Too "smart" for homework?

Calvin's school gave a handout of homework to do before school.  It is a way to assess where the child is and to encourage the parent to teach the kid to do things like: tying shoes, holding pencils correctly, etc.  Here are some examples.

Draw a line from the upper case to the lower case letters.  The page didn't have a lower case a.  I didn't notice and asked him if he thought he could do that page.  He looked at it for a few seconds and said, "Mom, this doesn't even have a lower case a!  Why did they ask me to draw a line from the upper case to the lower case if it isn't even on the page?!"

Fill in each number with the correct color.  

ones- blue

twos- red, etc.   

He started to color in the numbers and within 2 minutes he said, "But what about zero?  Zero is a number and they didn't tell me what color to fill it in.  (insert frustrated and confused tone).  I said, well, this homework is to help you follow the directions.  That means do what they say to do.  He said, "But they said to Fill in each number with the correct color.  Zero is a number and they didn't give me a color!"  Ok, let's say that zero is white and we don't color it in.  "But they said to fill in...  If I pretend they said white and don't color it then I am not filling it in!"  

We resolved it by inserting our own instructions for the number zero.  He chose tan.  

Fill in your phone number in the boxes below.  "But I don't have a phone."

I thought doing homework with Calvin was very entertaining.  I was telling Brian about it and all he could do was criticize the grammar.  Ha!  Calvin is a mini Brian in EEEEVVERRRRRRRY way!  These guys crack me up!