Editorial
Stuff fractions.
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Words or words to that effect came out of my mouth earlier this week as I tried valiantly to assist my daughter with her maths workbook. Let's just say the real words, said in a timely walk outside, were not fit for print.
Just like many households, the O'Brien household is trying to find a groove of parents juggling work and homeschooling two young daughters.
Rather than fight it, I decided to swim with the tide and set my 12-year-old daughter, a Year 7 student at Corpus Christi Catholic High School in Oak Flats, an assignment of writing this week's column. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it because judging by her intro it will be the last one she ever writes _
Hi I'm Ella , my dad is the Editor of the Illawarra Mercury . I don't know how he got the job because he barely knows how to spell .
Anyway I've been homeschooled for two weeks and it has been really fun - except my parents don't know how to do Year 7 maths . The best part is that I can eat when I want. Well, until my mum sees me eating food and says "get back to school work" .
Another good thing is that if I finish early we get to go for a walk - and sometimes get a lolly. One of the bad things is that I can't see my friends, so we just Facetime every day.
Sometimes I finish my work early and get super bored because I have nothing to do. My favourite thing to do is to go on a website explore.org and it has live videos you can watch anytime because I am obsessed with zoos. Everyone is making videos of stuff. For example, my mum and I were watching a clip of a guy who changed the lyrics to Disney songs to make it coronavirus-related and it was hilarious.
The best thing is that your family gets to bond. Like last night we were watching a Missy Higgins concert from the Sydney Opera House and it was the best (my sister wasn't so keen though). And we've played board games as a family.
Overall I think this is and has been an amazing experience that one day I could tell my kids about.
Remember the more you eat the harder it is to get kidnapped. Stay safe and eat cake, love Ella.
Julian O'Brien is the editor of the Illawarra Mercury and, for now, Ella is his daughter.
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