Read 1st Grader's Sassy Note on Math Homework That Got Him 'Extra Credit'

Jul 22, 2023

The sassy note a child left on his math homework has left the internet in stitches.

Alex Helms from Charlotte, North Carolina, (u/pantherfanalex) shared his 6-year-old son's first-grade homework on Reddit's r/funny subreddit. With over 22,000 upvotes and more than 1,700 comments, the page showing his math work has delighted thousands.

The question read: "Find 6 + 1. Show your work." The young boy had correctly answered it, writing "7" in the space, but where he was asked to show his work, he had written: "Because I know."

"We were hanging out at the house this weekend, and my wife called me over to show me his quiz," Helms told Newsweek. "She pointed out the answer on the back. I cracked up because I had a ton of trouble with showing my work in school, too."

In the post on Reddit, the dad joked, "My son is not a fan of showing his work..." and thousands of people loved the hilarious response.

"Tbf [To be fair], showing one's work in this scenario would be him just rewriting the problem and be a waste of his time lol [laugh out loud]," joked Reddit user Klone211. Others questioned how you would show the working for the math problem.

CipherXI wrote: "It's 6+1. The hells he supposed to do?"

"Honestly, I was never a fan of it either," posted BlazeSaber on Reddit. "Mostly because I could show my work, get the correct answer, and still get it wrong because I didn't show the method the teacher wanted."

Helms said that to show the working would involve a diagram; for example, by drawing six circles, plus one circle, to equal seven circles.

The dad said he was inspired to share the homework on Reddit because it cracked him up. "I shared it with my family, and, being a frequent Redditor, I thought I would share it there, too," Helms said. "When I went to bed, it was like 1,000 upvotes, and woke up to over 19,000. Wild.

"I showed it to him in the morning, and he didn't really understand what was funny," Helms said. He added that, because his son is good at math, he genuinely thought that he had the answer right when asked to show his work.

"He just understands math really well in his head," Helms said. "So, he figured that was his work. It should be noted that his teacher is fantastic and is working with him on showing his work. She gave him extra credit for the question!"

Of course, this isn't the first time homework has gained viral attention, like the little girl who gave a sweet answer to an assignment question in 2022. Meanwhile, other homework posers have left people stumped, like the fifth grader's math question in October 2022 that was described as bonkers.