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Understanding Pandemic Pods… And All Your School Choices This Year
If you’ve stumbled into an education conversation or joined a parent discussion group recently, you’ve surely heard of pods or micro-schools. As families grapple with a changing education environment, some hope to find the flexibility, safety, and community they desire in small, local learning arrangements called learning pods.
Micro-schools, pods, pandemic pods, and learning pods all refer to the same concept, one that is pretty easy to understand: students gathering together in a small group – with adult supervision – to learn, explore, and socialize. Usually, pods are formed when families in a neighborhood or vicinity bring children similar in age group together. Parents and students in a learning pod have significant flexibility. Based on the needs of the community it serves, a pod may gather for just 10-20 hours a week or only certain days. Families may work independently the remainder of the time.
Why pods? Interest in pods has spiked due to the pandemic. In pods, many families see an education environment where their children can learn and socialize with fewer health and safety concerns. In a recent poll of families nationwide, just 1/3 of parents said they were comfortable sending their child back to school under the present circumstances. This means there’s a lot of parents who are looking for alternative learning environments. For many, pods seem like a way to both prioritize safety and engage in much-needed in-person learning and community. In fact, the Chicago Tribune described pods as “Equal parts traditional homeschooling and Mary Poppins-style nurturing — with a COVID-19 sheltering-in-place twist.”
Learning pods may be a popular topic of conversation, but It’s important to understand what kind of pod you’re signing up for and whether it meets your child’s necessary school requirements. Pods can take a variety of legal forms. Some pods are private micro-schools, others are support groups for online schools, and some are simply homeschool co-ops.
National School Choice Week’s guide to school choice in Connecticut includes all the details on how to start or join a learning pod. Beyond pods, it lays out information on all types of school choice in Connecticut: traditional public school, public charter school, public magnet school, private school, online school, and homeschooling. Whether it’s a learning pod or your neighborhood public school, finding the right fit for your family this year starts with knowing your options.
National School Choice Week is an independent, non-political, non-partisan public awareness effort that works to inform parents about the options they have for their child’s education.
