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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 17 2011 at 3:36pm | IP Logged
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By what process do you go about setting goals for your children? I've been thinking about next year and academic goals for my 2nd, 5th and 7th graders. Every time I sit down to actually write some goals down though, I draw a blank. I have behavioral goals to write as well but they come easier for me. Any thoughts on this?
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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mamaslearning
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This site might be helpful - World Book.
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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Kathryn
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| Posted: March 18 2011 at 9:58pm | IP Logged
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I saw your post yesterday Becky and thought, hmmm...this will be interesting how others do it. It's something I've never done but always thought about. However, I'm seeing by the lack of responses that may be many of us are in the same boat. 
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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Erin
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| Posted: March 19 2011 at 3:57am | IP Logged
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Becky,
In any planning I do I look at my 'big picture' (academic) goals for all my children. Dh and I wish all our children to have a solid foundation in maths and excellent communication skills; both verbal and written, part of this is to be 'thinkers'. To challenge and analyze ideas met, to not just accept the status quo because 'society says.' It goes without saying we also wish them to have a solid grounding in their Faith.
So decisions we make as to what curriculum to use, what area needs emphasizing that year, are all based around meeting our bigger goal.
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Mackfam
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| Posted: March 21 2011 at 9:24pm | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
| By what process do you go about setting goals for your children? I've been thinking about next year and academic goals for my 2nd, 5th and 7th graders. Every time I sit down to actually write some goals down though, I draw a blank. I have behavioral goals to write as well but they come easier for me. Any thoughts on this? |
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This is going to sound funny, but have you considered a word cloud? Sometimes that gets me started thinking down this road, and from there I can just connect some *word* dots.
In general, I identify the subjects we're going to approach for the year and then I consider how they're currently doing in a subject, areas of weakness and strengths, deficiencies, areas needing remediation...I just list it all out. I step back and consider how reasonable I'm being - is this an area that needs gentle encouragement or down and dirty discipline?
To be totally honest, I can usually identify a couple of areas for each child that might need some brainstorming in terms of coming up with academic goals, but for the most part, I've found that children naturally stretch "further up and further in", and it requires little/no effort on my part to facilitate that other than choosing good, rich reading and opportunities for experiences.
I could offer more specifics if you let me know if this is something that you have to list for legal requirements for home ed, or if this is something you impose on yourself, or that your husband is asking of you.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 22 2011 at 6:21am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the ideas!
Mackfam wrote:
| I could offer more specifics if you let me know if this is something that you have to list for legal requirements for home ed, or if this is something you impose on yourself, or that your husband is asking of you. |
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I guess I'm imposing this on myself. We have been enrolled with MODG since almost the beginning of our homeschool journey, and I just sort of followed along with that curriculum, making a few adjustments as necessary and adding a few of my own things, but not really thinking about goals for my kids. The goals were being met as long as we followed the syllabus. This year, while we will enroll one of our children for whom MODG is working really well, I have a few others that don't fit that mold. So I am looking for alternative curriculum choices. I felt like setting some goals for each of them will help me to narrow down my curriculum choices and really "zero in" on what I need specifically for each child.
Hopefully that makes sense!
Over the weekend I did grab a notebook and sort of brainstorm for each of my kids - strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, learning styles...
That helped me to rule out some things that looked good when I first saw them. I have lists of things that look really good when I see them on line or in a catalog but if they aren't going to meet any goals that I will have set, or if they look like a fun extra if there is time, or...whatever, it helps me to rule them out as possible curriculum to purchase.
I always find it helpful to see what curriculum or methods others are using, but if I'm not careful everything looks great and I end up with too much stuff (I guess I'm a curriculum junkie!), none of which really meets that child's specific needs. So, instead of looking at my lists of curriculum ideas first, I thought I would set goals first.
Hope that explains it. 
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 22 2011 at 6:42am | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
Becky,
Dh and I wish all our children to have a solid foundation in maths and excellent communication skills; both verbal and written, part of this is to be 'thinkers'. To challenge and analyze ideas met, to not just accept the status quo because 'society says.' It goes without saying we also wish them to have a solid grounding in their Faith.
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I really like your big picture goals Erin. My dh and I talked over the weekend and he says if we could just instill in our kids the love for learning it would be meeting a huge goal. It reminded me of our early days of homeschooling when I told him about Charlotte Mason and how I felt like her methods were the key to instilling a love of learning in our kids. I see it so much in my oldest son who still loves to learn. He goes to highschool and his biggest frustration isn't with the hard teachers, it's the easy ones. He feels like those classes are a waste of time because he isn't learning.
I think in my efforts to finish a syllabus or checklist of assignments over the past few years I've sort of let the love for learning thing go a bit. Now it just seems like we need to get it done. I don't like that feeling.
So it's back to looking at that big picture before I plug in the specifics.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Mackfam
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| Posted: March 22 2011 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
Thanks for the ideas!
Mackfam wrote:
| I could offer more specifics if you let me know if this is something that you have to list for legal requirements for home ed, or if this is something you impose on yourself, or that your husband is asking of you. |
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I guess I'm imposing this on myself. We have been enrolled with MODG since almost the beginning of our homeschool journey, and I just sort of followed along with that curriculum, making a few adjustments as necessary and adding a few of my own things, but not really thinking about goals for my kids. The goals were being met as long as we followed the syllabus. This year, while we will enroll one of our children for whom MODG is working really well, I have a few others that don't fit that mold. So I am looking for alternative curriculum choices. I felt like setting some goals for each of them will help me to narrow down my curriculum choices and really "zero in" on what I need specifically for each child.
Hopefully that makes sense!
Over the weekend I did grab a notebook and sort of brainstorm for each of my kids - strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, learning styles...
That helped me to rule out some things that looked good when I first saw them. I have lists of things that look really good when I see them on line or in a catalog but if they aren't going to meet any goals that I will have set, or if they look like a fun extra if there is time, or...whatever, it helps me to rule them out as possible curriculum to purchase.
I always find it helpful to see what curriculum or methods others are using, but if I'm not careful everything looks great and I end up with too much stuff (I guess I'm a curriculum junkie!), none of which really meets that child's specific needs. So, instead of looking at my lists of curriculum ideas first, I thought I would set goals first.
Hope that explains it. |
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Becky - this sounds lovely, and very similar to how I begin planning. It begins with ideas for subject matter and the child's individual needs. Where those two intersect is where I really begin to consider, narrow and focus plans.
Becky Parker wrote:
| I always find it helpful to see what curriculum or methods others are using, but if I'm not careful everything looks great and I end up with too much stuff (I guess I'm a curriculum junkie!), none of which really meets that child's specific needs. So, instead of looking at my lists of curriculum ideas first, I thought I would set goals first. |
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This part struck me and is especially true. There are MANY, MANY wonderful offerings in the realm of home education now! A plethora of resources that are truly good and can be blessings. Our job is to narrow down from *the good* and choose that which answers needs and meets our child/children in a way that fosters relationships between that child and the reading, or between a child and an idea. It is an essential part of considering the year upcoming.
Keep in mind, some resources can be very open-ended and flexible in their implementation and lend themselves well to your ability to customize and adjust a fit, while other curriculum resources are pretty rigid and one-dimensional. There's nothing wrong with choosing a one-dimensional curriculum resource, but in general, I've found over the years that my children excel most and I have more freedom to customize the implementation of a resource that is open-ended and flexible. This is really a part of my consideration in the beginning as well, and here's why...the challenges that are met in the day-to-day living out of a plan require mom to be able to be flexible...to say, "This is really not working, but I considered it carefully at the beginning of this year, and I do believe this is the right resource/book/method for this child. Can I identify ways to make this fit better? Where is it chafing, and what tools can I bring to the table to ease that chafing?" I've done this over and over again with the best laid plans. I wanted to mention that because even in the careful consideration, I've had to make adjustments. If I can use the analogy of curriculum to choosing garments for our children: I like to think of choices for their year as a garment. I want the garment to fit and be comfortable and workable. It should leave room for the movement of the child, and not fit as an itchy, rigid suit. And, even once I have that garment sized correctly at the beginning of the year, a child grows continually...I want enough flexibility in the garment so that I can drop the hem or let out a tuck here or there. Ensuring that my initial choices leave room for me to flexible and customize a *fit* is another big consideration as I look alongside goals for the year. I know that wasn't part of your initial question, but it's a big part of how I consider goals and possible tools to address those goals, so I hoped it would be ok to include those thoughts.
I would say that you are doing great!!!!  Continue to consider each child as individuals as you have been. Consider your family dynamics, limits, needs, season, strengths and passions. Those definitely come into play when living out a plan, so they need to be in the mix when considering the workability of a plan initially.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Angel
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Becky Parker wrote:
So it's back to looking at that big picture before I plug in the specifics. |
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This is the way I start off every year, too. I wish I could say I have a really organized process, but what usually seems to happen is that I start thinking about all of next year all at once, then have to take a step back and bring up our philosophy of learning. Many years ago I read somewhere (not sure where; I think this is common advice) that one of the first things you should do when you start homeschooling is to write out your philosophy. This is the big picture. What do you believe education should accomplish? What are your end goals? Then you can plot backwards from there.
I actually write one of these documents (generally just by hand in my legal pad) almost every year, mainly to cut through all the curriculum excitement that accompanies planning season so I don't automatically leap at everything that presents itself OR I don't succumb to being so worn out by the year that I buy a curriculum that is so planned out for me it will never work in my house. (Having learned the hard way.  ) But also because some things change, kids get older, etc. The *biggest* stuff does not change, though -- our belief that education should allow children to grow into the people God meant them to be has remained stable since we began 10 years ago.
So, anyway, once I have my big picture in hard copy so I can refer back to it, smaller goal setting becomes a lot easier. (I also have a tendency to waffle between homeschooling approaches and sometimes I need to sit down and reaffirm our core beliefs.) By the end of one year I usually have an idea of the academic areas that will need emphasis in the coming year for various children. My goals tend to be pretty general; for instance, "Ds needs to work on writing," so then I know I'll be figuring out how to help him do that. Or, if it's an area of an interest, I will make goals to help that child explore or advance that interest. I don't really get very specific, though, because I find that the more specific goals come about in the day-to-day. Sometimes my goals ("Ds will learn to read this year!") turn out to be unrealistic. So I have learned to think about them differently: "We will work more consistently on reading this year, providing more opportunities for practice." Then it's more about making progress.
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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ABAng
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Once again I am here to say "Thank you" for all your wonderful ideas!
I'm so glad I've joined this forum!!
Ang
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Setting goals
