PASADENA, Calif. – When the pandemic hit in March, Pilar Oliva suddenly found herself juggling work, childcare, and teaching practically overnight. It was stressful to say the least.

“I had to ask the teacher, like, can you give us a schedule that resembles yours so we know what to do?,” Oliva said. “Because it’s all kind of up in the air. There’s paperwork, there’s all these things and assignments that we have to do, but if we can kind of mimic it?”

What You Need To Know

  • When the pandemic hit in March, Pilar Oliva suddenly found herself juggling work, childcare, and teaching practically overnight

  • With a new school year starting remotely, Oliva is nervous about keeping her two young sons occupied

  • Oliva would prefer having her boys safely attend class in-person part of the week

  • The mother says her sons would benefit from the social interaction with their peers and that they take direction better from a teacher

Over the past few months, she’s managed to keep her boys, 8-year-old Rocco and 5-year-old Luca, occupied. But with a new school year starting remotely, she’s nervous. For Luca, it’s his first year in kindergarten, and Rocco is going into third grade.

“Now I have two kids that I’m going to have to sit down and say, 'this is what you need to do,'” she said. “It’s a little overwhelming.”

Both will attend Long Fellow Elementary School in Pasadena virtually. But Oliva says if her boys could safely attend class in-person part of the week, she would want that, especially for Luca. He’s starting a dual-immersion Spanish language program.

“I would, no doubt, want him there as much as possible because he would benefit from the immersion part. In kindergarten, it’s 90-10, so 90% of it is in Spanish, 10% of it is in English,” Oliva said. “That’s not going to happen at my house.”

Oliva doesn’t speak any Spanish but even if she cannot fill the language void, she hopes Luca will learn some this year in his virtual classes. As for Rocco, a hybrid learning plan would be good for him, too. Oliva says he would benefit from the social interaction with his peers and he takes direction better from a teacher.

“I remember being in third or fourth grade, having my mom do math homework with me and I would, like, yell at her and say, 'that’s not how you do it!'" Oliva said. “So tables have turned because he’s the one doing it with me.”

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Oliva counts herself lucky to have a flexible job. She’s a real estate broker and sets her own hours while her husband must head into an office during the day. Her 80-year-old dad will come by and help watch her sons sometimes, but for the most part, it’s up to her to make sure they do their school work during the day.

“It’s a dilemma. I want them to go back to school. I want to have my time back because I’m spreading myself really thin, but I also don’t want to jeopardize the health and safety of my kids, of another family,” she said.

For now, she’s doing the best she can juggling work and family life at home.