Homeschooling Goals

I learned last year when I homeschooled preschool for the first time, that I’m not very good at following a curriculum or specific method.  So when it came to planning for Kindergarten for Miss Magoo and preschool for Little Man this year, I was stumped on how to plan for the year.  As I thought about it, I finally came to the decision to plan specific homeschooling goals for the year.

Although I don’t strictly follow a curriculum, I don’t want to wander aimlessly through the year, which is where the homeschooling goals come in.  By knowing what I want to introduce and what I expect the kids to be proficient in by the end of the school year, it’s much easier to chart a path to getting there. 

Part of the problem in following a curriculum, for me, is the kids’ ages.  Little Man just turned 3, so he really doesn’t even need to be doing preschool.  But since he sees his big sister doing schoolwork, he wants to participate as well.

And Miss Magoo will be 4 until November, so she would have missed the cut off for Kindergarten if she wasn’t homeschooled.  So since she would technically not be starting Kindergarten, I just can’t see shelling out a bunch of money on curriculum.  Plus, I was so impressed by how much she learned last year without curriculum (aside from using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) that I think there are sometimes better ways to teach than a textbook (though we will be incorporating textbooks in the future, as I do think they serve an important purpose).

So, since I know I must not be the only homeschooling mom who doesn’t see the need to follow curriculum with a 3 and 4 year old, I thought I would share my homeschooling goals for the year with you.  This is by no means a conclusive list of goals– in fact, I’m sure I’ll think of more things throughout the year that I want to do, but it’s a great place to start. 

I also want to remind you that this is our list of goals, and it definitely doesn’t need to be where your child is at.  Make sure that you’re creating a goal list that is consistent with your child and your family. 

I even asked Miss Magoo if she had any ideas of things she wanted me to add to the list, and she came up with 3 of her own, which we will be incorporating. 

Little Man’s Preschool Goals

• Memorize one Bible verse each week
• Be proficient in indentifying letters
• Be proficient in identifying numbers (1-20)
• Introduce reading concepts
• Practice coloring/ drawing
• Practice counting and identifying amounts
• Learn to follow multiple-part instructions
• Have weekly baking/cooking experiences
• Introduce United States

Miss Magoo’s Kindergarten Goals

• Memorize one Bible verse each week
• Work on penmanship/ copy work
• Start learning time
• Be proficient in number identification (1-100)
• Introduce counting by sets (2, 5, 10)
• Be proficient in single-digit addition
• Introduce money values/ coin names
• Introduce basic fractions
• Introduce graphing
• Have weekly baking/cooking experiences
• Be able to identify all 50 United States
• (This is one Miss Magoo wanted to do) Learn to draw clothes and people
• (This is one Miss Magoo wanted to do) Identify common plants
• (This is one Miss Magoo wanted to do) Learn more about animals

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is the ability to teach to my kids, in a way that works for my kids.  Miss Magoo has a voracious appetite for knowledge, and I want to make sure she feels satisfied in how much she’s learning.  We took the summer off from homeschooling, but I don’t plan to do that again this next summer, as she really seems to be happier in her play time when she has some good sit-down-and-learn time, too.

Even if you do buy curriculum, homeschooling goals are still very important.  One thing most homeschooling families seem to desire is to teach more than just schoolwork.  It seems that there is a desire to have learning be integrated into a child’s entire life, and setting homeschooling goals can help with this.  Maybe the goal for your child this year is to help him learn about honesty.  Or maybe your daughter wants to learn to sew, so you set a goal of taking a piece of fabric from a pattern to a finished product.  Or maybe you’d like your homeschooling goals to include weekly visits to a local nursing home, or volunteering at the local food bank. 

Whatever your homeschooling goals, take a moment and write them down, so you are more accountable to them (and so you can remember them- I know I can’t be the only forgetful mama out there!).  My husband loves the quote, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” and I know that in the education of my kids, I don’t want to fail them, so I’m planning and setting goals.

Do you set homeschooling goals?  Do you set goals for each individual child, the whole family, or both?

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