I'm currently experiencing the pleasure of helping my kids through their math homework, in particular through those infamous word problems. I want to be able to teach my kids how to solve these problems for themselves instead of simply telling them the answer. So I decided to start writing down some of the more interesting ones that I've come across, partly as a reference for when my younger kids run across the same problems, but in case this may be useful to others, I figure I'd post them here.
Rather than simply give the answer to each, I try to stress how to get the answer, as the actual answers are not as important as teaching (or learning) how to think through these problems, or in some instances, how to think about a problem in a less obvious but simpler way.
By the way, these are typically the extra-credit or problem-of-the-month problems that my kids bring home, so don't be alarmed if they seem a bit advanced for the grade indicated.