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This St. Louis area dad has 7 kids learning under one roof as the pandemic continues

2020 is changing the way of learning for many, including this Ballwin family

BALLWIN, Mo. — On Monday, over 20 school districts in the St. Louis area had their first day back to school.

RELATED: Back-to-school guide: Social distancing, virtual learning, classroom safety

This new learning experience can be a handful.

5 On Your Side spoke to one dad who can testify to that, since he has seven children all learning under one roof.

Jim Kerber has had plenty of first days back to school.

He has eight children, seven currently in the Rockwood School District.

2020 is changing the way of learning for many, including the Kerber family.

That's why he's upgraded his Wi-Fi speed since all seven kids are going virtual.

"When all the kids were here and if everyone was on their calls, some people were getting booted off and stuff like that. So we just wanted to make sure that that wasn't going to happen this year," Kerber explained.

5 On Your Side's Justina Coronel asked Kerber, "So there are seven kids in their own rooms with their own desk basically learning?"

"That's the ideal plan. I'm sure some of the other kids, my son... he might be sitting up in his bed and not at his desk," Kerber responded with laughter.

Monday morning, Kerber needed to get a COVID-19 test before going back to work.

But as he was there, he found out, his kids were also getting tested in their own way.

While he was waiting for his test, he recorded a video and said, "Well, I'm in the lab room, trying to get my lab test just got a message from the Rockwood School District that all the phone lines are down and working to get that resolved."

As his kids were logging on, Zoom suffered a partial outage.

The company says it affected meetings and video webinars nationwide.

"My one daughter, seventh grader, her call wasn't affected at all. But the fifth grader, you know her call was, so it's just hit or miss," Kerber told 5 On Your Side.

Zoom said it seemed to resolve the issue before noon. 

RELATED: Zoom is back online after outage impacts schools, businesses

Kerber said these hiccups are inevitable no matter what school, but he is thankful that his children can interact with others.

"They do a good job making sure during the Zoom calls at the beginning of the Zoom calls all the kids get a talk and stuff like that," he added.

While Kerber says this is a whole new learning experience for them, he's optimistic.

"Having all the kids under one roof is just a special thing to begin with. So the fact that we could prolong it, it's a great experience. We're spending more time with their kids. Now, we'll see how it goes a couple weeks into it, but we'll take it as a positive," Kerber says.

A spokesperson with the Rockwood School District says they were able to work on the phone issues and overall, the day went well.

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