House been crowded during Covid? This Seattle mother of 8 knows the feeling

It's been one year since the pandemic disrupted our lives.

Many businesses sent their employees to work from home just as schools closed up their classrooms. And that left a lot of parents in a bind, having to work from home and make sure their kids kept up with their schoolwork online.

But for other families that home-school their children, it was just another day, another year — or was it?

Dorien Oliver first talked to KUOW a year ago, when Governor Jay Inslee's "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order went into effect. If anyone could prepare parents for what they were about to face, it would be this mother of eight.

Yes, eight.

And needless to say, she still has a houseful on March 24, 2021: her 85-year-old mother-in-law; a 23-year-old; her three teenage daughters, who are 16, 15 and 13; an 11-year-old son, who has acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, a rare and fast-growing cancer; and a 9-year-old son.

Plus, there's herself and her husband to think about. And all while home-schooling their children, which luckily for them, isn't actually new for the family.

Her eldest son and daughter are out of the house. Oliver's eldest daughter got married in a pandemic-appropriate wedding in January.

Her eldest son got Covid (he has since recovered). So did her 11-year-old with lymphoma. He was diagnosed during a routine Covid check before one of his appointments, and he's still testing positive, though he's asymptomatic.

He and his mother have stayed positive.

"He's just always been, you know, he just accepts what's happened," she says. "And he has a really cheerful disposition about it. We're just really careful now."

Hear more with Dorien Oliver by clicking the audio above.