Planning for the Unplanned

Delighting in the adventures of the day. Recognizing their value and promise.

Yes, there are days I feel overwhelmed, under prepared and ill-equipped.

But I serve a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing and never gives us more than we can handle. Learning happens all the time. Education is an atmosphere. Training opportunities are at every twist and turn of life’s journey.

Sometimes, these opportunities don’t fit in the neat and tidy box that we like to call ‘SCHOOL’. But they are very real and of far greater value than the sit at a desk with a text book.

Sometimes it is chasing butterflies outside. Sometimes it is learning how to get along with siblings.

Sometimes it is learning responsibility and how to properly do chores.

All are blessings. All are rich with opportunity and promise. We just need eyes to see it.

“Today is a gift that is why it is called ‘The Present!’”

Today I record those unconventional learning moments in my lesson plans.  While they were not ‘my plan’, they happened.  Those lessons had value.

In those moments when I wonder what we are doing, what they have learned, I look back and read through what I’ve recorded in our ‘Spontaneous Explorations’ category.

Today it was learning conflict resolution and the ‘give and take’ necessary in making {sibling} friendships work.

Today was learning the why’s and how-to’s of washing the barf bucket.

Today, it was a discussion of Hagar and Ishmael and how it relates to the Arab-Israeli conflicts that continues to this day. Gotta love having a reader who now asks questions about news headlines.

And I need to remember these moments.

Because they count too.