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Setting Goals
One of my favorite passages of scripture is Jeremiah 29: 9-11 in which that Lord encourages us that He has plans for us, 'plans to prosper us and not harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.' I am reminded when I look at our children that, in the same spirit of our heavenly Father, we desire to give our children a hope and a future. You know the plans that you have for your children, and after praying about homeschooling, there is no better starting point than to begin to write those plans.
It may be clear to us that we need to establish yearly goals for our students, but what about setting goals for yourself and for your school? Knowing what you want your children to accomplish long-term, and knowing what you want to accomplish as a parent/ home educator will shape and define your school environment as much as any curriculum decision. I cannot stress this enough: invest in your own education and understanding before you take on the sometimes overwhelming task of curriculum decisions.
There are, from my perspective, two sets of goals that are critical to your homeschooling vision. The first set of goals has to deal with what you want your children to be able to do after they finish school. You may be able to quickly list ‘go to college’ or ‘get a job’, but how about the more intangible goals that relate more to what habits we teach each day? As an example, when we really thought about it, we began to list goals such as these:
1. As adults, we want our children to be our friends.
2. We want the children to marry spouses that know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
3. Our children will be independent thinkers (i.e. plan “A” should not always be to call Mom and Dad!)
There is no curriculum that will directly teach these elements, but as they are what is critical to us, we have to in the words of Stephen Covey, “begin with the end in mind.” Developing this list allows us as parents to instill in them those values and impart the love and wisdom that will, with the grace of God, make this list real in our lives.
The second list is an annual list of what we want to accomplish in our homeschool environment. This list is completely separate from your list of what the children should accomplish; that list comes later. This list is for you. As a first year homeschooler, many of your goals might center around developing a comfort level in your new role. I will again use some of our goals as triggers for generating your own thoughts:
1. We will clean our home regularly and keep it neat (this may sound small, but one of the challenges of homeschooling after working outside our home for years was adjusting to the clutter associated with being there all day).
2. I want to develop a “rhythm” in balancing homeschooling, a home-based business, and a newborn.
As a training and development professional, I taught people for years to generate goals by making them SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-oriented). All of these aspects are critical in seeing your goal through to success. However, rather than provide a discourse on how to write goals, I would much prefer that you give serious consideration to what you are about to take on. You can always add to the verbiage in your goal list with the SMART aspects listed above.
