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San Diego families juggling working from home with distance learning

A Del Norte High School father is working to balance his critical healthcare job and distance learning with all three sons at the same high school under one roof.

POWAY, Calif. — The first day of school for Poway Unified students ended Wednesday with some families still figuring out how to work from home with everyone together.

Poway Unified started the year with distance learning and there has been no decision as of Wednesday on if or when on-campus classes will start.

“Working from home and trying to balance that [work] is creating new challenges. It’s a new environment for everyone,” said Thomas Lee, a Del Norte father.

His son, Nathan Lee, started his senior year at Del Norte High School from their basement room.

“It was weird not seeing everybody around school and all the teachers and stuff,” said Nathan.

He said class was fine but he has two young brothers upstairs, a sophomore and freshman, who are also attending Del Norte High plus mom is also upstairs and dad is working from home.

“We went from having a pretty loud household to a library-type situation,” said Thomas Lee.

Thomas has a critical job for Aya Healthcare, working with hospitals to ensure they have enough health workers to deal with a surge in COVID-19 patients.

“It’s really finding that balance and really making sure that I have boundaries when I'm at work and really making sure that I am present with my children when I'm off of work technically,” he said.

As many parents can relate, juggling the first day had its challenges.

“Since they are not eating lunch at school, [we juggle] when do we make lunch? When are your breaks?” said Lee.

With five people online under one roof the Lees had to buy a new router and increase the bandwidth. They dress like they would in the office or class and make sure they don't interrupt Zooms.

“We are basically treating this as a public space versus a private home,” said Thomas.

And there's no after school break; all three boys are usually playing sports at school. For Nathan it's a big year, he's a senior and missing out on milestones and so many unknowns for next year.

“Right now, I'm writing my essays and applying to colleges. It's weird how it is going to work with COVID,” said Nathan.

While juggling work and distance learning, Thomas said the silver lining is cutting down his two-hour commute to a few steps out of the office to spend more time with his family.

“We are all in this together. We have to stay positive and make the most of it,” said Thomas.

The Poway Unified Board meets on Sep. 10 to explore options to return students back to campus for in-person learning.

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