Why I love 3rd Graders

The other day in history we were reading about Ivan the Great. I was unsure how much Elijah was actually getting. He was drawing pictures of pillaging and plundering, but was he actually understanding what I was reading? 


Well, after coloring his picture he had to write a few sentences about what he had drawn. He told me he wanted to write that when Ivan married Sophia the leadership of the  Eastern Orthodox Church fell to Ivan. I was very impressed to say the least. I have a genius for a son! Not only was he listening, he understood and could repeated it back to me! Wow.  


I suggested he might also want to write something about  Ivan driving the Tatar Mongols out of Russia. He looked at me and started laughing! " Mom, they didn't have cars back then."