Goal Setting for Homeschoolers

When we began homeschooling in 2001 our curriculum instructed us to set yearly goals for each of our kids in four areas: spiritual, physical, academic, and character. So we did. I’m a homeschool mom. I follow instructions.

As our homeschool life developed we began looking long-term at our kids’ futures, you know, like when they LEAVE! We realized we eventually wanted them to spread their wings and fly away prepared to effectively run a household on their own. We also didn’t want them to be socially awkward. So we made up two more goal categories: life skills and social skills.

For the first day of school every year we head to a donut shop and set goals with the kids. Then we return home and take their picture in front of the school house. Above is from 2005. Below is 2010.

When the children were young (under 12) my husband and I set the goals for the children while eating out at Claim Jumper and sharing a piece of the six-layer Motherlode chocolate cake. Anyone can goal set with enough chocolate available.

As the kids aged, we included them in the goal setting adventure so that they had some skin in the game. By high school, they were setting their own goals with guidance from their loving and involved parents. US!

2011… the year the Colombian princess joined the Crosby family.

We chose one or two goals in each of the six areas, taking into account the personality, skill and talents of each child. We realize goals are to be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-related. Not all of ours were, but we felt we had included enough to move forward.

We checked back on the goals at mid-December, early March and at the end of May. I would mark them with a +, 1/2, or –, depending on the success of the child. Sometimes the same goal came back the next year (like obeying the first time.)

Here are some examples of goals from each of the six areas:

Spiritual: (this was to develop good study and prayer habits) Bible reading, devotional reading, prayer time, scripture memory. When the kids were little, we would choose a time frame such as 10 minutes for prayer and 10 minutes for Bible reading. Sometimes it would be a certain number of memory verses for the year. We also taught them to make prayer request lists, and lists of family and friends to pray for.

Physical: P.E. class, sports, trampoline time, exercises, dance, potty training, riding a bike, etc.

Academic: spelling, math flashcards, phonograms, handwriting, oral reading, Spanish, grammar, etc.

Character: obedience, trust, honesty, patience, responsibility, self control, courage, etc. We would pick an area that child needed to work on and would read biographies on a person who exemplified that trait, or have the kids look up Bible verses that applied. We set a plan on ways to practice the chosen character trait.

Life Skills: all household chores, meal planning, cooking, shopping, sewing, car care, painting a room, hooking up a computer, removing screens to wash, animal care, etc. These were taught one at a time until the child mastered the skill at an adult level. (I didn’t want the bathroom to look like a kid had cleaned it!)

Social Skills: introductions, heaphone/cellphone manners, asking three questions to others, eye contact, firm handshake, ladies first, replying without sighing, asking if you can help, etc.

If you are just at the start of your homeschool journey and this seems overwhelming, pick one or two categories to set one goal for each child. Goal setting is a skill that will serve them well throughout their lives.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Be the one to cast the vision for your homeschool! 

And finally the 2013 and 2015 photos.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Tomorrow is the first day of our ELEVENTH year of homeschooling.  We ALWAYS start off the year with a trip to Krispy Kreme doughnuts… but not this year.  I just found out that the one near our house closed down.  In fact all of the Arizona KK’s closed except for the one in Mesa.  That a 56 minute drive (according to mapquest) for 1st Day of School Doughnuts.  But it IS a tradition.  Hmmmm.  Maybe it’s time for a new tradition.

And yes, it’s because tomorrow is the first day of school that I have been a lacking blogger.  Sorry, folks.  The other day I was sitting in my green birthday chair in my room with my feet up on the stool…. and I realized that I need to make time every day for the things I truly enjoy….. right after the things that I truly need to do (specifically, Bible reading, prayer, exercise and eating right.)  This got my mind a-wandering to those things I truly love…. water-color painting… writing… scrapbooking…. gardening….. reading.  Starting tomorrow (since we are starting other important things tomorrow), I plan to add 30 minutes for ME!  We’ll see how this goes.

Did anyone else notice the creepy little girl in the Krispy Kreme advertisement?  I don’t know if this is good advertising on their part.  She looks like she’s eaten 27 KK sugar bombs already and is tempted to bite the nicely manicured hand in the photo.  One of those things in life that I find strange.

Happy New School Year to all those moms and kids out there.  Do your best… teaching and learning!  This is the most important job on earth!

I’m a Poser

I figured it out.  I’m a poser.  I’m not a real homeschool mom.  It all came crashing down today as I sat at my fellow-homeschool-mom’s kitchen table.  Books, planners, test guides, lists and schedules were strewn from one end of the kitchen to the other.  She was busily slipping pink sticky-notes into each literature book before they were stored in the red plastic box that nobody is allowed to touch except her.  The queen mother of homeschooling.  I mean, good grief, the lady’s got six kids.  And no twins.  Each hot pink note said something different:   “Read Aloud”  “Jimmy”  “Easy Reader”   “Lisa”   I’ve never seen anything like it.  Mounds of books.

To my credit, I’ve done more planning this August than all of my past ten Augusts added up.  I’m branching out this year.  I’m not using the tried and true curriculum that has served me well for ten years.  I’ve always taught all of my kids together on the same topic.  It’s so much easier to teach that way!  But this year?  No.  Well, yes and no.  We are studying American History with a vengeance, but not like any unit ever tackled in this house of school.  My two high schoolers are in my US History class, so they are on the same page, albeit at drastically different levels. My junior higher is in for the shock of his life.  I just finished writing his assignment for the YEAR…. literature, history, vocabulary and math. (He’s taking a science class from the homeschool mom mentioned previously… with the booky kitchen table.)  I have NEVER written down a year’s worth of assignments for anyone, including myself.  I’ve always flown by the seat of my pants…. planning a week or two… or miraculously a month in advance.  Not this year.  This is a ton of work.

My level of comfort was surpassed when it dawned on me…. early June… that I am teaching English as a Second Language to a youngster… for the very first time in my life.  Our girl can sound out words in Spanish… she can write a handful of words in Spanish… but we are swiping the slate clean and starting at square one in English.  It’s been a while since I looked at phonics… a, ay, ah.  The more I learn the 27 phonograms, the less sense the English language makes.  Spanish is so much easier with every letter making ONLY one sound.  Brilliant.

The plan is set in stone… .like never before.  Even if I get carried off by gypsies the kids will know what to work on until late May.  They may not even notice I’m gone!  Even their dad could hold down the homeschooling fort!  All this planning does make sense to me…. but what it we have a hiccup?  What if we fall behind?  What if I need fieldtrips… LOTS of fieldtrips???  What if? 

So, fellow homeschool moms.  I’m with you this year.  My planning is done.  I’m not posing this year as a mom-educator with children at home who has it all together.  I do actually have it all together.  First time in TEN years!

Tomorrow School Starts

The first thing the pupils will be participating in here at L.A.K.E. Academy is Lost and Found.  (Crosby homeschool… LAKE is spelled by the first letters of my kids’ names.)  I hear they have Lost and Found at schools throughout the United States and Canada, so I thought we would try it here too.  It’s more of a participatory activity here…. not like at schools where it’s a last resort event.  We are STARTING with Lost and Found. 

First we’re going to find our school books that were LOST all summer.  Then we’re going to look through them until the place where we last worked is FOUND! This may seem silly and trivial to those who send their children to classrooms where organized teachers work their wonders…. but here at the LAKE, it’s serious business.  Many prayers are sent heavenward by the pupils in hopes that certain books will never be located.  My youngest dislikes math.  My middle dislikes spelling.  My eldest dislikes history.  The teacher dislikes complainers.  It’s the circle of homeschool life.  Round and round we go.

After we finish Lost and Found, we’ll have recess and lunch and recess.  Then we’ll do geography (play Ticket to Ride) and then sociology mixed with economics (play Settlers of Catan) then we’ll have third recess.  We might set up the boys’ binders…. but that’s only if we get to it before fourth recess.  We’ll see.

AND… the kid’s favorite part of the new school year…. the annual photo in front of the schoolhouse house. (That picture was taken in 2005!) Their smiles get more mischievous as the years go on.  This will be YEAR TEN!!!!  I can hardly believe it. 

Let’s roll!

School Starts Today…..bahahahahahahah!

Yes, that was my sinister laugh. You see, we homeschool.  We don’t start today….but the rest of the kids who live in Phoenix do.  It’s 9:23 am and two of my three kids are still asleep…. happily dreaming of sugar plums and their favorite mother/teacher who doesn’t want to start school until September.  We are in a co-op for the boys that starts on the 31st.  So I guess we will be starting in August…. barely.  We’re studying Africa for four months.  Should prove entertaining.

My junior in high school starts this Thursday with one class, Economics (only on Thursdays).  That gets her warmed up for next week, when she starts Spanish 2 (only on Tuesdays). THEN the following week she starts Chemistry (only on Tuesdays, too.)  So she’s slowly starting her third year of high school….. not the cannon-ball style… the wade-in-slowly-while-you-get-used-to-the-water style.  Algebra is an ongoing force in her life.  And I still need to pick an English course for us to do together!  Yikes! (Hey, I have two more weeks!)

I’m not ready for school to start.  Usually by now (two weeks and counting down) I am full-blown into planning and gathering needed supplies and books.  Not this year.  I’m terribly distracted by our coming Colombian princess.  I knew I needed to finish her room before school started… and I finished last night!  Whooo HOoooo!  I asked the boys what they thought of starting school in November.  They smiled and thought it was my most brilliant idea EVER!  But it was a cruel joke.  My heart is in Colombia…. not Africa.  What doesn’t help my motivation is that we will travel to Colombia during the school year… which will wipe out about six weeks of school when my mind is mush.  I always thought I would have the kids bring at least math with them to Colombia.  I’m not thinking that anymore.  Spanish immersion is enough.

School Starts in the Morning! Aaaack!

This is a picture of me a few years back, teaching Keeve at the chalkboard.  OK, back to reality.  I’m so thankful to be able to teach my kids at home.  I love it.  I love them.  I love being at home. I love learning.  I love watching them learn.  It’s the best.  I can’t imagine sending them away all day.  (I CAN imagine what I would do if they did go, but not the actual sending them part.)

However, school starts in the morning and I am nowhere near as ready as I’d like to be.  Oh well.  We’ll still take our first day of school picture on the front porch (in front of the school house.)  We need to clean out the boys’ binders from last year and test everyone to see how much smarts seeped out over summer.  There won’t be a general cleaning of the bookshelf this year.  First time in 9 years.   Again, oh well.  Worse things could happen….  and probably have.

Yes, this is year number NINE!  Wow!  We have lots of field trips lined up already for the boys with a great group of families.  That is new and exciting.  We are starting a new math program, VideoText, for Larisa and possibly Austin… that is ALWAYS fun with a capital F.  AND we’re starting with breakfast at the table together each morning.  You’re probably asking yourself, where did they eat before?  We didn’t all sit together.  We slipped in and out of the kitchen chairs at our convenience all before 9:00 a.m. Not no more.  (Ain’t that great grammar!?) 

I bought a Christian worldview curriculum, Thinking Like a Christian, that we will be going through together to figure out what we believe and why.  It’ll be good.  I promise.  Right after the Wheaties.

We are also ALL taking Spanish(except the principal.)  Watch, right when I get all these great ideas rolling along merrily, we’ll get our referral call and all my planning will be blown to bits.  But that’s ok with me!  Bring it on!

Happy schooling, for those schooling!