Learning to set homeschool goals will give a vision or better yet, a roadmap to a destination. Goals give direction and implement progression toward an end.
Goals help moms to check the work that has been accomplished and give a fair assessment of the progress each child is making. Goals that are to strict can be adjusted mid-year to realign for the next
1. Write out all of the activities:
I like to write out my activities that we will be doing. Look at all of the worksheets and reading. Make sure that we are on target with Math. This is something that I do on my planning night. If for some reason we are behind and a math goal is not being met, or we are not moving as fast then I know that something needs to be adjusted. Goals create a target for us to hit.
2. Goals create a map.
Goals can be useful for purchasing the next year’s curriculum. For instance, in math this year we were meeting our goals, but a little slower than usual. I have one son that does well with workbooks, but not visuals. The manipulatives that went with the math work were confusing him. Long story short by checking our goals and noticing that we were not quite on target I figured this one out. Genius right? I purchased a workbook to go along with the manipulatives and he started to progress in math.
3. Conversations are started and communication opens up.
Using the math example I was able to speak to my son about the math and find out the problem. Without my goals and handy dandy planning that I do my usual “Just do and work through it” response may have occurred. I love the fact that he opened up to me and let me know that he really did not like the math program. We won’t always change, but for this time it worked out.
4. Goals help to keep detours from happening.
I don’t want to get off of track and look back too late. If I know that my goals for the week include finishing a book during read aloud time for phonics then this needs to happen unless someone is sick. By putting off the book until the next week if we get behind, then next week I have two books to read.
It really just adds more stress and work to the following week.
5. I like to see my list marked off.
Goal setting is a fun activity for me. Each goal that I mark off gives me a seal of approval that my homeschool days are moving in the right direction. I have made sort of a game out of it to see if we can get all of the goals met by the end of the year. If we do then I create some sort of prize for me and the kids to do. If we don’t then I start my goal setting for the next year. *grin* We still get a prize at the end of the year.
Good days and bad days…I love them all.
I will have my planning days in front of the kids. On purpose. I want them to see that everyday has a purpose and without plans that purpose may not be met. I am very grateful God has blessed our family with the opporutunity to homeschool. It truly is a great experience.
So many of you probably set better goals or have a great homeschool planning system, and I would love to hear some different ideas!
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I am a goal planner too though we won’t be setting homeschooling goals for quite awhile. Thank you for sharing your insight.
It is nice to know you are a goal planner, goals are great for all areas.
Some really great tips and ideas here. I am goal setter as well, although I do not home school, these goals for my children and our household are very important. They bring about a certain calmness one craves when you have kids, LOL.
Yes. They do bring calmness:)
It is so true, goals are really great tools for planning and to be sure that you are making the most of your time and effort. For me, I like to reverse engineer my goals starting with the big ideas and work backwards. I’m a new homeschooler, this was are first year, and initially my only goal was to get through the day! Thankfully I took some time to create a sort of mission statement for our homeschool…and like you said, just having that in place helps you stay on track with what matters. I too ended up switching math curriculum, but I felt confident in doing so because it lined up with our ultimate vision. Thank you so much for posting this, as a newbie homeschooler, I need all the pearls of wisdom I can get! 🙂
I wish when I was a new homeschooler that someone would have introduced me to the mission of my year, planning, goals, etc. I’m glad this helped you.