The answer to this question can be found in chapter 4. The Allen family has a homework policy called "Homework First." This means that Mr. and Mrs. Allen require their children to do any assigned homework right when they get home. Nick's brother grumbled about the rule his entire educational career; however, the rule taught James how to be diligent with his studies and focus on time management. Once in college, James wrote a letter home to his parents thanking them for teaching him how to put "first things first." Mr. and Mrs. Allen take that letter as definitive proof that their Homework First policy should be law from September to June.

Readers are then told that Nick never really minded the rule all that much before because he never had enough homework for the rule to put a dampener on fun. Now that Nick is in Mrs. Granger's class, however, the Homework First rule is a real nightmare. The weather is great, and Nick can hear neighborhood kids outside playing baseball, but Nick is not able to join them because he has to copy down the definitions for 35 vocabulary words. On top of that, Nick also has to research and prepare a report for Mrs. Granger that is due the next day.