Podschooling: What? How?
For families looking for creative ways to school from home while balancing the needs of career and education, Podschooling may be an option. While still becoming defined and developed during COVID, Podschooling involves an intentional arrangement between households in order to share education or play responsibilities of each other’s children.
For some families, Podschooling is self-organized by neighborhood or social network-- redistributing parental teaching responsibilities based on day of the week or time of day. Other families are seeking “Podmates” based on similar areas of interest—for example, a parent skilled in technology or robotics might host STEM classes for a variety of families an afternoon each week.
If Podschooling seems like a more manageable solution for school during COVID, consider these principles as you design your Pod.
Separate the Social From the Academic
Thousands of parents have found it a huge success separating friends from school time in order to concentrate time with friends during play. For decades, homeschoolers have celebrated the value of “working when it’s time to work, and playing when it’s time to play.” Many homeschool families are able to get the school day finished before lunch (especially with elementary students) which opens the afternoon for fun with friends. This model can easily be copied in Podschooling, with parents offering core curriculum 1:1 at home in the mornings and creating spaces for multiple students to connect in the afternoon for hands-on group learning or simply to play. There is significant value to open-ended playtime, especially in seasons of stress; don’t underestimate its impact on your child’s holistic education.
Separating academics from friends for Podschooling is also a great solve if families have chosen to use different learning models. For example, if three families in a neighborhood want to Podschool in the afternoons—one is homeschooling privately with C curriculum, one is schooling at home remotely with B curriculum, and one is public homeschooling with A curriculum—it is still possible to connect the students for positive play and group learning experiences in certain subjects.
For example, consider joining together in the afternoon for PE or games, organizing a baking party in someone’s kitchen, hosting a book club where teens can discuss the same piece of historical fiction (or younger students can sit together for a real-aloud discussion), or planning kitchen science experiments a couple times a month. While participating in a few key educational activities with friends can be helpful to the learning process, not all subjects necessarily require the collaboration of peers, and sometimes do better when studied individually.
Customize for Maximum Efficiency
Each state has its own requirements at grade level for what is expected each year. Even within a Podschool, it is the responsibility of each parent teacher to ensure their students cover all the requirements. It can be relatively easy to customize your child’s schoolwork so it covers multiple needs in minimum time. For instance, if state requirements say your 4th grader needs to research a famous scientist for biology, write a persuasive essay for English, and study the impact of a former discovery on the modern world for history, that student could check all three boxes by reading about Rosalind Franklin and writing an essay about why she should be just as celebrated as Watson and Crick. Sometimes less is more. If you have minimal time to devote education, look for creative ways to customize the work and overlap multiple requirements with less assignments.
Divide and Conquer
In the midst of this pandemic, many families will continue to develop creative ways to share the load by Podschooling. In the meantime, families choosing to Podschool often divide and share teaching responsibilities in one of three ways. First, some families divide up days of the week to host either collective school or play time, with one or two parents acting as coach or class monitor over students doing independent work. Second, some families are choosing to complete core subjects (such as math, individual reading, and writing) at home and then collaborate together in the afternoons for PE, kitchen science, or book clubs later in the day. Third, a smaller percentage of families have chosen to combine resources between a few households to hire a “teacher” to instruct their smaller group of children in person privately.
Keep Your Child Safe
While caring for our children’s academic and social needs are at the forefront of our minds in this season, it is also critical that we put boundaries in place to protect the health and well-being of our children. For families building learning pods, especially with new acquaintances, consider establishing guidelines upfront for bathroom or disciplinary needs, or ratios of adults to children. It’s also worth educating your child ahead of time about self-protecting. Beyond that, develop guidelines about hand-washing, masks, shared snacks, and media that will help you provide a safe place for your child to learn.
We are all in this season together—which is a comfort, albeit a small one at times. All parents are seeking out creative ways to juggle work with school and play while keeping kids healthy and whole. It’s a big job. It’s hard work. You are not alone. Whether Podschooling or some other means of educating from home, developing a healthy structures and a supportive learning community will be a significant factor in making this year a success.