setting up policies as their consultant, it makes it easier for the families to discuss concerns about other family member’s activities and the overall safety of all parties. Is it worth it? We’ll see… For me back in the 90s (pre-pandemic,) it was the best decision I made for my girls, their education and their social lives.
Back when my daughters were young, I created a preschool and enrichment program to give them stimulating activities with a few other children. I developed the curriculum, trained the teacher, and hosted the program in my rec room. My girls LOVED the program and their academic skills were off the charts. I loved being able to set up the lesson plans to ensure that they were challenged and intrigued by their classes. By charging tuition to the 2-3 other families that joined the program, their contributions paid for the teacher and material expenses. It was a win-win situation for all of us.
Today, Bay Area families are scrambling to set up pandemic pods for their children to either enhance their school curriculum or to replace it. My consulting firm, Merit Educational Consultants, is helping parents set up their pandemic pods as coops (all parents contribute funds to pay for expenses), as independent programs (parents pay the hosting family to cover expenses), or as private schools (parents pay hosting family for program and/or work with Independent Studies programs for school credits.)
I’ve written a book that lays out exactly how to set up these programs and it comes complete with forms, policies, and tips. Check it out: The Millennial’s Guide to Free Child Care in Your Home. I have also written curriculum framework for all subjects starting at 18 months old to 12th grade; the high school courses are all UC A-G approved. DIY parents love customizing their family programs by utilizing the book and curriculum.
Creating a pandemic pod is similar to setting up in-home child care or starting a small homeschool. The only real difference is selecting families who share similar coronavirus safety protocols. You could imagine how this adds a new layer of complexity because there are still many unknowns about how this virus spreads and how to protect everyone.
Choosing students for your pandemic pod requires looking beyond the students themselves. You’ll need to evaluate how the family lives, who they socialize with, how they protect themselves, and most importantly, how honest they’ll be about their social interactions when not in the pod. In other words, you are interacting with everybody THEY interact with.
So if they don’t wear masks when stopping at the grocery store, it’s like you went with them to the store and didn’t wear your mask – and you may be exposing your family and the entire pod to the coronavirus. If one of the parents is having a sexual affair with someone out of the pod family group, you’re essentially in bed with their lover too. Get my drift? Now the big questions are can you trust them to tell you these private details about who they’re socializing with and can you operate your pandemic pod safely for your teacher and the students?
I’m helping families design their pandemic pods and vet students/families to find good matches. It’s best to keep pods to just 2-4 families. By doing the interviews and setting up policies as their consultant, it makes it easier for the families to discuss concerns about other family member’s activities and the overall safety of all parties. Is it worth it? We’ll see… For me back in the 90s (pre-pandemic,) it was the best decision I made for my girls, their education and their social lives.
While K-12 schools are playing tug of war as they make decisions about online or on campus classes this fall, “pandemic pods” or “learning hubs” are popping up in the Bay Area. These pandemic pods or learning hubs are in-person groups where a small number of students work with a teacher in small group settings.
Wealthy families band together to hire a teacher to work with their children to ensure that they get the academic instruction they need so they don’t lose momentum and they’ll be ready to move on next year. I’m setting up these pandemic pods for families as they prepare for the new school year. They pool their dollars to create classes for their children – usually reading, math and science. Wealthy families typically have the funds to make sure their children don’t slip through the cracks.
Low-income families, however, don’t usually have that luxury, which causes a socio-economic rift that continues to widen the gap between the haves and the have nots. But in San Francisco, the SF Dept of Children, Youth and their Families has created learning hubs for 6,000 low-income students. They have targeted students who don’t have computers, internet, or stay-at-home parents – the students who were left out of online zoom classes last spring. These 40 hubs are located walking distance from public housing, foster care, homeless youth, and others who need more support during the shelter-in-place and online classes. And all of these services are completely free to these students.
These learning hubs will operate out of the Parks and Rec Dept and other nonprofit organization sites. They’ll have computers and internet connections so they can participate in online classes, and they’ll also have teachers available to help them on site. These students will also have access to meals and snacks, exercise, and other students. The hubs will serve kindergarten through 6th grade students and they’ll be open Monday through Friday during school hours.
For families that aren’t wealthy or don’t have access to learning hubs, they can also create their pandemic pods and set up classes in their homes for FREE. The hosting families organize the pods by hiring their teachers, purchasing materials, and recruiting 2-4 students. The tuition that the other students pay will cover the teacher’s wages and materials. With a little planning and ingenuity, the hosting family benefits from these classes and they don’t need to be wealthy to do it. I’ve written a book that lays out all the steps to set this up. So the pandemic pods don’t have to be separate but unequal.