Nowadays, when every country around the world has implemented a social distancing policy and when many schools are employing online learning, many parents are worried about their children missing social interaction and missing out on their education. Along with services such as the legit essay services, one may decide to implement other tools in the process of helping their children with the needs of the current situation.

There are various ways to ensure your child has everything they need at reach, even with the schools closed and the extracurricular activities forbidden. Remember that you still can positively affect your child’s behavior, social skills, and mindset. As long as you give a good example for social interactions, proper behaviors, and good intentions, you child will follow them.

If you child is learning online you can help them by creating a nice schedule for them to stick to. You can also ensure they have the necessary knowledge by helping them out with their studies whenever possible. Other options are group studies. One such example are the learning pods.

What Are Learning Pods?

Learning pods, also known as Pandemic pods, or micro-schools, are groups of about 10 children who study together outside of school but in person. In some pods the parents are doing the teaching while in others the parents hire a teacher to tutor the children.

Basic Information For The Learning Pod

The basic data one needs to set up a learning pod is what is the number of children who would be participating, what are their grade levels at the beginning (it’s better to put children in the same grade levels or, at least, in relatively adjacent such), how many households will be participating, what is the desired format (because, for safety reasons, people may still opt for virtual or, at least, for hybrid pods), as well as whether the children are still visiting the school.

Arrangement

Next, you need to pick a duration for the learning pod. Will it be for the entire school year or for less? Most people decide to set the pods for at least one semester or even the while academic year. Then decide on the weekly schedule. You shall also pick whether you want a part-time learning pod or a full-time one. That is to say that you need to decide whether you are looking for something to supplement the school curriculum, or to replace the school entirely. Decide on the hours necessary for the week, including break times and the necessary time for teacher preparation.

The Children Needs

Now is the time to consider what are the primary priorities of the teacher - like, academic progress, childcare, enrichment activities, etc. Then you need to consider who will provide the curriculum - the school or the teacher. Also, preferred content expertise should come into consideration, as well as language requirements. For example, one may want the teacher to be using Montessori, to have artistic skills, to have sports experience, etc. Some other things that need to be accounted for are if there are special education needs, any non-academical needs, what are the children’s strengths and areas of growth.

Safety First

Do not forget the current situation - as always, one needs to put safety first and keep up with the required accommodations - washing hands, social distancing, etc.In order to be able to provide a safe environment, one should keep the pod small, so as to diminish the risks at play. The larger one’s group is, the greater the risk is.

Remember To Consider The Educational Needs Of The Children

Some children are quite good at handling being schooled at home and in pods. They can easily comply with the teacher’s assignments and don’t hesitate to do the work by themselves and even go the extra mile. Whereas others are easily tempted to divert their attention to something else, such as checking YouTube, playing e-games, going on social media, etc.

Also, any special learning disabilities, physical, or mental health problems should be taken into consideration.

Pods For Fun

For pre-K all the way to mid-elementary students the pod may better be based on fun activities that can be led by the parents. That way the children will be together with other kids and will be developing their social skills.

Tutor- or Teacher-led Pod

Consult a teacher of your child to understand what are their academic needs and learning gaps. Find a tutor experienced in the areas in which the children needs support.

Parent-led Pod

If one or some of the parents are going to lead the pod, remember to communicate with the school. Also, make the groups small and at appropriate grade levels. Let different parents with specific knowledge supervise the specific subjects. Create special learning spaces. Develop a schedule.

Conclusion

Setting up a learning pod isn’t that hard but there are still things that need to be taken into consideration. Should they be followed, the children will have an excellent success in learning together in a pod. They will learn valuable lessons and skills that shall be needed later in life Whether you’ll decide on a parent-led pod, or on a teacher-led pod, what matters is giving the children the opportunity to get the best out of their study curriculum.