Did you ever have an appointment that you were really looking forward to, and then, when it actually happened…it was SO MUCH better than you even thought it could be? That’s how my interview about teaching pods with Jennifer Goodine of Cape Cottage Tutoring went today.
Originally, I contacted her because she is starting ‘teaching pods’ this fall. She will be supervising the virtual education of several different groups of children, allowing their parents to work from home or help their other children with online work. Since this is an idea that many of you have considered, I wanted to give you the info from someone who is actually putting it together. She definitely gave us some incredible insights.
To give you an idea of her story, Jennifer switched teaching jobs a year ago to allow herself to be able to help care for her father, who was suffering from dementia. She is thankful to have been with her parents during that journey, but took a $25,000 pay cut when she switched schools. After the recent passing of her father and another family member, she realized that returning to the classroom wasn’t the right choice for her right now and made a social media post offering teaching pods to parents in her area. She will start the year moderating several different groups of students or ‘teaching pods’ as they complete their virtual studies, and is looking at options for when students return to school.
But besides the great advice she gave on teaching pods, she is just super fun to talk with. If you enjoy reading the interview half as much as I enjoyed doing it, this will definitely be worth your time! To listen to the interview, watch this space, I am currently trying to put it together as the very first Classroom to Home podcast, and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Let’s dig into our interview with Jennifer Goodline of Cape Cottage Tutoring. The content of the interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Classroom to Home: I’m so excited to hear about [teaching pods]!
Jennifer Goodine: I’m excited to tell about it.
Classroom to Home: I’ve been telling people, ‘Guys like, take initiatives. Do what you’ve got to do [to stay safe].’ And you’re the first person I’ve heard about that’s actually making this go.
Jennifer Goodine: How funny! Really? I just don’t think it’s an innovative idea.
You’re not the only one who has contacted me. I did an interview with ABC news. It hasn’t aired. My father passed away that weekend. They wanted to come do some footage, and so much has changed with my dad’s passing that I just haven’t had time. And I’ve been asked for an interview with CBS. And I had my little Cocktail hour the other night [with the parent of my teaching pod students]. And here I am with you.
But I don’t think it is innovative. It makes sense.
Classroom to Home: It makes sense. We have a skill. They need it. And a lot of teachers are really having a hard time because they are pregnant or they have elderly parents that they aren’t going to be able to see for literally months at a time. And school corporations, some are doing their best, and some just are not.
What do you teach and how many years have you taught?
Jennifer Goodine: My goodness! Have been teaching since 2000, but I have a very strange history of teaching. I’m ex military and I was a Spanish linguist in the army before I ever was a teacher.
So I came in back door in everything. My degree is in media studies, which is why my post ended up going viral. I had like 6500 views on my post in a couple of days, but I knew where to post it, too.
I started out as a linguist in the military. Then I got divorced. And there was this job I saw in the paper, and it said, “Teach in South America.” And I was like, “If I don’t apply for this job, I’m just going to wonder about it forever.” And the next thing you know I was interviewing in this brownstone in Boston with like 10 people around a table. And the next thing you know, I was getting us a visa, getting everything in line.
And we went down and taught in Colombia for a year. I was a 5th grade teacher down there. And from there, because I wasn’t certified, I was applying everywhere. Because I knew I was coming home. And the only place that was interested was a boarding school for kids that had been through rehab and that hadn’t worked or they had been to experiential outdoor schools and that hadn’t worked. So they sent them to this school, which was a character education high school. So I taught there for two years and was teaching there in this funky, awesome barn, that I loved.
I did a year of public school as a long term sub and then I taught K-8th grade Spanish. And so I had all this background in ESL, 5th grade, Spanish. I’ve been teaching Spanish since 2003. But I also teach adult ed. English as a second language.
This past year I left my public school position and I took a $25,000 pay cut because I was commuting 2 hours and 15 minutes everyday round trip and dad needed me, so I moved in with my parents for almost a year to help see him through that journey. And it was great because even though I took that big pay cut I would shoot home during my free period and visit with my dad.
And then the only way I could support myself because of taking the pay cut was I started a small business, which is pet sitting. So the pet sitting sort of eased the gap. And I’m doing a ton of that now because I just found out this morning that the schools will be pushing their start date a week out.
So I’m thinking about putting another weird post out. Maybe something like, ‘Hey parents, you weren’t expecting this, and neither was I. Can I take your kids to the beach and give them a Spanish lesson?’ We have a farm in another town, so [maybe] I can take them to go garden. Because parents need to work.
Classroom to Home: How did you start? You said you had posted something and it went viral. Did the parents contact you from that?
Jennifer Goodine: Yes. I didn’t even put a phone number. My daughter was making a website for me, and then everything sort of fell apart in my family. We had a previous death like three weeks before my father died.
Classroom to Home: Wow! This has just been a heck of a time!
Jennifer Goodine: Yeah, but you know what I’m learning out of this? When you hit bottom there is no where to go but up, and I feel like I have these little guardian angels and they’re sort of guiding me back.
So I made this post and I just slapped a little meme on there with The Wizard of Oz. And it says “Homeshooling: Imagined” and it has the princess or the queen or whatever she was. And then “Homeschooling: Reality” with the Wicked Witch. Then I said, “It wasn’t what you imagined, was it?” Cause I saw so many memes [about that]. And I thought, “There’s a market here.”
So what I’m offering is, I’m going to teach Spanish classes to each of my little cohort groups and then I’ll do all the things the parents didn’t want to do, because I’m certified K-12. So I will just guide the kids through that.
Classroom to Home: So give us the basic details [on your teaching pods]. How many kids? What are the ages? What are the times?
Jennifer Goodine: So my kids down the street here I’m going to do from 8 until 10:30 or 11. We haven’t locked a time in yet. I initially set it up that way because I thought I was going to go home and take care of dad during that time. And that group they just kind of ended up securing me. So I had one parent that just went and talked to every 2nd grade parent in the neighborhood. So I’m going to have 2 cohort groups there. I’m going to be teaching in their great room. And then they have this massive patio. They are going to get me an event tent so I can teach outside.
And they asked me about doing gym, so I was like, “Yeah! I’ll do Spanish yoga.”
I had initially wanted to do a multi-age thing. My great aunt was a teacher in a 1-room school house, and so I was kind of envisioning something very “Little House on the Prairie”. But in any event, the group of 2nd grade parents [wanted me]. And that will be easier for me because I’ll just contact the teacher and all the kids will have the same assignments.
Classroom to Home: And how many kids will you have [in your teaching pods]?
Jennifer Goodine: We’re doing 3 on one day and 4 on the other.
And they also told me I was charging too little. THEY told me. Because, you know, as a teacher you devalue yourself. And I’m thinking so many hours and I’ll have a certain amount of kids and that will make up that pay. I was going to charge $125 per kid per child, but the kids would only be meeting 2 mornings a week. But they said, “No. That’s too little. You need to charge at least $200.” So we’re going $225. So I’m making up all the money that I lost last year when I took that pay cut.
And then at noon I’m going over to [another community]. Initially I was going to teach in my house. But I just didn’t have time with two deaths in the family. And I felt like when I was teaching on zoom last year, “I need to get out of my house.”
It’s a different crew. And I think it is going to be really good. I’m charging less in the afternoon, by the way because I’m making what I need in the morning. I don’t want to be cost prohibitive. I actually asked them to think about what they could afford because that one family has three kids.
Classroom to Home: And as teachers, bottom line, we have to support ourselves, but we’re also in it for the kids. If it was about the money we wouldn’t be doing this. That’s for sure.
So are you leaving your teaching position to do [teaching pods] full time?
Jennifer Goodine: I am. I am leaving my teaching position. I’m starting to look into insurance. I’m nervous about that, but I can’t stay where I was. I just can’t do it. I would cry at home sometimes.
Classroom to Home: Are you considering this as a temporary side hustle or something you’d like to turn into a long-term business or continue to supplement what you do?
Jennifer Goodine: Well, I have a lot of ideas. I’m feeling like what I am doing currently has a certain lack of longevity because eventually everyone is going to be back in school. But what I’m thinking about is trying to contract with preschools or doing my ESL. I have a lot of connections in Colombia who can get me to people who want to learn English. And then I’ve thought a lot about doing some cool summer camp thing. We have a farm. And I thought about what if I hired a retired carpenter and taught kids to do drywall and basic stuff. My sister is very artistic and she could teach quilting. It could be like farm camp. And I definitely want to keep it going. It’s just going to morph and change according to what is going on.
Classroom to Home: A lot of teachers have considered this, but they are really hesitant. What would be your best advice to someone who is terrified to go back into the classroom, but their corporation isn’t working with them. And they think, “I’ve got to get out, but I’ve got to have a way to make money”?
Jennifer Goodine: Well, I have a side hustle already. More than one, actually. And if you have multiple streams of money coming in from different sources, that might patch the gap. I’m hoping it will for me. And if it won’t, I’ll find a way or I just won’t spend any money. I mean, I’ll do what I have to.
I do pet sitting. (Note: if you’d like to learn more about pet sitting, check out my blog post High dollar side job: Pet sitting and pet care.) That completely died in March. I had all these people going on these 3-week European trips, and that died. One month, I lost $1,915 dollars that I had planned on having. But weirdly, after my brother-in-law passed, I started getting all these pet sitting jobs again. And now, I’m all booked up. I’m doing 3 or 4 every day – cat-sitting jobs, which is so easy.
I’m just taking whatever side gigs I can find. Another friend had watched my posts about what I was doing with my dad this last year. Because we did everything. Hospice came one hour a day to bathe my dad, and then they would leave. We did everything else. So I would post about it because that was my life. After my dad passed, another friend forwarded my name to someone who was looking for private elder care, so I’m doing that in the evenings now 4-8.
I also teach adult ed, which that won’t start until September and that’s going to be via zoom. I’ve been doing that for years. So that’s another way I have money coming in. And I thought about doing care.com, nannying or whatever.
Then my families in [one pod] – because I told them about my concern [since we’ll be starting school a week later] at our little cocktail party and they said, “We can start a week earlier. That would be great. You could get to know the kids.” So I know they are very invested. They are trying to lock me down because a lot of families here, parents who are staying home are bouncing kids around. I think it’s nice. I’m like the little Jane Eyre.
Classroom to Home: What do you think was the most attractive part of your offer? Was it just “You will not have to do the homework with your kids for 2 ½ hours”? Was it the Spanish? Was it the whole thing?
Jennifer Goodine: I think it was both. When I was listening to them the other night, a stay-at-home mom was saying, “Really? You’re telling us we can drop our kids off? You are going to handle this for 2 ½ or 3 hours?” I said, “Yeah. This will be my 21st year teaching, so yeah. Just like at school. I’ll call you if there is an emergency.” So for her, I think she wanted to get the kids out of the house. But her husband was like, “I love the Spanish. The Spanish is so important.”
Classroom to Home: I just really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. It sounds like your roster is full. How long would you say it took to get that full roster of how many kids as you would need or want?
Jennifer Gooline: Well, I think that a lot of it was everybody just waiting for the districts to tell them. Everybody is up in the air. But now I have a lot of inquiries, and “Keep me in the loop. Keep me in the loop,” but not biting the bullet because they don’t know what the plan is from the districts.
Hm. How long did it take? I think it did take a little while but a lot of that was me. I put a post up after my dad passed [saying] “I’m not answering messages for a few days.” So I guess maybe a couple of weeks. But I’m still getting inquiries.
Classroom to Home: I appreciate this so much. If I can be of any help, please let me know. I would love to be a part of your journey because I think you are going to have so much fun. I have just had a wonderful time. Thank you so much!
There you go! A real story from a teacher who took the leap into teaching pods. If you have experience with teaching pods, comment below so we can share our knowledge. Also, if you are worried about returning to school during the pandemic, check out the Classroom to Home Facebook Group to find support, information, and posting for remote jobs. Also, you’ll want to read “How the $&*# do I replace a teacher’s salary?” Whether it’s teaching pods or something else, I believe in you. You’ve got this.
Update: Since our interview, three more students have signed up for Jennifer’s teaching pods and she has closed enrollment to further students.