The sudden daily disruption brought on by Coronavirus can be difficult to fathom. Just a week ago, no one could have anticipated that millions of people would working from home while trying to keep children occupied with an unexpected break from school or daycare.
Coronavirus presents far more serious challenges than trying to balance work and family commitments while practicing social distancing. Here at Redpoint, we understand that everyone’s health and safety is the top priority in this volatile and uncertain time, and we extend our heartfelt concern for anyone affected by the virus or with a loved one coping with the illness.
For our part, Redpoint is actively following state and federal guidelines for practicing social distancing, including having all non-essential employees working from home. Because most Redpoint employees were already working remotely given the amount of collaboration across office and client locations, this was about as seamless a switch as could be expected.
However, like many of you, dozens of Redpoint employees are faced with a new reality of meeting work responsibilities with children underfoot, some too young to understand that an at-home parent doesn’t automatically equate to fun time, and others who can’t understand why they can’t have playdates to pass the time. If this describes your situation, we thought that providing a few educational resources might help make it a little bit easier to balance this new work-life reality.
Of course, please follow state and federal guidelines for staying safe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention homepage has ample information on Coronavirus guidelines for how to protect yourself, and advice on what to do if you feel sick. It also includes resources for parents and teachers.
Here are a few other helpful resources:
Scholastic Learning at Home: Grade-level appropriate lessons and projects from pre-K through high school.
Virtual Museum Tours: Travel & Leisure put together a dozen virtual tours of renowned museums worldwide, including Van Gogh Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, and the National Gallery of Art.
Virtual Field Trips: Links to virtual field trips to many famous locations, including the San Diego Zoo, Yellowstone National Park, the Great Wall of China, and the U.S. Space and Rocket Museum.
Printable worksheets: Thousands of printable worksheets for toddlers, preschool, and K-12.
PBS Kids Daily Newsletter: A free daily newsletter that includes tips and activities parents can use to help kids play and learn at home.
National Geographic for Kids: Brain busters, quizzes, science experiments, and a “cool stuff” section with information about everything from space and animals to women heroes and U.S. presidents.
While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, and your own school district may have its own recommendations or provide a home-schooling curriculum, we hope that it provides a small measure of assistance for anyone trying to balance work commitments with a completely unexpected school closing. It helps to remember that this is new for all of us, and while it’s a challenging time we can take some comfort knowing we’re all in this together.
On behalf of all of us at Redpoint, we wish the best for you and your families. Stay safe.
