Goal Setting

I made this goal setting worksheet (doc) based on a form that my friend Chari uses for her children. She makes one at the beginning of each year and has the child (over age 11) sit down with her and help her plan goals. Her goal is to have them pretty much able to design their own goals by mid-high-school, which is basically my goal too.

I have always had trouble figuring out how to use goal sheets, so it was helpful to see how my friend did it. I thought I would also try to list out some other examples of goal sheets and articles online that I've used or looked at over the years.

Carol Hepburn's Homeschool Goal-Setting Page. There is a step by step procedure and a couple of examples in pdf -- a simple one, and a more complex one. Very helpful.

Donna Young's Goal-Setting Forms. She also has objective forms which are similar.

Here is a Myths of Goal-Setting article. I like this because it makes the key point that goals ought to be prioritized.

CHASE Homeschool has lots of forms, including several on Goal Setting by Term, Week, Year, etc -- in html, pdf and word form. These are a bit like assignment sheets.

Cindy at Oklahoma Home School has lots of forms, too, including a Goal Setting one in PDF.

While we're on the subject, here is some general information about planning and writing down goals -- at Success Begins Today and Time Management Guide.

NOW -- I've often thought I could use some sort of goal planning that isn't just "get through x math" book or "read Y". .... something more geared to skills and development focus. So, seeing my friend's goal charts and thinking about this, I'm going to start brainstorming things I REALLY want to emphasize this year, or keep a watch on. Part of goal-setting is remembering to check on the goal sheet, and as the article above mentioned, some goals are more foundational than others. Also, sometimes goals can be tied into methods.... in fact, they almost have to be, in order to become reasonable. For example, "better penmanship" is only wishful thinking unless we have some plan for actually making that happen.

Finally, I think I will make my own list of goals, since so much of the success in our homeschool seems to be pinned to my follow-through. For example, last year I had the intention of rotating through the crafts and games in our closets -- bringing them out to "strew" them for the kids. But I got distracted, and it happened only rarely. This year I hope to make nature walks a priority -- but I will have to figure out a way to make it actually happen.