Smith Family Weblog

I nearly forgot about this exchange Ava and I had about her homework project a couple of weeks ago. I shared it with many of you over Thanksgiving, but here’s a quick recap:

Every week, Ava is sent home with a brown paper sack to be filled with something that either starts with a specific letter or is a specific color, etc. At first, we helped her with this pretty extensively; now she wants to do it by herself most weeks.

As I was checking through her assignment for the week of the 24th–a collection of things for which she was thankful–this is what I found.

Me: Ava, what is all of this?

Ava: It’s my homework.

Me: It’s a bag of random stuff. Let’s find some other things.

Ava: NO! This is what I want to take.

Me: Ava, these are silly things. We should find some photos of Olivia or your family or things like that. Things that you are thankful for.

Ava: I am thankful for all of these things, Mom.

Me: You’re thankful for this orange sack? Why? It’s just a sack!

Ava: I got it at J.J.’s birthday party, and I’m thankful that he’s my friend.

Me: Oh. Wow. Okay. But, what about this ball?

Ava: I’m thankful that I get to play ball with Olivia.

Me: …I see. But why the phone? This is actually Olivia’s toy. It’s not even yours.

Ava: But I am thankful for phones because I can call and talk to my family.

Me: Okay, good point, but the puzzle pieces–

Ava: I am thankful for Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. And Minnesota.

Me: Explain Maine, then.

Ava: There’s a lobster on that one. I am thankful for lobsters.

Me: Well, who isn’t. The pager and block?

Ava: I am thankful for playing doctor and for building.

Me: And the duck there?

Ava: It reminds me of swimming, and I’m thankful for swimming with Olivia in the summertime.

Me: Wow. Okay. But seriously, the chip? Why is there a chip in there?

Ava: I just like chips.