Another Ridiculous Take-Home Project

Evan and Alli were assigned yet another ridiculous project by their teachers. This one was a robot that was supposed to have to do with geometric solid figures, and I think their story in their reader for next week is supposed to be about robots and things they can do. So, we had to make robots. Now, seriously, how many first graders do you know that are able to create a robot on their own. I mean, I know they're out there, but they're classified more as prodigies, or kids with parents with a lot of free time, which are few and far between these days. So, as we were wrapping our Girl Scout cookie boxes and toilet paper tubes in foil, Evan mentions that a little girl in his class brought in a robot that was as tall as her. I don't mean to be ugly, but I happened to teach this little girl's older brother, and had more than one conference with the parents, and I'm very comfortable with the ability levels of this family. There's no way that girl made that robot herself. I'm also just not in the mood to be that competitive parent -- I just don't have the energy right now. The robots turned out cute enough, and I had them write up their little description about rectangular prisms and cylinders, and Evan and Alli were definitely pumped about their little teeny robots. But, I'm still searching for a way to tactfully tell their teachers that whoever it is on the 1st-grade team that is coming up with these bright ideas for take-home projects needs a reality check!