Honest Homework

 So, Sparkle had a simple writing assignment for homework.  She was to write the given words I, a, is, to and it from a word box into the blanks spaces in order to make sentences.  We hit a snag, however, and Sparkle became quite upset and resistant to completing her work.  She did so, but with commentary:

It is a hot day.  "That's not right.  No, it is a cool day."

I am happy.  "No!  I am MAD.  This paper isn't right."

I like it.  "No, I don't like it.  It's wrong."

We are going to lunch.  "We do NOT go to lunch; it is SNACK."

I see a  cat   dog.   "No.  We do not have a dog.  I see a cat!"

There were many tears of frustration.  The teacher and I agree that it was extra hard because it was not what Sparkle observed, and the sentences were not what actually happened around her.  She did not like the sentences she was completing to not reflect her reality.  In fact, she hand wrote in "cat" to make the last sentence match our kitty observing the homework from the other side of the table.  (As Myth Busters says:  "I reject your reality and substitute my own!")

And in fact, most of the writing Sparkle has done thus far with me, and at school has been dictated, in which she says what she wants to write, and I put it down on a slate or scrap piece of paper, and then Sparkle writes it on her paper.  Her writings reflect observations she makes about her environment, or things she has just done, or things she wants to know.  Writing that is not what is breaks the "rules" she learned thus far.