Home Schooling Goals: Myths of Successful Goal Setting

Have you ever tried to sit down and write some home schooling goals and come away either totally overwhelmed or discouraged that after all that work, you still don't know how to make it really work in real life?

If you have ever read about how to make “good goals,” you'll realize that it is hard to apply them as a homeschooler. Most books, articles, or websites about setting goals don't have the unique situation of home schooling in mind. For instance, typically, strategies for successful goal setting say goals should be:

• Written,
• Challenging,
• Measurable and specific,
• Tied to deadlines, and
• Not in conflict with each other.

These tips on setting goals, however, don't really help most of us home schooling parents. For one thing, I hardly have time to correct my child's math paper and discuss with another child her writing assignment. How am I ever supposed to have the time to write out individual goals for all of my kids that are measurable, specific, and tied to an appropriate deadline? Not that written goals aren't good -- they are very good -- but to do so for all of my children's needs over and over again seems to conflict with another goal of mine - getting enough sleep.

Another problem with the typical goal setting articles is that they don't help in prioritizing home school goals. How can I prioritize between math and spelling when they are both important? They certainly do seem in conflict with each other! Find help to prioritize your home schooling.

Underneath all this frustration of trying to mold the typical goal-setting model to suit home schooling, I really do see the value in setting home schooling goals. When I have actually set goals, I have found them valuable because:

• having goals helps keep my children and me focused, motivated, and on track,
• reaching goals gives us all a sense of accomplishment, and
• not reaching goals gives me specific insight on what subjects need more attention and review.

I have recently found some helpful information on goal-setting at myGoals.com that I believe apply very well to setting home schooling goals. Let me just share some of their ideas about goal setting as I have applied them to home schooling.

1. Myth: Good goals need to be written.

   Good goals are those that are recorded, updated and managed regularly, not necessarily written. Thankfully, technology -- whether that is a goal-setting service or like myGoals.com, software, or your existing email software -- can help us in this so we aren't re-inventing the wheel by re-writing our goals every day or every year.

2. Myth: Good goals need to be challenging.

   Good goals should include both challenging ones and easier ones. Who wants to have the bar set high all the time? Experiencing success with ease in some areas can free up more energy to focus on those areas that are harder. Having some goals that are challenging and some that are easier to accomplish is important to prevent getting discouraged.

3. Myth: Good goals should be measurable and specific.

   This may be fine for some areas of home schooling goals. Scoring 90% or above on the math test for each chapter, or being able to spell the 1000 most-common words in the English language are both good, measurable goals. However, when you stop to think about it, there are lots of goals you may have that can't be quantified. To enjoy learning and discovery. To understand how math relates to real life. To be truthful and show compassion like the characters in the literature they are reading about. These are just a few examples. What do you do if you can't quantify your goals?

   One answer is that your goals only need to be measurable and specific to the extent that you can know if you have truly accomplished them or not. It may be more effective to have a loosely defined goal (to enjoy learning) and make individual tasks more measurable (read the books from LivingMath.net to learn how math is more than just arithmetic).

4. Myth: Good goals are tied to deadlines.

   Actually, many good goals are on-going, such as becoming a more self-aware speller. Or continuing to grow as a writer, learning to express your own voice, what makes you unique. These goals are not specific or tied to a certain deadline. What to do?

   One option is to use technology (such as something like myGoals.com that could work for home schooling goals, or send yourself an email on a regular basis to remind yourself) to help make it easier to keep track of on-going goals like these.

5. Myth: Good goals are not in conflict with each other.

   Actually, even good goals could well be in conflict with each other if they aren't managed well. Clumping goals together (kind of like grouping subjects together in a home schooling unit study) can be very effective way to do double-duty on meeting home schooling goals.

Now that you have read through these Myths of Successful Goal Setting for Home Schooling and suggestions for how to deal with them, take a minute to give yourself a word of encouragement. These are some powerful conceptual and practical tools that can make a difference for you as you make your home schooling goals.

But what do you do if your goals seem to conflict, that your kids just can't do it all? Read...

Prioritizing Your Home Schooling Goals Successfully

May these insights help you as you prioritze your home schooling goals.

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