A pair of frustrated local parents have played their ultimate education trump card in just the second week of home schooling. Ben and Lisa Nelson made the bold decision earlier today during a particularly heated maths lesson, dismissing their children for lunch before rummaging around in the garage to look for the trusty old box TV on a wheelable frame.

While the Nelsons claimed they didn’t intend on resorting to the iconic piece of educational equipment until at least halfway through Term 2, they said the expectation of having to balance their usual full-time jobs with the full-time tutelage of their children was unrealistic. As the children returned from their lunch time play, they sat transfixed at this alien piece of technology that was now standing in their lounge room, and looked on with genuine bemusement as their father tried to get the VHS player to work.

Reflecting on their bold strategy, Lisa told The Watsonia Bugle, “I have nothing but fond memories of those things, so hopefully this next generation can enjoy them as much as I did. I know they didn’t usually come into peak usage until later in each Term, but I’m already a mess. Year 7 maths is a lot harder than I remembered.”

Meanwhile, Ben happily informed us that the initial programming was well received by his children, but he was looking forward to their responses towards the end of the lesson. He said, “They loved it at first, I mean, who doesn’t love a good old fashioned bludge lesson? But I can’t wait until we tell them that you can’t just change the movie at the touch of a phone screen, and you have to rewind the tape at the end of the show. This Netflix generation has no idea how good they’ve got it. Haha.”

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