Logan had his first homework assignment of what will be many sent home yesterday. I’m the dork that likes homework, so I was kind of excited in my own dorky way. I remember making up homework assignments for my classroom of ten stuffed animals. Fun times. Racky Racoon was always at the head of the class. Teacher’s pet and all. I set some homework rules.

1. It is to be done at the table.

2. Preferably when his brothers are preoccupied with other things.

3. My husband and I can’t be overbearing.

Logan’s assignment was to “write name 3 times and practice counting to 20.” Okay. First of all, “write his name,” would this be just his first name or his whole name? Excuse me teachers can you please be specific. Am I seriously confused with kindergarten homework instructions? We did his first and last name for good measure. Luckily he doesn’t have a name like Anastasia Stephanopolous (parents be nice to your kinds when chosing a name, although beautiful it’s a lot to write.) By name #3 he was already telling me his hand was tired of doing this. Great, this is what I have to look forward to for the next twelve years. I bribed him with a single candy corn. “Just finish it with a smile buddy.” Now onto counting to 20. Is he supposed to write down the numbers or just verbally count to me? Counting is just verbal I assume. The instructions say nothing about writing. He then proceeded to count by 10s for some apparent reason. “ThirTEEN buddy, not ThirTY.”

So we completed our first homework assignment unscathed. However, there was another paper behind the homework sheet. A school assignment that was done incorrectly and had to be redone. My husband and I looked it over and realized that he obviously wasn’t told what he was supposed to do. Parent’s first instinct…how could this happen my child is brilliant! There were six numbered boxes with different pictures in them. One had ten birds, another eight seals, you get the picture. You were supposed to count how many animals were in each box and write the number down. Logan wrote the “number” down. For box 1.) he wrote 1, for box 2.) he wrote 2.  I explained the directions to him and he easily completed the assignment. I then had to explain to him that he needed to make sure he listened to the directions and if he had a question he needed to raise his hand and ask his teacher. All I got from him was shoulder shrug. Now I can’t help thinking, did the teacher even explain the assignment to them, or was my child just not paying attention? I’m worried that this class of 25 kindergarteners is way too many for just one teacher to handle.

All in all we got through our first homework session, and re-do school work session calmly and with a smile. On to the next.