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Parents consider options for fall, including 'homeschooling pod' trend

12-year-old Dash and 4-5 other kids are quarantining together. They've been hanging out and taking online classes with each other since schools closed in March.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The changes in the school year for kids have parents considering all kinds of options. One trend that’s gaining traction is the idea of a "homeschooling pod."

Juliet Travis is mom to Dash, a 12-year-old boy who is headed to 7th grade in the fall.

Dash and 4-5 other kids in the neighborhood are quarantining together, only hanging out with each other since schools closed in March.

“We've kept it that small group. So that's been in our pod group that's been together,” said Travis.

That pod also takes online classes through outschool.com.

“They started some of the Outschool classes at the end of the last school year, the summer, and they're gonna continue,” Travis said.

“Outschool is a marketplace for live online classes for kids,” said Amir Nathoo, the Co-founder and CEO of Outschool.

It’s a marketplace of more than 50,000 online classes covering all sorts of topics.

“We have subjects on Outschool like Lego engineering, learning architecture through Minecraft, learn Spanish by snging Taylor Swift songs in Spanish,” said Nathoo. “We have vets teaching classes about cat anatomy.”

Nathoo said the platform has become  more popular during the pandemic, with enrollments up 30 fold.

Kristen Elizabeth, who teaches acting classes with Outschool, said as a teacher she loves being able to teach her kids without being in a brick and mortar building.

“We can’t get each other sick,” said Elizabeth.

In addition, Elizabeth said she prefers teaching online because she gets paid more. Elizabeth also said she enjoys the interaction between her students because they're logging in from around the world and are excited to be learning.

“I have students that turn in 40-50 pages when I'm asking them to do three,” said Elizabeth. “They’ll just go because they're so engaged. They’re so interested,” Elizabeth said.

But one issue that's come up in regards to homeschooling pods and learning online is making the options available to all students.

Not all families have access to a “pod” situation and not all can afford online classes.

“We're very, very conscious of that and so we have released a financial assistance program at outschool.org where families can get access to Outschool classes for free if they're in financial need,” said Nathoo.

There's also concern that more families pulling their kids out of public school and homeschooling could lead to a decrease in funding for public schools. With less funding, the worry is that families who rely on public school services may suffer.

Travis said she''ll keep Dash enrolled in his school district and plans to use Outschool to supplement his education.

“It's like shopping for him for fun classes,” said Travis. “It's been such a blessing to be able to have this community of people where you can have these 'pod' groups get together. I don't know what I would do if he was just doing this alone.”

Travis said for her family, Outschool is affordable, with classes that start from $10. But some classes that span weeks can go up to $200 or more.

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