The upcoming school year is fast approaching and parents are looking to make arrangements that will best suit their child’s needs. According to the New Jersey State Department of Education, school districts will open in some capacity.   The 2020-2021 school year reopen plan, The Road Back, Restart and Recovery Plan for Education, covers four key areas: Conditions for Learning, Leadership and Planning, Policy and Funding, and Continuity of Learning.   Both the detailed plan and the uncertainty of the virus has left many families grappling with the choice to send their childr ..read more

Original Article appeared in the NYT As many schools remain closed, families are seeking alternatives to the virtual classroom. This fall, as schools across the United States start with either partial or full remote learning plans, parents are forming learning pods, or small groups of children who can learn together at home. These arrangements have quickly become a popular and, sometimes, divisive topic. A Pandemic Pods Facebook group was set up by families in San Francisco on July 7 and it already has almost 40,000 members. Google search traffic for “learning pods” has swelled since the start ..read more

Summer’s drawing to an end, and for many parents that means one thing: school’s about to start! We know many parents can’t wait for their kids to return to school and finally have some time to clean the house. But as schools reopen in September, there’s just one lingering concern in everyone’s minds: how can we keep our kids safe from COVID-19? We spoke with Wendy Lamparelli, the lead school nurse of Hackensack. She has been playing a critical part of the COVID-19 return preparations for her district, and serving on the social emotional learning team. So, she had plenty of great tips for Jerse ..read more

The media is ablaze right now about so-called “Pandemic Pods” and micro-schools—from the Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post and Bloomberg News. Fearful of the lack of learning that occurred in the nation’s experiment with remote learning in the spring and the loss of childcare and given the number of districts saying they will be doing remote or hybrid learning in the fall, families are forming pods, which consist of groups of parents bubbling together in a variety of ways to provide childcare or curriculum—and often times both—for their children. Micro-schools aren’t a new topic fro ..read more

Kirk Gallegos is a single father of four. He works construction in Barstow, Calif. Prudence Carter is a single mother of one. She’s the dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Both share the same problem with tens of millions of other parents around the country: Their public schools aren’t operating full time in-person this fall. And the rest of the child care system, which had been stretched even before the pandemic, is itself under pressure. The child care sector consists for the most part of small businesses and nonprofits supported by a patchwork ..read more

IRVINGTON, NJ – Gov. Phil Murphy moved Thursday to put a computer in every student’s hands and internet connectivity in their homes. The initiative to bridge the so-called digital divide in New Jersey will cost $115 million and will be paid for mostly with federal grants. The rest will come from the Coronavirus Relief Fund ($44 million) and state-directed CARES Act money from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds ($10). Murphy said about 230,000 New Jersey students were put at a disadvantage when schools closed their doors and initiated virtual learning to the COVID-19 pa ..read more

In-home learning pods are cropping up around the country, as parents scramble to figure out a solution to educating their kids come the fall school session. If you are seeking a K-12 teacher to create your own pod, we highly suggest that you check out Swing Education.  As a leader in teacher placement, Swing Education will match you with a qualified, experienced K-12 teacher to provide in-home education for a learning pod of 2-8 students. A teacher with experience in a classroom setting gives your child, and your learning bubble, the safe and supportive environment needed to continue ..read more

Pandemic learning pods are popping up and if you’re a parent, you may be wondering, how do I get involved or even create my own pod? It can seem intimidating, especially with the added stress of COVID-19, but we’re here to help get you started. Check out our complete guide to create your learning pod! 1) Establish your goal and values It’s important to consider your goal and values while forming the pod as this is the groundwork for your whole pod setup. Depending on your goal, you may need an educator for more or less hours during the week. Here are some questions to help get you thinking ab ..read more

Obviously, due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, summer plans are on hold until further notice. And for families who rely on camp during the warmer months, this can be problematic. Although traditional summer camps might be out of the question this year, there are plenty of virtual options that will keep kids of all ages entertained. Whether they’re looking to keep their academics sharp (hey, no one likes that pesky summer slide, right?) or just want some good, old-fashioned fun, these online summer camps will deliver.: Camp PBS Kids Children between the ages of 2 and 8 can get access to a slew ..read more

By Amanda Hoover | NJ Advance Media For NJ.com Parents worried about sending their children back to school during the coronavirus pandemic will have the option to choose all-remote learning when schools reopen this fall, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. “The Department of Education will be releasing guidance allowing for parents to choose all-remote learning for their children,” Murphy said during his daily press briefing in Trenton Monday. “Again, the details will be coming out later this week, but we wanted everyone to know now that we will allow for this step.” He did not provide further deta ..read more