Have you sorted out the logistics of your pod yet?

[Anonymous]

We haven't even tried to arrange anything yet. The only thing that would even make sense for us would be a kid or two in the same class as ours. I don't want to manage multiple kids' Zoom schedules, etc. I think ultimately, however, we will just try to find one or two other families who are pretty isolated and try to create a bubble that allows us to set up some playdates. I don't want to supervise other people's kids school work, and I don't want to blow a giant hole in our social distancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3 friends/classmates of my 5th grade dd + dd. We will rotate houses, Tu-F. When it’s your day you figure out how to oversee the kids. A couple of dual working parents who will either take turns with the spouse (so each spouse gets one day every 2 weeks) or have a sitter/nanny available that day. A couple of SAH parents. As far as I know some families will have different pods for their other kids. In any case they won’t be included in this one.

We’ve known the families and kids for years and don’t anticipate any problems with the possible exception of needing to shuffle days around, which everyone is prepared for. The hours will be per the school bell schedule.

I would not agree to anything more complicated than this arrangement, including different age groups or kids we don’t know well.

THIS MAXIMIZES YOUR EXPOSURE AND IS WHY PODS ARE A BAD IDEA.

Apologies for shouting, but this is the example of what not to do: rotating locations rapidly, rotating caregivers rapidly, AND overlapping pods. It's the worst possible pod situation.

Right. It is way way riskier than a licensed learning center/daycare-run pod where parents have minimal/no contact at pickup, they are in the same space with the same kids that is cleaned daily, and there are only two teachers per room (who are background checked, too).

This is dangerous. Stop trying to be the "in crowd" by podding up. It's too risky, too many variables.

What would you have working parents do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We haven't even tried to arrange anything yet. The only thing that would even make sense for us would be a kid or two in the same class as ours. I don't want to manage multiple kids' Zoom schedules, etc. I think ultimately, however, we will just try to find one or two other families who are pretty isolated and try to create a bubble that allows us to set up some playdates. I don't want to supervise other people's kids school work, and I don't want to blow a giant hole in our social distancing.

Same. I think a lot of people jumped into pods because everyone else was and they had FOMO -- what if we're in the only ones not in a POD?!? Only after did they start to think about the logistics of it - what if the kids aren't in the same class? Or what if they are different reading/math groups and have different assignments? What about siblings -- are they in different pods? How will we manage so many different schedules?

I might pod with one or two others if I know them and they are in the same class. I don't want to manage a lot of other kids. My kids seem to do better than others with DL, so I will get frustrated managing kids who can't handle it as well.

[Anonymous]

You couldn’t pay me to pod. A bad play date that never ends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We haven't even tried to arrange anything yet. The only thing that would even make sense for us would be a kid or two in the same class as ours. I don't want to manage multiple kids' Zoom schedules, etc. I think ultimately, however, we will just try to find one or two other families who are pretty isolated and try to create a bubble that allows us to set up some playdates. I don't want to supervise other people's kids school work, and I don't want to blow a giant hole in our social distancing.

Same. I think a lot of people jumped into pods because everyone else was and they had FOMO -- what if we're in the only ones not in a POD?!? Only after did they start to think about the logistics of it - what if the kids aren't in the same class? Or what if they are different reading/math groups and have different assignments? What about siblings -- are they in different pods? How will we manage so many different schedules?

I might pod with one or two others if I know them and they are in the same class. I don't want to manage a lot of other kids. My kids seem to do better than others with DL, so I will get frustrated managing kids who can't handle it as well.

According to some of the school threads, they are now pressuring the schools to assign kids in the same pod to the same class. (And, apparently, the schools are telling them to shove it, albeit more politely than that.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like these pods are going to just increase community spread like crazy. They closed schools for a reason folks.

There’s a difference between limiting a potential outbreak to a group of 4 kids and their families and having a classroom outbreak, or spread around on a bus containing kids from many different classrooms.

The big rallying cry in many districts was to protect the teachers. Pods achieve that.

This is a dire situation where parents need to work while kids need to engage in learning. By all means, make suggestions that allow that to happen while avoiding live school AND small private arrangements/ pods. We’ll wait.

Data is now coming out that kids are just as susceptible to this virus than adults. One of the main reasons that kids were spared this spring was...wait for it...they closed schools. Now that camps and schools opened, look at the data. Rising sickness AND deaths. I'm not saying kids are as likely to die as grandparents, but they are seeing more deaths and we don't know the long term effects.

Look, I know this is hard. But saying school closures only protect teachers is outdated data. I get that it's hard to work and oversee school but the stakes are too high with this virus for my family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like these pods are going to just increase community spread like crazy. They closed schools for a reason folks.

There’s a difference between limiting a potential outbreak to a group of 4 kids and their families and having a classroom outbreak, or spread around on a bus containing kids from many different classrooms.

The big rallying cry in many districts was to protect the teachers. Pods achieve that.

This is a dire situation where parents need to work while kids need to engage in learning. By all means, make suggestions that allow that to happen while avoiding live school AND small private arrangements/ pods. We’ll wait.

Data is now coming out that kids are just as susceptible to this virus than adults. One of the main reasons that kids were spared this spring was...wait for it...they closed schools. Now that camps and schools opened, look at the data. Rising sickness AND deaths. I'm not saying kids are as likely to die as grandparents, but they are seeing more deaths and we don't know the long term effects.

Look, I know this is hard. But saying school closures only protect teachers is outdated data. I get that it's hard to work and oversee school but the stakes are too high with this virus for my family.

Do you have a link for that? I've seen the studies talking about viral load, but that doesn't correspond to seriousness of the illness or even necessarily transmissibility (though, it probably is at least correlated with the latter). And I've seen the various conflicting studies on contact tracing that can't seem to decide how prevalent transmissions are to/from children.

But I haven't seen anything suggesting kids are significantly more likely to get seriously ill than we previously thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We haven't even tried to arrange anything yet. The only thing that would even make sense for us would be a kid or two in the same class as ours. I don't want to manage multiple kids' Zoom schedules, etc. I think ultimately, however, we will just try to find one or two other families who are pretty isolated and try to create a bubble that allows us to set up some playdates. I don't want to supervise other people's kids school work, and I don't want to blow a giant hole in our social distancing.

Same. I think a lot of people jumped into pods because everyone else was and they had FOMO -- what if we're in the only ones not in a POD?!? Only after did they start to think about the logistics of it - what if the kids aren't in the same class? Or what if they are different reading/math groups and have different assignments? What about siblings -- are they in different pods? How will we manage so many different schedules?

I might pod with one or two others if I know them and they are in the same class. I don't want to manage a lot of other kids. My kids seem to do better than others with DL, so I will get frustrated managing kids who can't handle it as well.

According to some of the school threads, they are now pressuring the schools to assign kids in the same pod to the same class. (And, apparently, the schools are telling them to shove it, albeit more politely than that.)

Our school is doing the opposite. They have a special request form for pod families to request classes. I wouldn't touch a pod with a ten foot pole, but I can appreciate that the school is trying to work with people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You couldn’t pay me to pod. A bad play date that never ends.

Yeah I have to agree with this. And what happens when one kid has a sniffle, etc? That said, we are doing a program run by our after school provider a few days a week. If the only alternative were being home I might consider it..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We haven't even tried to arrange anything yet. The only thing that would even make sense for us would be a kid or two in the same class as ours. I don't want to manage multiple kids' Zoom schedules, etc. I think ultimately, however, we will just try to find one or two other families who are pretty isolated and try to create a bubble that allows us to set up some playdates. I don't want to supervise other people's kids school work, and I don't want to blow a giant hole in our social distancing.

Same. I think a lot of people jumped into pods because everyone else was and they had FOMO -- what if we're in the only ones not in a POD?!? Only after did they start to think about the logistics of it - what if the kids aren't in the same class? Or what if they are different reading/math groups and have different assignments? What about siblings -- are they in different pods? How will we manage so many different schedules?

I might pod with one or two others if I know them and they are in the same class. I don't want to manage a lot of other kids. My kids seem to do better than others with DL, so I will get frustrated managing kids who can't handle it as well.

According to some of the school threads, they are now pressuring the schools to assign kids in the same pod to the same class. (And, apparently, the schools are telling them to shove it, albeit more politely than that.)

Understandable. Teachers meet to split the grade level. They actively work to split up the discipline issues, so no class is uncontrollable. They have to keep certain kids separated due to repeated behavior/bullying issues. Some schools allow parents to request certain teachers if an older sibling had them and love them; most schools do NOT allow parents to require a certain teacher. Some schools will allow a parent with previous issues with a specific teacher to ask that younger children not be put into that teacher’s class.

If you then throw in that multiple pods want their kids to be in the same class? No. Make your pod AFTER class lists go out, or realize that you’re taking your chances on different teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3 friends/classmates of my 5th grade dd + dd. We will rotate houses, Tu-F. When it’s your day you figure out how to oversee the kids. A couple of dual working parents who will either take turns with the spouse (so each spouse gets one day every 2 weeks) or have a sitter/nanny available that day. A couple of SAH parents. As far as I know some families will have different pods for their other kids. In any case they won’t be included in this one.

We’ve known the families and kids for years and don’t anticipate any problems with the possible exception of needing to shuffle days around, which everyone is prepared for. The hours will be per the school bell schedule.

I would not agree to anything more complicated than this arrangement, including different age groups or kids we don’t know well.

THIS MAXIMIZES YOUR EXPOSURE AND IS WHY PODS ARE A BAD IDEA.

Apologies for shouting, but this is the example of what not to do: rotating locations rapidly, rotating caregivers rapidly, AND overlapping pods. It's the worst possible pod situation.

Yeah, no shit man.

But what are families with two working parents supposed to do???

I mean honestly, tell us what we should do. Should it just be expected that one parent will quite their job to manage this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like these pods are going to just increase community spread like crazy. They closed schools for a reason folks.

So what are parents with two working parents and young kids supposed to do?

Should it just be expected that one of them quite their jobs, possibly have to sell their house to manager kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We haven't even tried to arrange anything yet. The only thing that would even make sense for us would be a kid or two in the same class as ours. I don't want to manage multiple kids' Zoom schedules, etc. I think ultimately, however, we will just try to find one or two other families who are pretty isolated and try to create a bubble that allows us to set up some playdates. I don't want to supervise other people's kids school work, and I don't want to blow a giant hole in our social distancing.

Same. I think a lot of people jumped into pods because everyone else was and they had FOMO -- what if we're in the only ones not in a POD?!? Only after did they start to think about the logistics of it - what if the kids aren't in the same class? Or what if they are different reading/math groups and have different assignments? What about siblings -- are they in different pods? How will we manage so many different schedules?

I might pod with one or two others if I know them and they are in the same class. I don't want to manage a lot of other kids. My kids seem to do better than others with DL, so I will get frustrated managing kids who can't handle it as well.

According to some of the school threads, they are now pressuring the schools to assign kids in the same pod to the same class. (And, apparently, the schools are telling them to shove it, albeit more politely than that.)

Our school is doing the opposite. They have a special request form for pod families to request classes. I wouldn't touch a pod with a ten foot pole, but I can appreciate that the school is trying to work with people.

If and when the kids are back in brick-and-mortar, that’s going to ostracize the other kids who weren’t in pods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like these pods are going to just increase community spread like crazy. They closed schools for a reason folks.

There’s a difference between limiting a potential outbreak to a group of 4 kids and their families and having a classroom outbreak, or spread around on a bus containing kids from many different classrooms.

The big rallying cry in many districts was to protect the teachers. Pods achieve that.

This is a dire situation where parents need to work while kids need to engage in learning. By all means, make suggestions that allow that to happen while avoiding live school AND small private arrangements/ pods. We’ll wait.

Data is now coming out that kids are just as susceptible to this virus than adults. One of the main reasons that kids were spared this spring was...wait for it...they closed schools. Now that camps and schools opened, look at the data. Rising sickness AND deaths. I'm not saying kids are as likely to die as grandparents, but they are seeing more deaths and we don't know the long term effects.

Look, I know this is hard. But saying school closures only protect teachers is outdated data. I get that it's hard to work and oversee school but the stakes are too high with this virus for my family.

Please show the “data” that proves this.

I saw those headlines too, but the “data” behind them are weak at best

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like these pods are going to just increase community spread like crazy. They closed schools for a reason folks.

So what are parents with two working parents and young kids supposed to do?

Should it just be expected that one of them quite their jobs, possibly have to sell their house to manager kindergarten?

K-2 can be taught in a few hours before and after a parent works, weekends as needed.