I have worked with children in various capacities throughout my life as a teacher, coach, and parent. I am very passionate about education and love what I do. I have taught in public schools, coached baton twirling, operated a preschool, hosted high school exchange students, did foster care, and raised three adopted children that were educated at home. I enjoy helping kids accomplish a task and share in the excitement of their achievement. A learning pod can offer a positive experience for students where they are valued and given freedom to make choices.  Every child who enrolls in a learning pod is accepted where he/she is at academically, emotionally, and socially.  My goal for each child is to gain a love of learning and to be fully engaged in his/her own learning process.  While students are required to gain specific skills, they can have some input in how those skills will be learned.  I encourage children to reach for mastery learning and to strive for excellence in their educations. A Lessonologist pod provides an environment conducive to learning. The maximum number of students accepted into a pod is eight.  This gives each child individual attention and opportunities to participate in social interactions.  The home environment of our pod allows students who want to work in groups the ability to do that, while students who might need some quiet space have the option to make that choice.  There is not an artificial pace to the day where students must quit what they’re working on and move to the next class.  If students are fully absorbed in an assignment they have the option to continue working.  A small group supports students with a calm learning space free of distractions and discipline issues. The learning pod model permits a teacher to plan for and focus on fewer students thereby being more effective.  This educational choice acknowledges that all students are important and the teacher does not need to teach to the middle group.  Testing and grades are not required, so more time can be spent on learning activities.  Student progress is monitored through the use of portfolios and goal setting. A challenging curriculum is provided for students that encourages inquisitiveness and academic growth.  Our students are busy exploring their world through reading, writing and math.  Phonics is the basis of our reading program and is combined with writing at the lower grades.  Daily writing opportunities positively affects a student’s ability to read.  All students participate in daily sustained silent reading and story time (even older students love being read to).   A variety of both classic and contemporary literature is studied.  Book discussions help students to understand what was read and to see other’s point of view.  Writing assignments that interest students are chosen to promote academic research while gaining language and grammar skills.   Renowned math texts are used and supplemented with manipulatives, games, and projects. In addition to individual work, problem solving can be done in groups where students help each other to complete an exercise.  The goal of the math program is to gain math fluency and to understand the concepts and algorithms used for solving problems. I believe students want to learn and should be taught to pursue excellence.  I hope students enrolled in Lessonologist pods begin to understand that their academic studies are interrelated and will enrich their lives.