There are a ton of articles about online education resources right now, when so many of us are trying to work from home, take care of children, and keep an eye on older relatives all the same time. None of this helps those of us with small children very much. There are a ton of educational materials available, but very young children are still going to need constant attention in order to make the most of them, and you would also need to somehow find some prep time away from the children in order to make the most of them. For most of us, there is almost no time away from the children, and if we get a precious few moments we may want to invest them in our own mental health, maintenance of which is necessary for the children in the long run. The only advice I have there is for adults to take shifts to give each other some down time if possible, and spend that precious limited downtime on things like exercise (outside if at all possible), yoga, meditation, hobbies like gardening or reading things that are fun and not stressful. I am finding the situation moderately stressful, but I recognize it is much harder for lower income people, single parents, people in the medical field, and anyone who is sick or taking care of someone who is sick.

Anyway, now that I have said they are not helpful, here are a few resources I have come across in the last few days. Some of these are Philadelphia-area specific but other cities might have similar things.

• Philadelphia Zoo “Live at 2”, 2 p.m. weekdays on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/philadelphiazoo/
• Elmwood Park Zoo: a smaller zoo that has something similar at https://www.facebook.com/EPZoo/
• “free online schedule maker”: make a visually interesting schedule and maybe you can persuade family members to cooperate for a few days as opposed to a few minutes: https://schedulebuilder.org/
• online history materials – these look like they would require preparation at start at grade 4 and above: https://learn.newamericanhistory.org/
• Academy of Natural Sciences (this is Philly’s small-ish but well run natural history museum) “science at home” lessons – again, these look good but require preparation: https://ansp.org/exhibits/science-from-home/
• “academic skill builder” online games: some of these look as though they might actually be fun: https://www.arcademics.com/

To my fellow parents, I really do wish you all the best. To those thinking about becoming parents, being a parent really is a wonderful, rewarding experience on balance. It’s just that if you live in a country without much family or government support, and plan to work full time while raising said children, you should be aware that you are giving up pretty any semblance of personal leisure time for several years until they become more independent.