How many families are in pods?

[Anonymous]

At our immersion charter it’s not very many, I tried to find a pod and couldn’t for our kids. Now I have learned of a few, but it doesn’t look like many, despite much discussion.

I’m actually wondering if it’s working well for people? We are currently in scenario 1 posted above, with a part time nanny, but would have like to find scenario 2 for more education support. My husband thinks that probably the actual schoolwork part is not going to go well in the pods. That’s what I am waiting to see (home learning is going ok, but it’s clear the kids need more socialization).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many layers of equity. All around us families are podding up. My child is traditionally is included in the birthday parties, play dates , sports teams etc - but has a learning disability. We are not quite about it as naming it has provided power. "I am dyslexic - my brain works differently". I had reached out to some classmates parents and got the - we are not sure what we are doing responses. It is really isolating as the pod kids are all socializing not only through the school day - but also by default on the "pod" designation beyond that.

Imagine what its like for kids who don't have friends and the parents like you don't make an effort to be inclusive. That is their normal life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many layers of equity. All around us families are podding up. My child is traditionally is included in the birthday parties, play dates , sports teams etc - but has a learning disability. We are not quite about it as naming it has provided power. "I am dyslexic - my brain works differently". I had reached out to some classmates parents and got the - we are not sure what we are doing responses. It is really isolating as the pod kids are all socializing not only through the school day - but also by default on the "pod" designation beyond that.

Imagine what its like for kids who don't have friends and the parents like you don't make an effort to be inclusive. That is their normal life.

Are you hallucinating or projecting? There is nothing in PP's post to indicate that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were asked to pair up with three different families but declined because of high risk for covid. Afaik they haven't found partners. I think they wanted me because I have an easy going only child and am a former teacher with a flexible work schedule. They're all families of 3+ kids. Somehow they didn't want to pair up among themselves, maybe because six kids sounds like a lot.

Would it have been fair for you to have only 1 child in the pod, but on your days, you'd be watching 3+ children from another family? That seems quiet unbalanced. And as another poster said, if you're family already has 3+ children, why do you even need a pod?

[Anonymous]

I so envious that i can't find the pop families or have not been invited to be in pod. We are at title 1 school so very very few options for other families who are willing to pay. I know of a couple of informal pods just rotating between three houses but kids are all different grades and families all pod together socially. Podding is the new status symbol.

[Anonymous]

a group of 3 of us have been considering podding up our 3 1st graders, and sharing the supervision 3 days a week.

none of us really need it for childcare so we have been talking about it re: the socialization and the schoolwork, and all three of us are hesitant -- it just seems like a slight negative regarding their actual virtual learning. they may be distracted, have technical difficulties their parent cant just jump up and fix, parents cant push to make sure they are getting the most out of the work...we are all very interested in regular social hanging out, though.

another group in our grade *did* need the childcare help, so they set up a pod of 3 families with a very scheduled rotation of parents doing the monitoring. I'm not sure how the academics are impacted. My impression is that they are so grateful for the childcare help that they are willing to have a slightly sub-optimal learning experience. But maybe it is fine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a group of 3 of us have been considering podding up our 3 1st graders, and sharing the supervision 3 days a week.

none of us really need it for childcare so we have been talking about it re: the socialization and the schoolwork, and all three of us are hesitant -- it just seems like a slight negative regarding their actual virtual learning. they may be distracted, have technical difficulties their parent cant just jump up and fix, parents cant push to make sure they are getting the most out of the work...we are all very interested in regular social hanging out, though.

another group in our grade *did* need the childcare help, so they set up a pod of 3 families with a very scheduled rotation of parents doing the monitoring. I'm not sure how the academics are impacted. My impression is that they are so grateful for the childcare help that they are willing to have a slightly sub-optimal learning experience. But maybe it is fine!

I also know of many, many people in our neighborhood (Bloomingdale) who hired a teacher fo $5000/month to watch a pod of 5 kids and manage their learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As far as I can tell, it doesn't look like any kids in either of my kids' elementary school classes are doing pods. I guess it's possible that they are and each kid is in a separate space, but if so then what's the point. I understand pods where kids learn together, but I don't understand the benefit if they're going to be in separate spaces.

Because not everyone can work from home all day or be at home not working all day.

It's very hard for me to understand the lack of understand for true childcare needs around this forum.

PP you're quoting here. My apologies. I completely understand why someone might need support for childcare. I was thinking of a pod as a group of parents with kids in the same class hired an instructor to mimic a school setting but in a small group setting to get educational and social benefits, not really just childcare. It makes sense that other families might hire someone to supervise children from multiple families, and the children might be in separate rooms and even separate classes or even grades. I just wasn't thinking of that latter scenario as a pod.

[Anonymous]

Not podding up but sending DC to camp. There’s a bunch of all day camps now that look a lot like school except they’re in person. People are going to find all kinds of alternatives to schools this year I bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My PK4er is in a pod in Upper NW. He needed socialization.

Haha. Of course he did. Because most PK-4's don;t need socalization...SMH

F off. He was copying his older sibling’s behavior who is on the autism spectrum, so yes he needed it.

Don't feed the trolls. The poster decided to come into the forum, pick apart every answer and make a snarky remark. Perhaps virtual schooling or teaching isn't going very well for them. I hope your child gets what he needs to thrive this school year.

[Anonymous]

We joined a pod for childcare as primary reason, learning for secondary.
PK4

[Anonymous]

We're homeschooling our two ES kids and setting up outdoors play dates nearly every afternoon with neighborhood kids. Some of those kids are doing DL. Others are homeschooling. I'm aware of some pods in the immediate area, but I question if there are as many as some people think.

[Anonymous]

My school has teacher-led in-person pods at the school site. As grateful as I am for the option, it's really sad to see what school looks during this pandemic. Desks spaced way apart, kids and teachers distant from each other, many behind plastic shields hovering over laptops. All with masks on 100% of the time except when eating. It is very controlled and looks to be very safe but still sad. Kids seem happy though to be at school.

The benefit to family-run pods is, hopefully, the ability to relax some of the distancing requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My school has teacher-led in-person pods at the school site. As grateful as I am for the option, it's really sad to see what school looks during this pandemic. Desks spaced way apart, kids and teachers distant from each other, many behind plastic shields hovering over laptops. All with masks on 100% of the time except when eating. It is very controlled and looks to be very safe but still sad. Kids seem happy though to be at school.

The benefit to family-run pods is, hopefully, the ability to relax some of the distancing requirements.

wow, what school is this? Are they prioritizing getting kids with special needs back in the school?

[Anonymous]

I'm the PPPPPPPPPPPPP poster who suggested that people are using "Pod" to mean two very different things. While the trolly trolls won't care, to the extent that people are trying to contribute to this thread it would really be helpful if people could explain what they are solving for and what grade their kiddos are in.