Teacher Training

First week of teacher training at Reading Uni and it has been pretty full on with lectures about theory, standards, policies and so on. But met some nice people and it's been good to do this part away from school.  It's back to school next week to year 3 for a few weeks. 

I found out that I'll be back at my old school for my placement in January which will be a huge help logistically as no more need for morning breakfast club for a few weeks anyway. 

I can't quite believe how far I've come in the last 3 years and it has been quite revealing as to how unsuited I was to my previous work - I had literally been putting up with it and putting on a face. Acting. For the last 15 years or so.  We were discussing values today in the lecture and had to discuss which values we hold ourselves relating to the teaching profession.   It was interesting but not surprising that the three of us all mentioned kindness, doing to others as you would like done to yourself an the concept of being 'Christian' without necessarily being religious. The need and want to instil a sense of kindness in young children and to just want to help others. To want them to grow up respecting that other people may not share their ideas but not to undermine those ideas or berate them.  The feeling that I had at school in the 70s and 80s was that I adored school. I never wanted to leave.  I want other children to love it as much as I did and to make it fun to come to lessons. 

We also discussed the 8 teaching standards and how we need to show evidence of meeting these over the next six to eight months. 

So I'm slowly getting my head round everything.  The student loan money has come in so as long as I can make it last we should be ok. 

The boys are finding going back to school ok - although mornings are tricky. They don't ask about my day and that is hard sometimes. Not having another adult to come home to and offload to, celebrate successes with etc.  But J is being helpful and it's good to hear D has been enjoying his lessons more now he's in year two.  In two years' time we will be preparing for Joseph to start taking driving lessons - he is already quite sensible and mature in lots of ways but in others he still struggles a lot and meltdowns just happen for smallest things. 

He's been taking the dog out though and it's evident that having Sam around is good for both of the boys.  Benjy too had even started touching noses with Sam! 

Clean Eating

So while I was on holiday with my new kindle in Mallorca I decided to buy Alice Liveing's book to see what all this clean eating fuss is about.  I was inspired by it and have been busy trying out all sorts of foodie recipes since we got back. 

1. Easy avocado and mackerel on sourdough bread.  Score 5/5 for taste. Quite easy to make and full of good fats. Not sure why but sourdough bread and rye feature quite frequently in the book. 

2.  Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. Again very easy. 

3. Super-easy chicken nuggets with a twist.  I dipped the lean chicken in egg and rolled them in a mixture of oats and Cajun spices before frying in coconut oil 

4.  Sweet potato fritters with egg and avocado. Yum. 

5. Frittata made with salmon, courgette, peppers, onion. These were delicious and ideal for my packed lunch when I wanted a no-bread option. 

Also I've made banana and cinnamon muffins which weren't from the book but I found the recipe online and added oats and used agave nectar instead of normal sugar. And replaced butter with coconut oil. 

So far so good and feels like we are all eating much more healthier. 

I forgot to mention the breakfast!  This is sooo easy and so delicious.  Chopped nectarine and banana fried in a little coconut oil with a dusting of cinnamon, on top of a small bowl of Greek yoghurt and a dash of agave nectar. 

Will write more when I've done a few more recipes as I'm interested to see how I will manage taking a packed low carb lunch to work each day.