Parents of school-age children are facing some tough decisions — and getting creative — about how to balance child care and education while working in the midst of a global pandemic.
Public schools in the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County announced that they will continue online learning this fall due to concerns about community spread of COVID-19.
In response, a growing number of families are forming “education pods” or “learning pods.” These small groups of students learn together under the guidance of a parent or a hired education professional, often at one parent’s home.
While the concept of these pods is not new among homeschoolers, their popularity has exploded in light of COVID-19, garnering them the nickname “pandemic pods.”
Pandemic pods can take on a number of forms and face a host of challenges.
Gina Quirk, a former kindergarten teacher and parent, earned her degree in early childhood education and has taught in both urban (Chicago) and suburban schools before moving to Northern Virginia.
This experience allowed her to interact with students from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. She then worked for the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC) before finding ways to work from home for the past eight years so she could be more available for her two children who are about to start kindergarten and second grade.
The nature of pandemic pods — and even Quirk’s opinion on these pods — is constantly evolving. According to Quirk, a pod “at face value is a community-based solution to the childcare problem that we’re faced with right now.”
From talking with other parents, she has noticed that one of the primary motivations behind the pods is social interaction for kids. “Kids are starved right now for social contact…people don’t want their kids to continue on in this bubble.”
Fairfax County parent Lisa Jollay echoed Quirk’s observation: Jollay’s son will be in third grade this year and she would like him to be able to socialize with others. She wants to foster a shared responsibility for education and try to recreate some semblance of community that COVID-19 took away.
“I cannot put my son in front of a computer and just say, ‘Go.’ Last spring was a disaster. Fairfax County doesn’t lock down their accounts…so if his teacher was going over something he could just open up YouTube,” Jollay explained.
Jollay admitted that childcare is a factor. She has a high-stress job where she will be expected to go into the office frequently and her husband’s job does not allow him to work from home at all. She also wants to ensure that her son’s level of education won’t suffer. She has opted for full-time virtual school but does not think that less than four hours per day of structured learning is enough for a third grader, particularly because they planned to start foreign language instruction with their son this year.
Mother of two elementary school aged children and an infant, Shonna Waters has formed a pod for her fifth grader and is actively trying to organize a pod for her third grader. Her motivation for the pods is providing a social outlet for her children and to have accountability for staying on track with the online curriculum. Both Waters and her husband work full time, so childcare is a major concern. “I hear a lot of parents (women in particular) worried they’ll have to drop out of the workforce but unsure of how they’d afford it,” Waters said.
How to Form a Pandemic Pod
Based on the variety of reasons parents are forming pandemic pods, Quirk said that the pods fall into three main categories:
- The homeschooling route where pods are organized as a substitute for public school education. This usually involves hiring a teacher or tutor to lead the students.
- The co-op model where parents take turns monitoring students while they use the public school online curriculum. This allows parents to be able to alternate responsibilities based on their work schedules.
- A hybrid of the two previous categories where parents use the public school curriculum but supplement it with additional tutoring in order to maintain learning goals before COVID-19.
Many parents are finding each other through Facebook groups specifically made to unite those looking for a pod. A quick search brought up “Pandemic Learning Pods and Microschools DMV” and “Pandemic Pods - Fairfax County, VA.” The issue is also a hot topic in existing groups like Arlington Education Matters.
Other parents are using Nextdoor or websites that have been created for the purpose of forming pods like Podnasium. Some are looking at last year’s class lists or waiting for new class lists to be released in order to find fellow pod members.
Jollay has had difficulty finding other parents to form a pod with in Fairfax County. She says that despite actively searching on Facebook groups, she has not been able to connect with other students at her son’s school or in their neighborhood. She is considering teaming up with a friend and former teacher whose son goes to a different school but is concerned about whether they will be using different curriculums.
Many companies have sprung up to meet the demand for pods. A custom study pod through Varsity Tutors for six students starts at $60/hour. A pod with six students that commits to the fall term is $2,292 a month through Learning Pods. Jollay said she would not consider using a company because of the expense and while she has considered hiring a tutor, they are expensive, too. She looked into sending her son to an international school online which costs about $5,000 a year but her son wanted to remain with his friends even if it was only through a screen.
Pandemic Pod Concerns: Inequality and Safety
Pandemic pods have faced heavy criticism for a variety of reasons. Many fear that these pods will only exacerbate educational inequality. This can cause parenting issues as not every parent has the resources to hire a teacher or tutor or to stay home with their children.
“COVID-19 doesn’t know your economic situation…it’s going to separate us more because the haves are going to be able to figure out how to manage it better and the have-nots are going to be left behind,” Jollay lamented. “We honestly don’t need anything to divide us more. We need to be more unified and I do worry a lot about that.”
Another concern is how to ensure safety. Quirk developed a COVID-19 Family Risk Assessment as a tool families can use to find other families with a similar risk tolerance as them. (Download the assessment here.)
She personally believes it is better to find strangers who have the same risk tolerance as them than to try and force friends or acquaintances into a pod who may not have the same views. She thinks it is important for people to remain objective and to have deep and often uncomfortable conversations about risk or even pods could be perpetuating the community spread that forced schools to remain closed.
Quirk acknowledged that she is not an expert and that while she tried to be as objective as possible in creating the assessment, it has received some warranted criticisms. Some parents she has shared it with have felt it ostracizes families of essential workers. “I would hope that people don’t use the tool as labeling people with a number and I would hope we start from an objective place and use your social conscience,” she explained.
Waters said that they made sure to align with other parents who had the same view on COVID-19 risks. “When inside, they [pod members] will wear masks and face shields, maintain distance and air flow as much as possible. Hand sanitizer, hand washing and cleaning surfaces will also be important,” Waters explained. She admitted that it will be tough to manage a number of different families, their schedules and exposure, especially if families like hers have multiple children and pods. She hopes it will still be much safer than going back to school in person where there is a much larger pool of people.
Safety and Sanitation Outside of School
Medical expert and mother of three Dr. Bita Nasseri reinforced the importance of taking safety precautions like the ones Waters’ pods will be taking with the following advice:
- Encourage your kiddos to wear their face mask. Make it fun. Wear themed masks.
- Take responsibility as individuals and a team to do daily clean-up of facilities/homes/pods where your children learn.
- Use sanitizing material that is less toxic for your young ones and their vulnerable systems.
- If indoors, use air purifying systems with UV clean out systems.
- Create legal documentation for liability protection of family housings hosting the pods.
At this point, Jollay plans to either form a small pod with a friend whose son is in a different school or to have her mom come over to help more. Waters said that the pod for her fifth grader will be supervised by a nanny to make sure the students stay on track with their curriculum. They are considering hiring a tutor to help the third-grade pod because they will need more assistance with math, reading and work management.
Quirk is still unsure how she will proceed this fall. As someone who has spent a good part of her career narrowing the achievement gap among children from different socio-economic backgrounds, she is conflicted about the pandemic pods. She recognizes that being a parent who works from home and having kids who are close in age give her the luxury of deciding whether or not she wants to participate in a pod.
“I don’t know whether I support this or not, but know it’s going to happen so I would love for it to happen as safely as possible. So, my creation of that [assessment] is in no way an endorsement, but it is saying to have these conversations.”
