Homework Battles

I hate homework.  I hate it more now, as a parent, than I did when I was in school and had to do to the homework myself.  My daughter is only in the first grade and might hate homework even more than I do.  She whines and flops around in her chair and stalls and pretends to not understand (when I know full well she does) and all this leads to homework taking so much longer than it should and putting everyone in a bad mood.  The problem is not that she doesn't get it - I think I could handle that much better - it's that she just flat out hates it and will try to find any way to get out of doing it. 

So I was ECSTATIC when a note came home this week that said there would be no spelling test this week, no weekly math packet and no weekly dictation to practice.  That basically meant she would have a simple page or two (some kind of worksheet) each night.  Glorious!!  Or so I thought...

Yesterday she brought home a worksheet about plants and seeds.  She had to read a short paragraph about different plants/fruits/vegetables and their seeds and then find things at home that have seeds and list them.  It gave examples of things you might find, such as apples and pumpkins.  This is what followed:

Me: What kinds of things inside our house have seeds?
Ella looks around the living room then looks back at me.
Me (trying another approach): Where in the house do you think you will find things with seeds?
Ella again glances around the living room and now the dining room.
Me: How about the kitchen?
Ella: Yes!  (Then stares at me again.)
Me: So why don't you go look in the kitchen and see if you can find things with seeds in them?
Ella proceeds to walk to the kitchen, stand in the middle of the room and look completely lost.
Me (very proud I am not 100% frustrated yet): How about the refrigerator?  Do you think you might find things in there with seeds in them?
Ella walks to the refrigerator and stares at the door.
Me (frustration encroaching): Open the refrigerator door.  Open the drawer where we keep the fruits and vegetables.  What do you see in there?
Ella roots through the veggie drawer and finds a green pepper.  She then goes to close the refrigerator.
Me: NO!!  First, you have to shut the drawer.  Second, why don't you check the drawer below that were we keep the fruit?
Ella follows orders and finds some apples and pears.  She returns to the table and starts writing "green pepper" then stops and stares at me yet again.
Me (oh holy geez): What else did you see in there with seeds?
Ella: Cucumbers have seeds.
Me (taking deep breaths): Did you see a cucumber in our refrigerator?
Ella: No
Me: What else did you see?
Ella finally remembers the apples and pears and writes them down.  We moved on to what we could find outside and had a much easier time coming up with pine cones and flowers. 

Homework complete after nearly 30 minutes.  For just one worksheet.  I think the assignment could be "Watch as many cartoons as possible" and Ella would still find a way to make it difficult.