Happy New Year 2010 Miscellaneous things kids say and yodeling.

Today is actually the last day of 2009. It's also the first day of the rest of your life. (By the way, so was yesterday, I just forgot to remind you.)
We have had a great vacation thus far. I asked Tim yesterday if he was enjoying his "vacation" from school. "Oh good," he responded, "we are on vacation. I was afraid if I asked, you would say, "time for school!' ".
I found Lucas in front of the register in the bathroom, soaking up the heat. "My toes are comfy-cozy," he said, "but my back got all melty."
Tim was explaining about ninjas to Sarah, "They can cut through cement with their bare hands!"
Marcus was listening intently, "Where do they get those bear hands, Tim?"
Tim built an elaborate carriage from blocks and was explaining the people and their jobs. "The queen is inside; these are the horses."
"What about that guy on the top?"
"Oh, he's the Heiar."
"The Heiar?"
"Yeah, he says, 'Hei!' to the horses to make them go."

I recently found one of my favorite songs on You-Tube. Yep, it's that yodeling one from the disco saints. "I like to yodel with my friend, Jesus." I am so grateful to be saved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rEod75JTCw

Weekly Wrap Up
Let's see, Lucas had dental surgery Wednesday morning, I contracted a terridl code in my node on Tursday. Aaa-aaa-chooo, and yet, school still happened.. Most days anyway.

Highlights: SCIENCE (Tuesdays and Thursdays) We are learning about invertebrates. Can you name the 8 classifications of invertebrates? We can't yet either, but we are working at it. We learned about regenerating flatworms, jelly fish that weigh 60 pounds, earthworm predators, and I got to share the starfish story again. (You know, the "it made a difference to that one:" one.)

MATH: We also played math games. All you need is a deck of cards for math for young ages. You can play everything from war to base 10 games, and do counting and add and subtract. Base 10 games are where 2 cards have to add up to ten. like a 6 and a 4. We play base ten go-fish, and base ten matching. You can do sorting and matching and even the classic "cards in a hat", where you sit against the wall and take turns chucking the cards toward the hat to see if you can get them in. Actually, this is how I got Tim to start flashcards. If he got it right, he got to throw it. My older two now know older games, like rummy, which develops their strategy thinking. Let me just say, they have beaten me several times. I like TLSbooks.com to find math sheets. Free printable worksheets for preschool through fifth grade

Reading and History: We are working through our McGuffey Readers with 3 spelling words a day, and Tim and I are doing American History. It mentions the presidents and whenever a year is listed, Tim asks me if I was born yet. No, not 1814, no, not 1870....you get the idea. Last weekend he and I watched part of "The Presidents" series on the History Channel and they talked about part of the history we had learned. He also wants to know what dollar bill will have Obama's picture on it.

BIGGEST STRESS: It is tough to school Tim and Sarah and Marc and Luc. I know I did more with Tim and Sarah when they were Marc and Luc's age. I just seem to run out of day. During Wednesday's dance class for Sarah, I have a planned activity, book, and game with M and L so they get that once a week, but it's not once a day like it was with Tim and Sarah. T and S did school every day during Marc and Luc's naptime. I'm gonna rethink the schedule after Christmas, I think.

No field trips this week. We didn't even make it to the library. (yikes!)

http://www.homeschool-your-boys.com/HomeschoolYourBoyscom_News-august.html
This article confirms the journey I have been on in homeschooling my eight-year-old son and my four-year-old twin boys.
I am such a girl. Not only do I think and learn like a "girl", I grew up with sisters and girl cousins. The only boys I knew were at public school or church and they were just awful.Now I have three little boys I adore and I am still learning! Sometimes through trial and error, sometimes through prayer, and sometimes from little tidbits like this article, so I thought I would share.Here's the article:

Boys require a very different educational environment and teaching approach if we are going to help them reach their full potential.
In This Issue:
1. Boys SEE Differently

2. Boys HEAR Differently

3. Boys THINK Differently

4. Boys SEE THEMSELVES Differently

1 - Boys SEE Differently
Males have more rods in their eyes versus cones. Rods help us to see distance and speed. Females have more cones than rods. Cones help us to see color and shape. Because of this difference, boys tend to draw verbs with little color variation in their pictures while girls tend to draw nouns with lots of different colors.
When asked to draw a picture, Sally will draw a house with people and flowers and lots of pretty colors. Steve will draw a tornado which is knocking down a house - and his picture will look like a large black swirl.
Implications for teaching boys
Do not ask boys to draw something recognizable or to draw something with lots of colors. When we find fault in this way, boys begin to think that art is for girls and not for boys. Allow them to draw verbs and to do it in a way that is fast and furious. Don't hold eye contact with a boy unless you're disciplining him.

2 - Boys HEAR Differently
Baby girls can hear ten times better than boys, and this difference gets even worse as they get older. Boys can only hear every 3rd word or so of soft-spoken teachers. When boys can't hear what their teacher is saying, they tend to drift off - getting some boys the incorrect diagnosis of ADHD.
Boys also tend to make little noises wiggling and tapping pencils which are irritating to girls - but they don't even realize they are making them.
Implications for teaching boys
Speak more loudly than you normally would and be very expressive. Use lots of voice fluctuation and hand motions to engage boys. While working with your son, sit down next to him, spread the materials out and look at them shoulder to shoulder.

3 - Boys THINK Differently
We don't know all of the differences in how boys and girls think but we now know that their brains are arranged differently. We've all heard that we use the left side of our brain for verbal activities and the right side for art. Actually, we now know that this is only true in males.
Males who have a stroke on the left side of their brain lose 80% of their verbal ability. The verbal ability in females who have a stroke on the left side of their brain is much less impacted, proving that their verbal ability is spread across both sides of their brain.
There are many other differences in how male and female brains are arranged. For more details, see Dr. Sax's books.

Implications for teaching boys
Book learning is essential; but, without practical, hands-on experience, boys will hard a hard time grasping concepts that seem simple to us. They will disengage from their lessons. Boys need real world experiences in their education which engage all of their senses. Boys also need plenty of time outdoors. Boys have a hard time processing their emotions. Don't ask boys "How would you FEEL if..." questions. Ask them "What would you DO if..." questions. Boys like to have at least some control over their environments. Put each day's schoolwork into a folder and let them decide the order in which they will complete it. When studying literature, try these tips: Have boys draw maps based on clues in the book. Assign articles from the daily newspaper. Have them read books with strong male characters doing unpredictable things (i.e., C.S. Lewis, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, Twain, etc.)

4 - Boys SEE THEMSELVES differently
Girls tend to underestimate their own abilities. Boys tend to overestimate their own abilities. Boys also enjoy taking risks much more than do girls. The more a boy takes risks the more favorably they are seen by their peers.
Danger itself gives boys a pleasant feeling of exhilaration as opposed to the fearful feelings it causes in girls. Moderate stress also helps boys to perform better as adrenaline causes more blood to flow to their brain. Stress has the opposite effect on girls.

Implications for teaching boys
Boys respond well to a challenge if there are winners and losers. A competitive team format works better than individual competitions for boys because they don't want to let their teammates down. Participating in single-sex activities such as boy scouts or team sports are very good for your sons. If your son seems to crave danger, take these necessary steps: Give them lessons with a professional (i.e., skiing) to help them to more accurately evaluate their own abilities. Supervise your child. Their risk is lower if they aren't allowed to be alone with groups of peers because they will be less likely to try to "show off" for their friends if an adult is present. Assert your authority - don't argue with your son. Don't negotiate. Just do what you have to do (i.e., lock up their bike).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, the optimum tempature for learning for boys is 69 degrees, while it is 74 degrees for girls. If you set the temperature so that it is comfortable for you, you may find your sons falls asleep or their minds wandering instead of focusing on their lessons.
If you have the opportunity to set up a single-sex learning environment for your children that works well. Try using different methods to teach your sons as opposed to the ones you use to teach your girls and you will be amazed at how your sons respond to your efforts!
Armed with this knowledge, we can set up more ideal learning environments where we can engage our sons and help them to reach their full potential.

2009 Christmas Letter

Psst...hey, yeah you...it's me. I'm the house of the Westphals and let me tell you, if walls could talk...these people are some interesting folks. Seriously, they have these four little kids that are always saying the weirdest things. The four year olds pretended to be birds this morning and then got in an argument as to whether a "seagull" or an "eagle" was after them. The six year old girl colors all the time, and the eight year old boy is definately in charge. When all four dance around the house, my very walls shake.
They aren't your average family and some interesting stuff happened to them this year. The Dad started school at in January at some Christian university named Cornerstone where he goes to class one night a week. He hasn't been around much; that is, except for April and May, as he lost his job. It was a bit of a surprise for him but he's one of those who relies on God and the whole family started doing that praying thing they do. Sure enough, by May, he had a job. Not as much money as the first one, but it's an opportunity, right? Thankfully, they didn't miss any payments on me.
The mom is busy, but seems happy. She reads to these kids all the time, and does "school" at home almost every day, even in the summer. Don't get me wrong, they went to the beach and the parks alot too. Their van was always pulling in and out of the driveway, and they were as loud as ever. Singing and talking, and arguing too. But I do like having the kids around all the time. I think I like to hear them read as much as their mom does.
I think the mom is hard of seeing. (you know, like hard of hearing?). She never drives at night, and she always has lights on, really bright ones. It makes for a cheery house and I like it.
The little girl took up dancing this year, and it just tickles me when she tap dances on the floors, but her smile is huge and she loves to dance. All of the boys have soccer balls on the back porch and kick them all over the yard.
You know, I may not be a very large house, and although my siding isn't new, I'm pretty happy here being home for this family with all their fun goings on and their reliance on God for everything. Yep, I hope they stay here a long time, and I hope they have a merry Christmas. You have a merry Christmas too, and believe me, if you got this letter, I know that they love and appreciate you too.

Weekly Wrap Up of our Homeschooling Week

(This is a new feature to my blog I borrowed from a friend, I hope I can keep it up. It will be under the Weekly Wrap Up Label)

A blizzard blew in this week, and public school was closed, but not the Westphal Academy. We actually moved school upstairs this week to a card table in Sarah's room. (Her dresser is now in the boys' room.) Our downstairs gets really chilly in the winter so this gives us a new environment for a season.
My base curriculum since starting schooling is Accelerated Achievement. It's based on grade level and goes K-12. It has lots of literature, and as you homeschoolers know, curriculum is only a suggestion. I can add and subtract what I want to meet the needs of my family. I really enjoy the phonics program and so far, all of my children have enjoyed learning to read by using this method. There are cards to print and games to play. I just started it with Marc and Luc. I had forgotten how fun and easy it really is.

Each day this week, Tim and Sarah did their reading lesson, including a McGuffey reader lesson, and vocabulary words to learn and spell. There is quite a literature list (which I love) and we are currently reading Alice in Wonderland (this is on CD in the car). We also read Heidi, Charlotte's Web and Little House on the Prairie this fall. So, the weather outside is frightful, but inside it's so delightful, and since we've no place to go, let us learn, let us learn, let us learn!
Tuesdays and Thursdays are Science days and we are currently learning about Invertebrates. My power point is currently not working and the kids miss doing their reports that way. We are actually writing things down. Not much fun.

On Saturday we had a movie day. We read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," earlier this year (on CD in the van) so we watched the movie. We all enjoyed it.

More things kids say

1. Tim recently picked out some stickers as a prize for some schoolwork he completed. As I looked up from our work, I saw bits of stickers all over his face. He was grinning from ear to ear, "look mom, I've got the sticker pox."
2. At mealtimes we share the worst and best parts of our day. Marcus asked Sarah what the worst part of her day was. She responded, "when I cried at the dentist." Marc's genuine response was, "How do you know?" This made everyone laugh.
3. In church on Sunday, Lucas asked me, "why do we sing, Mama?" "Oh," I whispered back during the song, "we sing because Jesus is in our hearts and we are so happy and thankful about it." "And mama," he whispered back, "we live in Jesus' heart, too. That's why we sing."

What's the deal with your ornaments?

A friend asked me this the first year Ryan and I put up a Christmas tree as a married couple. We had trekked out and picked out our first real tree. We put it up in our apartment, all green and bushy and larger than it looked on the lot, and wondered about ornaments. Well, we had one little box from my dear Aunt Bonnie. I think she had included it with our wedding present. It had about 9 blue and green shiny glass bulbs. So we hung those. It still looked big and green and bushy and mostly empty. I considered my friends question,"What's the deal with our ornaments?"

Hence, the first Westphal Christmas tradition was established. We decided that we would not buy ornaments for our tree. No, not just because we were newlyweds with little extra money, but because we truly wanted all our ornaments to be gifts. We wanted each one to be special. Although we didn't start soliciting ornaments from our family and friends, they had been to our house. They had seen the tree and they wanted to know, what's the deal with your ornaments?

That first Christmas we also put our Christmas cards in the tree, along with Aunt Bonnie's bulbs, and we liked it. That year, when husband hauled the tree out, a small bird's nest fell out, and we kept it. I like to think of it as our ornament from God. As the years passed, we received more and more ornaments. My mom put them on our Christmas gifts with the tag. My mother-in-law would give out ornaments to her family every Thanksgiving. Finally, the year came when I picked up an ornament and couldn't remember who had given it to us. That was the year we started labeling them. I put little tags on each one, including the year and the giver's name, sometimes a description. There was "Handmade Bell from Dave and Annette, 1996", and "Christmas Tea 1997 with Sandie". Each of our beloved ornaments had these cute little tags. Interested guests would want to know, "What's the deal with your ornaments?"

Then we would get to share our little story, our first tradition, and they would start to peer at the tags and ask questions. "Yes, that ornament was made by some missionary friend in Papua, New Guinea." "Yes, that's another one from the Dosenberries." "Yes, we received that when we were Children's Church leaders." "A student made me that snowman when I was tutoring at the Homeschool Building." "Yes, my mother-in-law loves snowmen, aren't they cute?" Now, my children ask me, "Mom, what's the deal with ALL these ornaments?"

They are gifts of love, I tell them. Each one has a story. I love to sit and look at the tree and think of all the wonderful people God has placed in our life, and how He has cared for us through the years. "Baby's first Christmas 2001 from the Bible Study girls" catches my eye. "Walnut Phillips 2000 made by Kristin" "Tim's first ornament made with Ellen 2003" "from your Dad 2009" Every now and then, I can still find one of those original blue bulbs, and smile, thinking back to how it all began, "What's the deal with your ornaments?".