Indirect Answer

Every day after school either Mike or I ask Jake the following question:

Do you have any homework?

The other day his answer was, "No."

Here's the rest of the conversation:

Me: You have no homework?

Jake: I mean, I have my home read, my daily reading, and practice my recorder.  But I don't have any math.

This is what we struggle with.  In Jake's mind, if there is no math, then there is no legitimate homework.  Daily reading and recorder practice are just that...daily.  It's a given.  The home read is a worksheet he gets on Monday and it's due on Friday.  If I ask him about homework on Tuesday, clearly this is not something he has to list.  (It is also not uncommon that he leave it out of Thursday's homework listing as well.)

Each day we have to sign his planner and review what was listed for homework.

In our minds, it's all legitimate.