Helping kids with their homework can be a daunting task, and one that sometimes leads you to wonder whether you really are as smart as you think.
These confusing activities do just that, leaving parents around the world baffled as to how they can find the answer.
From maths problems to English quizzes, these tasks are a challenge to solve - unless you can help?
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A mum has asked for help over her six-year-old's homework question.
Taking to Reddit, the stumped parent wrote, ?"Silent E so it isn't below.. any ideas?? Ignore the E she was just guessing."
Any guesses as to what this mystery word is?
One commenter provided a slight hint: ?"I like how the exercise gives the student a clue about letter size; the boxes for the 'h' and 'd' are taller to accommodate their relative height.
"Maybe obvious for us adults but a nice little undeclared nuance for the student to observe."
If you haven't figured it out yet, here is one final clue from another helpful user: ?"It's too hot. I need to go stand in the -----."
The answer is the word shade!?
A mum has shared her kid's homework online and ?she's not the only one who can't figure out how to solve the three-letter puzzle.
"?Several adults with advanced degrees could not solve this kindergarten homework," read the post on Reddit.
Despite the task being designed for very young children, even Reddit users struggled to find the right way to solve it.
Some were convinced the woman in the final picture represents a bride, while others thought maybe her hair was the clue.
"Wig" suggested several people, judging by her rather large hair.
One person suggested, "Wed? Is that a bride??"
'Wed' was the correct word, although it kicked off another debate in the comments. ?
?"Why would a kindergartener know the word 'wed' yet? Most adults use the term married or wedding? And that looks like a nun, not a bride..." replied one person.
Another commented, "She needs to have a bouquet or something. As is, she looks nothing like bride. That does not look like a wedding dress or bridal veil. Clearly a nun." ?
A? frustrated parent has shared a photo of their son's primary school maths question that has been marked wrong with a large red cross by a teacher.
The parent believes her son's answer is correct and shared it on Reddit's 'Mildly Infuriating' thread.
The question asked: "Write an addition equation that matches this multiplication equation? 3x4=12."
The son wrote: 3+3+3+3=12, which as far as they and their son are concerned, is correct.
The teacher said the only correct answer is: 4+4+4=12.
"I would definitely confront the teacher on this," one said.
"Confront her about the 2 in her '12' while you're at it," another suggested.?
One Redditer suggested contacting the teacher via "private email" to challenge the mark.
"Math teacher's not adding up," one joked.?
Another argued the teacher was correct because they used the least values possible to solve the equation, although this wasn't specified as necessary in the question.
?Others shared shared multiple stories of teachers getting it wrong.
"I was shouted at by my music teacher for saying some bass guitars have 5 strings," one shared. "He insisted they all had 4 and made fun of me in front of the class.
"The next week, I brought my 5 string bass in to prove him wrong and he yelled at me again lol.?"
Another shared: "Had a spelling test one year, got every answer right except the word "mortgage" (teacher said it was spelled morgage). Re-did the test later in the year and spelled it "morgage" to appease the teacher and she told me it was spelled "mortgage". Still sh-ts me to this day?."
A? seemingly simple maths problem presented to a student has sparked outrage at so-called "new age" maths, which requires the student to think outside of the box to pose possible solutions.
One such maths problem has been shared on Reddit's 'Face Palm' thread.
It asks: "Tell how to make 10 when adding 8+5."
The student answered: "You can not make 10 with the 8+5."
This, according to the teacher was incorrect. They explained: "Yes you can. Take 2 from 5 and add it to 8 (8+2=10). Then add 3."
Redditers were not impressed. The original poster shared a screenshot of the question along with the comment: "Why would you teach like this?"
Many felt the question would have been easier to answer had it been explained differently.
"The question is worded strangely for the result they were wanting," one person commented.
"I feel like the question could've been worded better," another said.
"I think they mean 'use a make ten strategy to solve 8+5,'" one persn suggested.
Another joked: "I need to explain this math to my bank. I'm not overdrawn you just need to move the decimal point over 4 then add some of the money over there to here. Problem solved and I'm off to buy tools. Thanks."
"Basically the difference between rote memorisation and theoretical understanding," one Redditer explained.
?"It looks like the purpose of this lesson is to teach students how to add 8 and 5 by using increments of 10s as a shortcut. But the wording of the question and the explanation is awful," added another.
The parent of a nine-year-old has found themselves struggling with a maths problem given to their child.
"I can't even solve it," they share on Reddit's 'Ask Math' thread.
"My son is quite gifted with numbers but I thought this problem was pretty advanced for a 9 year old, right?
"I tried to solve it (I'm no math geek) but I'm having some trouble. Any thoughts?"
The activity states: "In a number pyra?mid, each number in the middle and top rows is the sum of the two numbers below it." A sample pyramid is then posed before presents "another number pyramid with three numbers missing."
The missing numbers are represented by a heart and a star, with options given for the number value these reflect.
Some Redditors thought the activity may contain a 'typo' leaving in impossible to solve.
?A consensus is soon reached.
"Wow, every single post is waaaay overcomplicating this, even the highest vote getters," one comment explains.
"We don't care what star equals or what heart equals. We just need their sum."
T?he answer has been explained here as simply as possible with the star representing 40 and the heart representing 7.
40 minus 7 equals 33 so the correct answer, according to the forum, is B.
"This is how I solved too. Simple," one agreed.
"That's so genius. I def went a very trad and long winded way lol?," another said.
"The fact that it is this straight forward is killing me. I did it the complicated way and then saw this," said another. "It's a good example of overthinking a problem."
So, Reddit to the rescue for maths-challenged parents again.?
A? child has been praised for giving an 'incorrect' answer to a perplexing homework question, which has been shared on Reddit's 'Funny' thread.
"Joe asked Emma, 'Would? you rather have 3 dimes and 14 pennies, or 4 dimes and 2 pennies?'" the question posits.
"If you were Emma, what would you say?"
It then requests the child explain their answer.
The child calculates the amount of each coin combination, the first one being 44 cents and the second 42 cents.
The child answers that they would like the four dimes and two pennies, which the teacher marks as incorrect because the first combination is more.
Under "explain your answer" the child has written "it's an opinion."
Redditers defended the child's responses, with one commenting: "Poorly put question, you should not ask for preference when there is only 1 right answer."?
One jokingly suggested the child chose the lesser amount because "maybe he just doesn't wanna carry all that change around, i feel that?."
"What if the dimes are pre 1964 and the silver is worth more," another suggested.
"42 is obviously the correct answer. Teacher knows nothing of life, the universe, and everything," another said.?
A? bizarre child's homework question has left a parent stumped. "My sons SBAC Practice test," they said on Reddit's 'Funny' thread.
The question reads: "There are 7 days in a week. There are 42 days in the month of February. How many times as many days are there in February than are in one week?
The answer options are:
A. 5 times
B. 4 times
C. 6 times
D. 30 times
Putting aside the fact February does not have 42 days in it, nor does any month, it seems like an unnecessarily convoluted way to ask the student to divide 42 by 7, so the answer is C. 6 times.
Redditers were equally baffled.
"If Big Brother says there are 42 days in February, then there are 42 days in February," one said.
"It was written by a first grader to be answered by a fifth grader," another commented.
Another said: "Yeah I came here hoping someone could explain the answer lol. My brain exploded trying to read it, even after the fifth time."
"Is this an actual sentence? I can't understand the question," one Redditer commented.
"These tests suck all the joy and wonder out of learning," another said.?
A? frustrated parent has shared a photo of their child's seemingly impossible-to-solve homework.
"My son's paper maze is impossible," they wrote on Reddit's 'Mildly Interesting' thread.
?The homework is a simple circular maze which indicates her son start at the bottom, only for him to be blocked without any options, bringing him to an abrupt halt.
"Preparing kids to the real life," one Redditer suggested.
"I guess that explains the expression on that bottom triangle, LOL," another joked.
One Redditer said: "It's because you're not thinking in the 4th dimension."
"It's good for children to be introduced at a young age to the realities of unattainable goals and inevitable failure," another said.
It seems the maze is solveable if the student starts at the centre.
"Start from the centre and work your way out," one Redditer suggested.
"If you use the other end, you can actually solve it, looks like someone goofed up," another said.?
Sometimes, something that seems so simple to one person is anything but to others, and that was the case with this homework question.
A parent who was clearly stumped took to Reddit's HomeworkHelp? community this week to appeal for help with this visual question.
"Alright, I'm blanking out on this one, I need help from the hive mind," the person, who called themselves RhinoG91 wrote alongside a photo of a page of English homework for a first grader.
The poster added that the "black paper covers the word my son thought and I didn't want to sway anybody."
The question asked the student to "Circle the pictures with the same sound sending as..." beside a fish.
The options were a hamburger, a frog, a jar with lid and a spoon.
There were also some strategically placed arrows but it was initially hard to tell if they were pointing to a part of each item, adding to the confusion.
For instance, while some thought the first arrow was pointing to the fish, others believe it was directed at the fin.
So if that is a fin, maybe the burger is a bun. But what about the lid? There is an arrow pointed there too, but not at the spoon, which ends in 'n'. Confused yet? I know we are.
Despite many commenters believing they knew the correct answer, it still isn't clear to us. What do you think?
You can view the answers on Reddit.?
It looks relatively easy, right?
Identify the picture and find its matching three-letter word in the searc?h ¨C each with the middle letter "e".
There's a web, vet, leg, bed, hen and ... thumb?
One parent was so stumped trying to help their child figure out the answer she had no choice but to send it back to the teacher with a note scrawled on it.
"Sorry, we can't figure this one out. Mum" ?
She went hunting in the right place for the answer, uploading the sheet to Reddit, declaring "I need help."
And most knew the answer immediately...
Yes! ?
A frustrated Redditer has taken to the forum for help solving a fifth grade crossword puzzle.
"5th-grade crossword has us all stumped," they wrote on Reddit's 'Mildly Infuriating' thread.
Clues as to the answers seemed vague to most Reddit followers, who suggested different word combinations for the other answers to help with the one below that is stumping the family.
The clue to the missing answer appears to be an educator holding an implement.
The answer ended up being "rattan", which has a disturbing meaning, as explained on the forum.
"Rattan. It is a type of cane or stick used to punish school children. Edit: This was a legitimate for of punishment in Scottish schools until 1982.?"
Helping your child do their homework has to be the biggest downside of parenting.
But at least when they are little it couldn't be too hard, could it?
Try telling that to the Reddit user who posted this photo of a maths problem.
"So confused at a six year old's homework," they wrote in Reddit's 'About Community'.
The question states: "Danny had dropped paint on his book."
Underneath is a drawing of a pain splotch with the word "most" written beside it.
Beneath it are 16 apples arranged in two rows of eight with the word "least" beside it.
"How many apples could be covered by the paint. There cannot be more than 20," continues the question.
The majority of Reddit users discussed the terrible camera angle used for the photo while others surmised it would be easier to answer the question, which was labelled 6b, if they could see 6a.
While some people claimed to understand the question, our favourite comment was this one: "I'm an engineer in my 30s and I didn't get it. I'm in trouble when these six-year-olds hit the workforce."?
Others agreed, with one saying: "When was this published?! Like 1962? It's Rattan, which is a wood that was commonly used for caning kids on their palms or butt."
"Why is no-one talking about how badly designed this crossword is," another added.?
A? children's math's question which seems to be simple at first, has left thousands debating whether the answer is actually that obvious.
The question posted to Twitter by @yawdmontweet? reads, "What is the closest time to midnight?"
The multiple choice question gives four answers to choose from, "A. 11:55 am, B. 12:06 am, C. 11:50 am and D. 12:03am"
?And while it didn't take the majority of people too long to choose option D as their final answer, they were just as quickly second-guessing themselves.
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While 12:03 am is just three minutes after midnight, ?others interpreted the question differently.
They chose option A as the answer 11:55 am as it was the closest to midnight (12 hours and 5 minutes) without going back in time, only forward.
"It says closest 'to' midnight and not 'from' midnight. Stop over-complicating everything. Answer is A," one person commented.
Another argued, ?"The answer is D. None of those 11:00am times falls in the night."
"The question speaks to proximity and not chronology, so the answer is D", agreed another.
And although over 1.4 million people have seen the tweet, it seems they can't come to an agreement on what the answer definitively is.
If you've ever been to a restaurant where there are kids, you'll know ?parents (usually) do their best to keep them quiet and entertained so other patrons can enjoy their meal in peace.
Behold an iPad or, indeed, some form of game or activity, often supplied by the restaurant.
(Oh how I loved the animal mask and pencils supplied by the Black Stump back in the day...)?
Thousands of adults have been left scratching their heads over a word search game printed onto the kids' menu at a restaurant that seems to have one glaring problem. ?
Sharing the puzzle to Reddit, one woman has discovered, "'Roman' is nowhere to be found on the page."
Can you find it? No. No one can.
Because it isn't there.
The post was inundated with comments, with many adults declaring it a ploy to keep kids quiet. ?
"I guess the best way to keep kids busy with a word search is to make it impossible to finish," said one.
Another adult swiftly replied, "I used to work for one of the main companies that writes word searches for these menus. Clients would often request that a word be omitted for this exact reason."
WOW. Mind blown.
Many people were equally shocked.
"That's not cool at all," said another.
"Wonder if it has the unintended (or possibly intended) effect of keeping kids busier and therefore quiet for longer."
"Parents to kids: keep looking, it's gotta be there!?"
"It's how we teach children what it's like working a 9-5. Just look busy, and wait until it's time to eat or leave," joked another.
"It teaches children the disappointing realities of real life."
This maths question and the teacher who provided it are both wrong.
That's the consensus from the responses to this head-scratching ?equation.
"My daughter's homework. Teacher says that answer is two. I guess I don't understand the question," ?Reddit user Fitz_Fool captioned a post with a snap of a page from a maths book.
The comments came in thick and fast, numbering close to 2000.
"Does the question ask how many rhombi are needed?" one person asked.
"I just realised that was a hexagon and not a cube," another posed.
Another individual claimed the teacher was incorrect, but more likely the "test key is wrong".?
"As worded, the question asks how many rhombi are needed to form 6/3 (two wholes). The whole shape is NOT a rhombus, it is a hexagon," they wrote.
"The only correct answer is: "It takes 6 rhombi to form 2 hexagons".
"The question that would be correctly answered as "2" is some variation of: How many hexagons can be created from 6 rhombi.?"
We'll put our calculators away now.?
One dad has been left fuming over the reason their young child's homework was apparently marked 'wrong'.
He shared a photo of the offending homework activity to Reddit, keen to hear what other adults made of the teacher's strange act.?
"My kid's kindergarten teacher marked the answer as wrong because they didn't say the worksheet was fun," the confused parent wrote.
The worksheet consisted of eight statements, with ?the instruction to circle whether the statement is true or false.
The last statement reads: "This was fun"? to which the child gave the thumbs down.
The teacher was apparently not pleased?, marking it as incorrect.
Other adults immediately jumped on the post, equally baffled by the activity and the teacher's black mark. ?
"I'd be having a talk with that teacher," said one. "Kid should be allowed to have that opinion."
"I'm about to be 30 and I'd fail kindergarten," commented another.
"This is BS. What's the point of a true/false quiz if the questions are mostly subjective?" remarked a third.
Several teachers even weighed in. ?
"I teach English as Second Language to Kindergarteners and I'm so confused about what this worksheet is even testing."
"This is a terrible assignment with very little educational value," said another.
"As a teacher, don't even worry about what grades your kids get. At least not until high school. Let your kid know that their answer was an acceptable answer.
"Teach your kids that the teacher is not always right."?
One mum was left so confused by her son's English homework, ?she shared it to a parents' Facebook page for help.
"My son got sent this home from school. Prefixes," she wrote. "Hoping one of you smart bunch can help. He had to use them all but we can find where 'de' should go."
Many adults chimed in, equally as perplexed as poor mum.
"His name is deGeorge?"? joked one.
"De end?" laughed another.
"I'm an English teacher and have been staring at this for what feels like years! De shouldn't go anywhere. If you need to use all the prefixes, the question is wrong," said a third.
"Looks like a red herring to me. One to throw him off. Don't need to use it," agreed a fouth.
Others dismissed the entire concept of homework entirely.?
"Children do enough at school. Why homework? That's what I say."
In a follow-up comment, the mum clarified the correct solution.
"Thanks for all the comments guys... turns out you don't have to use them all It's been driving me mad for days?."
"Jesus it took 200 comments to figure this out," declared another mum.
When asking people whether they could complete homework set for a child in Kindergarten, the answer is usually yes without a moment's hesitation.
One parent however found themselves stumped by a homework activity requiring their child to write a word that matches the image on the page.
Posted to Reddit by a confused parent, the homework directions read out: "Tap out the word in the picture and write the sounds you hear."
The homework page was dedicated to the letter 'T', and with the child matching the word 'tub' to an image of a bath tub, 'ten' to an image of the number ?and 'top' to the image of a spinning top, the child ¨C and parent ¨C became stuck at the image of some rabbits playing in a pen.
Aside from those commenting on the beautiful handwriting accomplished by the young boy, many took to the comments to share their hilarious rendition of what they thought the answer should be.
"Too many damn rabbits," one wrote.
"Tast & Turious," another joked.
One serious attempt at solving the question received over 20,000 votes
"Has to be pet," they wrote.
"These kinds of worksheets try to make the last one more difficult by switching the sound of the letter to the end of the word to try and throw the kid off?."
"?Or Kit, Baby bunnies are kits," another suggested.
