As parents scramble to come up with the best solution for their children going back to school during the current pandemic, a group of FishHawk parents have decided to create a pandemic learning pod for their children’s eLearning classes this fall.
Learning pods, groups of three to 10 students learning together in homes, are popping up all over the country to help children learn in a safer, social environment.
“A few months ago, my wife and I realized the whole school situation wasn’t going to be smoothed out in time for the new school year to start,” said James Conn, a FishHawk parent who initiated the idea of the pandemic learning pod. “The other reason we decided to go the way we did was the feeling that there would be so much disruption from going to brick and mortar and then having to close down school and then reopen again on and on.”
Kristi Kall is another FishHawk parent who is part of the pandemic learning pod group and she feels the pod will be a safe and effective way for her children to attend eLearning for the school year.
“The families involved with our pod are families we’ve known because our children are friends and went to the same school,” Kall said. “We know them and the safety measures they have taken during the pandemic to stay safe. We are all comfortable with each other and our children learning together.”
This FishHawk pandemic learning pod will consist of three families with a total of six children. The children will rotate on different days of the week to different homes that have set up pandemic learning rooms.
There will be a facilitator assisting the parents with teaching the children. “The facilitator will be there to help with questions the children may have, as well as offer a deeper dive into the eLearning course work,” Kall said. “The facilitator will also have different activities each week like science experiments and cooking lessons.”
The parents held an interview to find a facilitator who will be helping the children with eLearning along with the parents. “We had an interviewing process to find a facilitator and we went with a former school teacher,” Conn said. “We are very optimistic about the whole program.”
The families will regroup after the first month of school to assess their pandemic learning pods to see if they will continue with the pods for the rest of the school year.
