Basking Ridge Mom Becomes Pandemic Pod Advocate

BASKING RIDGE, NJ—Like most parents, Desiree Noland was overwhelmed with occupying and home-schooling her three children when the pandemic struck. She and her husband both work full time and found themselves suddenly thrust into the role of teacher in addition to their jobs.

"It hit me really hard," said Noland. "The one consistent you had before the pandemic was school, all of a sudden, you had working parents saying 'what am I going to do? How do I teach these kids?'"

After a few months of her children learning remotely, which Noland said was stressful on the entire family, she knew virtual instruction was not going to work for them in the fall. But Noland, who has a master's degree in educational technology, thinks she's found the answer to the school nightmares that the coronavirus has caused: Pod learning.

Pandemic pods emerged last spring, as the world was shutting down, and spread across the country. The concept is similar to traditional home schooling, but with a necessary twist—safety.

"The idea of a pod is that you are with people you can trust to be as cautious as you are," she said, "and it's all about communicating with those you're podding up with and making sure they're like-minded when it comes to precautions."

Noland began a pandemic pod Facebook group which quickly gained momentum and now has more than 300 members. She said many more people than she initially thought were interested in pods.

"At first, the pods were sort of an underground thing," Noland said, "but parents began to reach out to me every day as the uncertainly over how the school year would look got worse."

Noland said the size of every pod is different, but averages at about five students. In some pods, parents rotate teaching duties, in others there is a dedicated, permanent teacher. Pods meet outside, in homes, and in rented offices, she said.

Noland added that her pod planned on having six students this fall. She said a majority of parents try pod learning because they want their children to have decreased screen time and more of a classroom experience. But, Noland said, she and other pod advocates are not against traditional learning.

"It's really not an underground thing, and we're not anti-teacher," she said, if anything, we want them to tell us what content they're trying to teach and we'll help our kids learn it at home."