I've told my teen than if he has friends who want to bring their laptops to our house to attend school, they are welcome. I'll make them lunch, they can hang out between classes.

1st year of MS. No, no pod.

But we would like to find another child or two that our child clicks with (and whose parents we can be on the same page with) to be a study partner, either regularly or occasionally (via Zoom/phone or on the porch). We don't really know what to expect but this seems like a good option. Socially speaking, our child is dealing with quarantine well, and has never needed an academic tutor, but has pretty low motivation/effort. We are concerned because they are in a gifted/magnet program with a high workload. We'll do what we need to.

No. We will use a tutor as needed.

I agree. A friend wants to organize this for our riding middle schoolers and us kind of pressuring me, but I’m not sure how it would work for middle school. I’d love to have some kind of social outlet for her, but that obviously comes with risks.

Umm no. But in the spring, my DS would sometimes do zoom meetings with friends in individual classes to do group work or do homework together, so that's the same but only for individual classes and only when they want it. How could we even do it yet since we don't know what classes and teachers each kid has?

Just rename your “pod” a weekly Covid party

No

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see how it is possible given class schedules, different teachers, etc. Last year my daughter was in a very specialized cohort at her huge high school (about 100 kids) and she never shared more than 4/9 classes with the same kids.

Yes, my girl will be in cohort of 30 as a freshman.

I don’t see how it is possible given class schedules, different teachers, etc. Last year my daughter was in a very specialized cohort at her huge high school (about 100 kids) and she never shared more than 4/9 classes with the same kids.

I think you just hire a tutor for a subject that is not going well for your child just like before..

Anonymous wrote:I think a tutor in MS and HS would be tough because of all of the specific content areas. A pod would be tough because kids in HS take different classes from each other.

This.

I think study groups will form for secondary. I’m thinking about asking a former colleague to run an AP group for DD and friends. I can’t stand her for other reasons, but her students get a lot of 5s.

Anonymous wrote:I think a tutor in MS and HS would be tough because of all of the specific content areas. A pod would be tough because kids in HS take different classes from each other.

Our senior DD will be fine with the once a week in person instruction per class and the rest online. She’s able to work independently well and the in-class session will help put them in front of the teacher for more specific explanations and examples of difficult concepts.

Our sophomore DD is ED IEP and will hopefully be in the school 3 days a week, small-group core classes, with independent work the one day. If she needs help on specific areas we will try to find a tutor for that issue. If we’re virtual, will see how all that plays out.

We are not planning a pod for either. The only one might be a pod for the sophomore with the small-group IEP class students if we start the year fully virtual.

I think a tutor in MS and HS would be tough because of all of the specific content areas. A pod would be tough because kids in HS take different classes from each other.

Would love this for social. DD starts a new school this year.

I get doing it for elementary because of the childcare and instructional needs, but what about ms and hs?

My kid's instruction will be both in person via google meets and then also reading, written, etc. They have assigned class times even remotely. I don't see a need to hire a tutor or do a pod for this. Yes I work but I can help them some and they are motivated anyway. I have 2 middle schoolers and a high schooler. I get others may be different.