Teaching Your Homeschooled Child Goal-Setting Techniques | HomeSchoolToGo

How to Teach Your Children to Set Goals

A new school year brings big anticipation and excitement with new learning adventures, new curriculum and courses, and renewed time together as you meet and learn as a family. While finding curriculum, making a schedule, and renewing your homeschool space are excellent ways to get the school year started right, many homeschooling parents overlook one crucial step in school-year readiness: goal setting. You probably have a list of academic goals for each child, including what they need to accomplish, where they need to go, and projects they need to complete. But, do your children have a list of goals they want to achieve this year?

So many homeschooling parents focus on teaching their children that they overlook a critical lesson teaching your child how to set goals for the school year.

What is the significance of this? Because when we set our own goals, we are more motivated to try to achieve them. Setting and achieving goals is an important life skill that will impact every aspect of your child's future, including college, jobs, family life, etc. Setting and achieving goals and failing to meet them all help shape us into the people we are meant to be. But how can you teach your child how to set (and possibly even achieve) goals for the school year?

Here are five easy ways to inspire and motivate intelligent individuals to reach the stars this school year.

1. Show them how to do it, step by step. You've probably heard the proverb "teach a man to fish." Sometimes, the best way to learn to fish or set goals is to be shown how by someone who knows what they're doing! If we truly want our children to learn to set goals and strive to achieve them, we must practice and live this process in our own homes. And we must say it aloud! To achieve a goal, you must first be able to break the process down into steps and then decide what actions or efforts must be taken to make every step a reality. So, if your objective is to clean each house room once a week, make a schedule with them, assign chores and tasks, and check them off as you go. Your child will see the process of goal setting and get a bird's-eye view of what it takes to make a goal a reality. Show them how you set objectives and break them down into steps to achieve them, and they'll be more prepared to fish when their turn comes!

2. Keep an open mind. Let's be honest for a second. While it is natural to want your child to dream big and achieve great things, big dreams can sometimes blind us to the truth about our children's abilities and dreams. Forcing them and yourself to achieve things that are clearly out of their reach can have disastrous consequences, such as low self-esteem, hatred of learning, and even poisoning what should be a joyful thing–homeschooling. When the child is at the center of homeschooling, it works best. So, when setting objectives with your child, be realistic, consider their strengths and weaknesses, and plan around their interests rather than your own. Also, make sure to work in small increments. If your child's goal is to learn the piano notes, you wouldn't hand them a Bach composition and tell them, "Go for it!" You'd find a teacher, buy or rent an instrument, and gradually teach each note and key. The steps may need to be redefined and tweaked as your child progresses toward their goal.

3. Power should be shared. We have had dreams for our children's lives since they are babies. It's simply impossible not to! We see them as scholars, athletes, and leaders who have accomplished much and made a difference in their adult lives. So, because they are our responsibility, we set academic, social, and spiritual goals for them, and we want them to achieve their dreams! However, we frequently fail to include them in the process. Nothing is more disempowering than making all of your child's decisions for them and not allowing them to express themselves. When it comes to goal-setting, please include them in the process and encourage them to make achieving the goal their challenge. We're more likely to accomplish something when we feel a sense of ownership, so give them a few goals based on their interests, ideas, and areas in which they want to excel. I guarantee you'll get more cooperation from them, and they'll feel more accomplished!

4. Begin Outside of School. Let's face it: even when you're homeschooling, the school adds extra pressure. So, instead of forcing yourself to learn how to teach kids to set goals for the school year, why not start in other areas of life? Set goals for yourself during vacations, such as chores, earning money or receiving an allowance, etc. This way, they'll be used to setting and working toward goals before school begins. So, when you start studying, the process will be much smoother!

5. Celebrate both success and failure. One hard lesson that many parents learn is that nagging never works. Sure, it gets the job done, but in the process, your children begin to focus on your desires and keep you happy, rather than developing the intrinsic desire required for lifelong goal setting and achievement. Instead of nagging, fussing, or even checking in daily, praise success and acknowledge effort once it has occurred. The more you praise them, the more they desire it. And, when your child falls short of a goal (which they will at some point), praise their effort and help them learn from their failure. Friends, if you lead a horse to water and constantly praise it, it (or they) will eventually drink! Inquire, "Why do you think you didn't meet your goal?" and "How can you do it differently this time to get there?"