Then there's the 6th grade summer math project that my autistic son will have to do.
I initially misread this as "6th Grade Summer Project."
Nope: it's "6th Grade Summer Math Project"
A Festive Meal
For this project, you will help to plan and prepare a festive meal with family and friends. It can be for a special occasion, like a holiday barbecue or a birthday party, or just a nice dinner at home. You must:
-Assemble your project as a booklet or on a poster.
-Write a brief introduction that describes the event--What was the occasion? When did it take place? Where was it held? Make a list of everyone who came to the meal.
-Show the menu for the meal.
-Make an itemized list of everything you bought for the meal showing how much each item cost and find the total, or you can include the receipts from stores.
-Write down a recipe for a main dish, dessert or salad that was served at the meal.
-Save the label from a purchased item and copy everything included in the "Nutrition Facts."
-Describe something from the meal that involves numbers. Be creative. For example, how many candles were on the cake? How many miles did your cousin from out-of-sate have to drive? How many coals were in the grill? How many cookies did you eat? How many trash bags did you need when you cleaned up? Etc.
-Include photos if you have them or draw an illustration.
Of special interest:
1. The exhortation, ubiquitous with this sort of open-ended project, to "be creative."
2. The ratio of effort to learning. Particularly if we factor in the efforts of parents and factor out that which has nothing to do with math.