A Less Brilliant Misunderstanding

Again with FF. Again with a misunderstanding, but this time it was mine. Sometimes homework is just really tricky.

FF was rolling along with his Language Arts homework when he asked for help: he had no clue at all what to do with the third line of instructions on this page:

So I had a look at the assignment, mentally running a rough literal translation:

"Act according to the instructions.

We will color the blanket with light blue.

We will circle with a circle a shoe.

We will copy a baby that is small and pleasant to the correct spot."

WAIT, WHAT???? I was fairly certain that I had translated each word correctly, but clearly I was missing something, as that line of instructions made little to no sense. I figured I'd finish to see if anything became clear, but no, the last two lines of instructions were perfectly straightforward and clarified nothing:

"We will color the presents in yellow.

We will color the shoes with blue."

Did that third line really expect a first-grader to copy that fairly complex picture of a baby to... somewhere? Was he supposed to draw a doll? Why that bizarre phrasing of a small and pleasant baby??? It was time to call in the reinforcements, so I sent out a call for help on the parents' WhatsApp group.

Within minutes, I had my answer: "לכתוב תינוק קטן וענוג בשורה שמעל התמונה" - "Write 'A Small and Pleasant Baby' on the line above the picture." Well now, that made sense! 

I thanked the mother who answered me, and was gratified when an Israeli mother responded that she had also been confused. Sometimes, it seems, homework instructions are just poorly punctuated and unclear, even if you aren't an immigrant!

A Brilliant Misunderstanding

Nearly every Friday, the kids' teachers send a brief printout that has about a page of questions covering what they learned that week, to discuss with the kids during the Shabbos meals.

A few weeks ago, FF's questions were from the section of Parshas Toldos that they learned that week. Everything was going normally (FF was answering most questions correctly, being stumped by a few) until this happened:

Husbinator: What did Yaakov tell Esav he wanted for the lentil stew?
FF: His girl.
Me and Husbinator: Wait, what?????
FF: Esav's biggest girl.
Me: Um... I don't think I ever heard that one before... [Getting slightly derailed] Did Esav even have any kids at that point?
Husbinator: No??? What are you---? Look, let's check the answer on page. Whoa, oh my Gosh, does that really say?--
Me: No way.
Husbinator: Wait, no, never mind, it just says--
Me: OH!!!! [Laughing.] Wow, that's amazing. It says בכורה!!!!
Me again to FF: Wow, that's awesome. Yes, I never realized that. OK, so FF, בכורה has two meanings. You're totally right, בכורה can mean a biggest girl, but here, בכורה means being the oldest.
[Husbinator and I proceed to explain what first-born-hood means, still reeling from this brilliant misunderstanding.]

We had a parent-teacher conference the next day, and of course Husbinator told the teacher this story. A few words into the story, the teacher jumped in insisting, no way, I did NOT tell them that nu-uh, no way, he did not hear that from me... Until the teacher also had the epiphany and figured out how FF got there, laughed, and agreed that's awesome.

FF is so cool.