When Things Don't Go As Planned

"Plan early, plan twice..." -sigh- My husband's mantra rings true again today, but let's begin this post on a happy note and reflect first on yesterday.  Yesterday ran smoothly.  Yesterday, I actually thought to myself, "We're getting this homeschooling thing down.  This is working!"  Yesterday, I marked off each and every task in the lesson plan book, and we were even finished EARLY!  Yesterday, I should have known that tomorrow might be different, but I am a planner, and I had the tomorrow all planned.  Surely, it would work out.  "Plan early, plan twice..."

Today was definitely different.  It was a day filled with interruptions from every direction:

1.  Doctor appointment for Baby #4
2.  Unexpected phone calls
3.  Emergency run to Wal-Mart for toilet paper. You laugh at the priority of this amidst homeschooling, but in a household with four girls (one of whom is pregnant), a dwindling supply of toilet paper is, as the little girls would say, "a 'mergency!"  Yes....one of those girls is not yet potty-trained, but she thinks she's ready, and her most favorite part in toilet-training-preparedness is toilet-paper-unrolling.  She doesn't want M&Ms for attempting to go potty.  She wants toilet paper and the privilege of unwrapping it!  It makes her GLOW!  It makes her BEAM!  It makes momma frown. I need a toilet paper conservation motto.  With glue at our house, the motto is "Just a dot...not a lot." With toilet paper....hmmmm...."Save some trees...just a few pieces, please?" or "Don't use too much before you flush." I'm working on it.
4.  Door bells ringing
5.  More phone calls
6.  Sibling rivalry
7.  Nap refusal
8.  More diaper changes
9.  More potty training attempts
10.  More toilet paper squares removed
11.  It's time for dinner?!?!?  WHAT?!?  We haven't gotten to Unit Studies, and UNIT STUDIES IS IN THE LESSON PLANS!!  "Plan early...plan twice."

From my days in the classroom, I thankfully have the understanding that there are times when lesson plans just go amuck.  There are definitely weeks when well-intentioned plans just do not pan out, when arrows get drawn from one day to the next, when teachable moments are more of a priority than anything in the "real" curriculum, and today was one of those days at Household Schmidt.  Learning still happened.  Little people were still taken care of and loved.  Emergencies were handled.  Problems were solved.  I didn't get too frazzled, and tomorrow is all planned...even if I have to plan twice!