Would it be crazy to rent an apartment to use as a "learning pod" for 3-4 preschoolers?

[Anonymous]

Here's the problem: my 4 year old daughter's preschool just announced they are closing indefinitely. My husband and I both work, and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment (in Glover Park.) Also we have a new baby. My kid needs something that doesn't feel like a stopgap, and we need to work.

What about this: we rent a ground floor 1-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood, and turn it into one of those "learning pods" people are talking about. We recruit 3 other neighborhood kids, or maybe some of our daughter's friends from her now-closed school. The parents or caregivers take turns supervising the kids. We fill the place with fun kids stuff. The 4 parents split the cost of rent 4 ways, but no one is getting paid.

Is this legal? To use a residential apartment essentially as a daycare? Will I need to actively lie to a landlord about my intentions? And would it be a major problem for the neighbors, even with a ground floor place?

thank you for any advice!

[Anonymous]

Just say it's an office so you can work in peace. Never mind it's for a 4 yr old to work. Her work is playing.

[Anonymous]

Haha I like that!

[Anonymous]

I know a family in LA who is doing this.

[Anonymous]

OP here - All the articles I've read on learning pods seem to assume people have houses, and that the kids will be in the basement or something. But what about people in apartments? Not sure where the kids are supposed to go.

[Anonymous]

It’s not daycare, since there’s no payment. You could argue that it’s a co-op, and I would suggest talking to someone about insurance. Also, who will sign the lease and have all the legal/financial responsibility?

[Anonymous]

It would likely be a violation of the lease. And if I was the neighbor in the building I would be pretty pissed because that sounds loud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not daycare, since there’s no payment. You could argue that it’s a co-op, and I would suggest talking to someone about insurance. Also, who will sign the lease and have all the legal/financial responsibility?

OP here - I guess I would sign the lease, though if I could get in serious trouble for this, I wouldn't do it it all. I was thinking the worst case scenario is that we get kicked out we don't get our deposit back. If that's the case, I'm willing to eat the $1,700 or whatever.

But I know zero about this, so anyone's legal expertise is welcome.

[Anonymous]

What are you doing with the baby? Daycare I assume if you said you and Dh work?
So why doesnt your 3 yr old go to daycare alongside baby sibling?

[Anonymous]

So you want to duplicate your school.

Do HR. Do recruitment. Do facilities.

All so that a few kids can get a better experience than other kids.

We should all be pushing our public school for better options.

[Anonymous]

Just get a nanny.

[Anonymous]

This defeats the point of social distancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing with the baby? Daycare I assume if you said you and Dh work?
So why doesnt your 3 yr old go to daycare alongside baby sibling?

My mom is fortunately able to come every day and watch our baby. But she can't watch our 4 year old at the same time; it's too much for her. Also, we do not feel comfortable having either of our kids do daycare right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just get a nanny.

The point of the pod is to have socialization for the kids, but on a smaller scale than school. So a nanny wouldn't work. Plus the main problem is that we have a 2 bedroom apartment. Where would a nanny and our 4 year old go that wouldn't bother us when 2 people are working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing with the baby? Daycare I assume if you said you and Dh work?
So why doesnt your 3 yr old go to daycare alongside baby sibling?

My mom is fortunately able to come every day and watch our baby. But she can't watch our 4 year old at the same time; it's too much for her. Also, we do not feel comfortable having either of our kids do daycare right now.

You won't do daycare (where there'sfairly stringent guidelines), but having a bunch of 3 yr olds and a rotating door of parents/caretakers/nannies is fine with you?