Sebastian is one of more than a million students forced to suddenly shift to learning from home three weeks ago, a change that has turned the lives of parents upside down.
"For me, it's been a huge change," his mom, Jenny Ulloa, said.
NY1 assembled a virtual panel of three parents to tell us how they're juggling work, family, and schooling while stuck at home. A sign of how hard that is: mom Caroline Wong shared her experience while her four-year-old daughter played with her hair.
"I have to keep this one busy -- obviously I have my new hairdo now. She does remote learning, which is a really difficult thing for her just because what her school emphasizes is all about learning through play," Wong said.
Ulloa, Sebastian's mom, balances working full time with helping Sebastian, who is dyslexic, adjust to the online reading and writing now required of him.
"He was asking me how to spell things every two seconds, and then at one point I asked him to ask Alexa how to spell words, but then she just kept spelling words all day long over and over again," she said.
She worries about the intensive phonics and reading help he's missing out on, as well as counseling he received at school that's on hold.
"It'll be four or five weeks since he's had those sessions, and there's a lot of emotions that come to play," he said.
Tamika Hall is juggling three school-age children and her job closing doors and setting boundaries for important work calls.
"But sometimes I hear the commotion and I'm like, wait--"
"Or, who is fighting? And why are they fighting? Can you stop fighting?" Wong jumped in to add.
Hall also had to scramble to buy new Chromebooks just to get all her kids online at the same time, with the school sending home just one laptop per family.
"I was like, 'Ok, you know, I'll try to work it out,' and then when I saw what the schedule was going to be, I was like, 'Are you kidding me? This is a joke, I can't do this.'"
Parents say support is key to getting through all of this. Wong has a group text string with other parents at her children's schools.
"If you are confused, I constantly ask them and I don't feel scared and they tell me things like, 'Oh, we gave up today,' and I'm like, 'We too!'" Wong said.
There are plenty of setbacks. The important thing, these moms say, is bouncing back.
"You'll cry. Your child will cry. You might have some screaming matches. But be patient, because there's always a solution to problems," Ulloa said.