Thursday we drove over to Brooklyn to pick up our new bird! She's adorable. We're all in love. We picked up some food and toys on the way home. W decided he is in charge of changing her water every day. We just sat, talked, and played with her for most of the afternoon. Then W did about an hour's worth of academics.

J went to dance class at about 4pm. Thursdays she has jazz tech and acro. She tried on about 4 costumes that she'll be taking group pictures in tomorrow. These are just to be worn in the recital next month. She has 10 other costumes that she competes with. And since all the competition numbers are in the recital - we're looking at 13 costume changes in 3 hours. And that's just for J. W's in the recital, too.

Today we were all up early since the contractor had to come back with the city inspector to make sure the wiring was done correctly. A couple of things need to be replaced, but it should be quick and painless. The contractor stayed most of the day today to finish up - and he did in fact finish. W got his academic stuff done pretty early today. Then he changed the bird's water and we sat and talked to her for a while. Here's what W did today:

At around 1pm we drove up to the Inwood section of Manhattan to the nature center for an Urban Rangers class with the homeschool group on American Indians. Our park ranger discussed the various trees and animals in the park and talked all about the American Indians who once lived in the area. This park is untouched and as it was for thousands of years. We climbed rocky areas and saw caves that were used for shelter. The ranger talked about the tools and furs the Indians used and the kids went into a full-sized wigwam. W had a lot of fun and met some new kids, too. Here's what the website says:

>>Inwood Hill Park is a living piece of old New York. Evidence of its prehistoric roots exists as dramatic caves, valleys, and ridges left as the result of shifting glaciers. Evidence of its uninhabited state afterward remains as its forest and salt marsh (the last natural one in Manhattan), and evidence of its use by Native Americans in the 17th century continues to be discovered. Much has occurred on the land that now composes Inwood Hill Park since the arrival of European colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries, but luckily, most of the park was largely untouched by the wars and development that took place.<<

This afternoon was picture day at the dance studio. W and J took a bunch of group shots. After all the picture-taking, J and her friends went to a dance at the nearby school. 3 of her best guys friends from dance go to that school and they invited the 4 girls on the team. She got home around 10:30pm.

In the morning, K is taking Regents prep classes at her school. She's sleeping over a friend's so they could go together. Dh and W are heading out to a camping weekend with the cub scouts in the morning. They have been looking forward to this for weeks. Everyone's all packed and ready to go. They're taking the car, so I'm going to have to play a little juggling game getting everyone where they need to be this weekend.

And the new bird is so friggin cute.


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W's academics this week:

- Read 7 A.A. Milne poems

- Daily copywork = First line of one poem (in cursive)

- Phonics workbook 7 pages (3-letter consonant blends, silent consonants)

- Math workbook 8 pages (Rounding to nearest 10, lines, line segments, rays, addition review)

- Read "Casabianca" (Fifty Famous Stories Retold) w/narration

- Read "As you Like It" (Tales from Shakespeare) w/narration

- Read "The Boar and the Fox", "The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion", and "The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat" (Aesop for Children) w/narrations

- Read Paddle to the Sea ch. 23 & 24 (now that we're near the end he wants to pick up the pace, lol)

- Read Parables of Nature "Training and Restraining" (this book is okay. Has a religious "moral" to it, but he likes the stories)

- Said each letter of Spanish alphabet and a Spanish word beginning with each letter. Learned how to say "I want" and "I need", "to go", and "to the" park, office, pool, work, home, movies, etc. We'll practice saying this all week in random conversation.

- Wrote "Franz Liszt" in script and watched the Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, and Victor Borge versions of the Hungarian Rhapsody No 2

- Studied and discussed "The Wanderer Above the Mists" by Caspar David Friedrich. Will created his own interpretation of the painting with watercolors, then wrote out the painting's title and author's name below it.

- We picked a wildflower/weed from the front garden and tried fruitlessly to identify it. I set him up with drawing pencils and the field guide, but he wasn't into it. We're going to start doing the handbookofnaturestudy.com weekly hour challenges, but it got too late today. W loves doing a good nature study. We'll try again next week.