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Help…Goal and Objectives
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I am slightly embarrassed to ask this but…In subjects that don’t come with a pre-set goals and objectives How do you come up with your own??? I am feeling very lost in this area. I am trying to fill out the goals for the YR1 student and Math was alright since the objectives came in the curriculum, but for things like Geography, Language and so on that do not have something to cut and paste, so to speak, what do you go by?
Thank you for any help which can be given, I am feeling lost on this
Well, there are different ways to determine what your goals and objectives may be for each subject but I usually take into consideration 1-2 areas that I feel need the most improvement in that child or the area that would make the most difference, practically speaking, and keep that the focus of the year. So, for instance, in Language Arts for my 4th year student I put my objective to be to gain fluency and increased independence in her reading and to begin learning spelling strategies and applying them in her writing. Now, obviously, we will be covering MUCH more this year for LA, but those will be our main focus for this year because they will have the most beneficial impact to her and are the two areas that I feel need improvement the most.
I hope that helps a little! If you need more clarity I will certainly try to be of help!
-Miranda
It’s a great question! Everyone approaches it differently. For me, I look at one of two things, depending on subject.
For content subjects like history, science, art, etc I set goals for what I hope to introduce to my children. So right now we’re getting ready to study ancient Greeks. I hope to introduce my children (depending on their age) to the following things:
- The location and landforms of Greece (with all that water and the mountains how did it affect their lives?). For my younger kids this will simply be ‘where is Greece on a map’ while my older ones will look at how the geography affected Greek life, wars, etc.
- Important people, places, and events in Greek history. This could be the Parthenon, acropolis, the battle of Marathon, Spartans life vs. Athenians life, and Alexander the Great.
- Basic mythology – depending on age I choose to share some of the Greek myths. For example we’ll read D’Aulaires Greek Myths. My high schooler will read a translation of The Odyssey and I will introduce my middle kids (upper elementary) to The Odyssey through a children’s version.
Okay, so now let’s talk about SKILL based subjects. This would be math, learning to read or write, handwriting, etc. In skill based subjects I look at what skills I hope they master next. Those are my goals! Examples:
- My 6 year old is learning to read. He can read short vowel words but generally has to sound them all out. So two goals for him this year are to become more fluent through practice at reading short vowel words (not needing to sound out every single work) and to learn how long vowel words work (things like silent E, vowel pairs, etc).
- My 4th and 5th graders are learning cursive this year. It is a skill. The goals? 1. To read cursive (recognize the letters and be able to read things written or printed in cursive). 2. To write in cursive, to form the letters legibly.
- My 9th grader is learning about the structure of writing a novel, with the goal to produce her own novel by the end of the year. We chose a curriculum that maps it out (first semester is learning the structure and planning while second semester is using her plans/notes to flesh out a novel). The goal could be stated as “Finish One Year Adventure Novel this year” or we could say the goal is to “write the rough draft of her novel this year after careful planning”.
Does that help?
So then in my understanding from both of your answers is it doesn’t have to be a detailed inventory then? General and broad “hope to accomplish” ideas would work?
I am likely stuck in p.s. brain right now and thinking I must have a syllabus with a bunch of objectives and goals listed out that everyone must attain to get a decent grade. Please tell me that type of thinking starts to go away with the gained years of experience in homeschooling lol.
Ok thank you! I feel a bit more at ease and think I will try working on this again today. I feel unsettled that we have started but the goals are not set for the year. I appreciate how you explained the two different areas Tristan, skill based or content based, I never thought of the subjects in that way, it should help in the future. Glad to know that mind frame will go away, I never realized that it would be a speed bump for me and how we do things but have been noticing it a little more lately.
I had some time yesterday to work on the goals and objectives for this year and using the advice given here it was so much simpler than what I had been trying to make it. I got all but History and Geography filled in and will try to fill those in by the end of the week. The goals were easier to do when thought of as “what do I want the child to be introduced to this year” or “what would I like the child to gain from this subject.” I am feeling like I have more of a road map to go by and not just some tools (the books and such).
I’m so glad to hear that you started feeling better about this part of the planning! It is nice to have a place to come to for good advice! I have come here over and over for help with so many homeschooling issues! It will get easier and easier the more you do it.
Blessings!
Miranda
Thank you Tristan and Miranda! I am feeling much better about this part. The reading and gathering of the books and such didn’t seem to stump me and I love the basis behind the CM way, I already did a lot of it without knowing it was a way of teaching until last year when I found this site, and the listing out what to do when was easy But the goals and objectives part I had to have was like a trick question. Now I feel like the pieces are all in one area and pretty much together. I am so incredibly grateful for this site and so many people willing to help and give advice and examples of what has worked or not and why.
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