Where to Start...

Where to start, where to start.....  I have been struggling with developing some lesson plans to "start" our homeschooling preschool year.  Yes, we have already been doing some great fun learning, but I was looking to be more prepared have lessons/themes organized.  Make sure I'm hitting all the important parts of preschool education.  I was looking at other blogs, pinterest, and education websites to find all I could about and for the themes I had picked out. Can you say overwhelmed?!!  OVERWHELMED!  There are so, so many great ideas and creative minds out there.  One can (did) get lost in all the "stuff".  You know when you have a job that is so big, you don't know where to start?  It just seems impossible or never ending, so you put it off and put it off.  Guilty!   One load of laundry seems achievable, 10 loads seem pointless to start. (This is why I do laundry daily)  Okay, back to preschool!  After much prayer and a few Great moments with the littles, I have figured out the problem.  I'm trying to pick what is learned!!  Even in my classroom days, I tried to limit "my" wants and go with an interest of the class. Yes, hard for the planners such as myself, but those were the things they enjoyed and remembered most.  I'm guessing all that Montessori stuff in college paid off.  
It was after much prayer that God opened my eyes to the two little sponges sitting beside me as we spent 20 minutes with a short book about bugs.  I didn't plan that lesson, yet they sat there question after question asking about this bug or that, what it ate, where it lived, etc.  Which lead to looking for bugs outside and the most wonderful, creative story you could ever imagine from the best storyteller!  Followed by them pretending to be bugs! :)  That is learning!  The kind of learning that created my desire to keep them home while their little.  That is what started our themes to begin with!  Why did I ever think to change it?  Dare I say, Control!   In my efforts to have the expectational lessons I lost sight of what was already expectational...Enjoying my littles!
Where does that leave Preschool?  Well, less planned for one.  More impromptu learning, I will still provide and nurture their skills and we will probably have themes, but I will not be picking them.   It leaves us right where we are.  Having fun, enjoying each other, playing lots, and learning together!  Thank you Lord for showing me what was right under my nose! :)