A Decision

Yesterday, I took one step closer to rescuing the kids from the evil clutches of the public school system. After much deliberation and extensive research, I have decided on a small non-denomination Christian school which essentially does all the dirty work of home schooling. They keep the records, report to the state, provide the curriculum, grade the tests, and provide support in many, many ways. If I need a little help getting my kids, shall we say, motivated, the "principal" is available to assist with scaring them straight. After two hours in her office, I found a lot of reasons to really like the woman in charge.

During my time at the school office, I was able to get a close look at the different sets of curriculum for the kids. Kindergarten uses a set by Horizon and focuses on Language Arts and Math for the school year. There are activities and great books called Little Readers to encourage comprehension and literacy. By following the Teacher's Manual step by step, a child using this program would be reading in 4 months. I think that's fantastic! In grades 1 through 12, the curriculum by LifePac is used and provides study in Language Arts, Math, History and Geography, Science, and the Bible. Each of the four 'core' subjects integrates the Bible into it's lessons so the kids get a strong foundation. I can't complain about that!

In all, school time should be about 2 hours for Kindergarten and 4 to 5 hours for the other grades each day. For grades 3 and up, the subjects can be taken and studied online using Switched on School, a curriculum that practically mirrors LifePac. The school even sells the science experiment packages for the year for extremely reasonable prices. They've literally thought of everything....including school t-shirts and field trips!

So, all of this is fantastic.....but I still feel a little, well, ready to pee my pants from nervousness. What if I don't do enough for the kids? What if I'm terrible at 'teaching' and the kids end up with the intelligence level of an uneducated pot smoker? I suppose the only way I'll ever know if I'm good at this is to jump in head first. No dipping the toes. No wading in. Just pull the kids out this Friday before the week long break and let them start back up with me afterwards. Sigh.....this is a good decision, right?

Eggs make me vomit

I've finally reached a point where I don't really care how healthy or good eggs are for my body. Just the thought of eating one makes me gag. Last night, I sat with my family eating breakfast for dinner...one of our favorite meals to eat. The hash browns were yummy, the turkey bacon divine, and the eggs....eh, they were OK. I was about halfway through the eggs when something caught my eye. Gushy white goo on my plate. From the egg. Seriously? John knows I can't stand the nasty little white spermy looking thing and he usually takes it out for me. Did he take it out last night? Or, was the egg not cooked all the way through, as he said? Either one makes me want to vomit...and never eat eggs again. Nasty little menstrual cycle byproducts. Blah. I think I'm done with eggs for a good long while.

A serious recipe

This started out as a 'quick fix' to not having dinner ready at an appropriate time. I found the original recipe on the back of the Piccolini box and modified it to what I thought sounded good. It was extremely easy to make, not a whole lot of prep, and really, really yummy. Everyone, except Jackson, practically licked their bowl clean. Since that boy has always been picky and uncooperative at the dinner table, this is not a surprise. He would have liked it had he tried it....I just know it. Try it and let me know what you think. It's just yummy.



Mini Farfalle with Tomatoes, Beans and Corn
Serves 4

1 box Barilla Piccolini Mini Farfalle pasta
2 pounds plum tomatoes OR one 28 ounce can diced tomatoes - OPTIONAL
2T Olive Oil
½ large white onion, chopped
1 can Goya black beans (don’t drain)
1 can corn, 15.5 ounces (don’t drain completely)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 tsp McCormick Basil and Garlic seasoning blend
1 package Goya Sazon con Culantro y Achiote
Adobo seasoning, to taste
3 T Medium Taco Sauce
Parmesan Cheese

PLACE the fresh tomatoes in boiling water for 30-60 seconds to blanch; peel the skin, remove the seeds and chop. In a medium skillet, sauté the onion in olive oil over medium heat for approximately 5 minutes. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and simmer for three minutes. Add black beans, corn, salt, pepper, basil and garlic seasoning, Sazon packet, Adobo and taco sauce and simmer for approximately 6 minutes. Drain pasta and toss with sauce mixture. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Yum!

Peeing Sunshine

Welcome to Peeing Sunshine, my lovelies. Could you really expect any less of a title from me? Perhaps I will use this little gem of a website to spread wisdom, encouragement, or happy thoughts. Or, maybe I'll just use it occasionally to foam at the mouth with little bits of randomness. Yeah......that sounds about right.