The beginning of the school year is stressful for everyone, but it’s especially difficult for homeschoolers. You have to get back into the groove of teaching your child, and you may also be trying to figure out how much time each day will be spent on schoolwork versus play. The good news is that there’s no shortage of fun activities that can help keep your kids engaged while they learn—and help make homeschooling more enjoyable for all involved! Here are ten homeschool goals I recommend setting for yourself and your family this year:
1. Stay Positive
We all know that it’s easier said than done, but staying positive is one of the most important things you can do for your homeschooling efforts. If you start off on the wrong foot and get discouraged by your progress or results, then you might start looking at everything as a failure. Also, having a negative outlook on homeschooling or lessons can directly affect the way your child views them and your child’s education. This is a sure way to burn out quickly, so be sure to stay positive!
- Don’t compare yourself to other homeschoolers. Even if they are successful with their children in ways that surprise you, remember that every child is different and has different needs. Your child may not be anything like theirs—and that’s okay! Your process and routine may not be the same, and that’s ok.
- Don’t compare yourself to other parents either; there will always be some who seem like they have this whole parenting thing figured out, while others appear clueless about what their kids need from them as parents. The key here is not to compare yourself with these types of people because chances are good that we all have something going on in our lives that makes us feel overwhelmed sometimes or causes us stress (even if we don’t show it outwardly). We all have days when everything seems too difficult and overwhelming; remember, everyone has those days sometimes!
- Staying positive is a big part of how Christians homeschool.
2. Be Flexible
The most important task is to set goals for yourself and your kids. These can be similar to regular school goals—like reading more books or learning new math concepts—or they can be specific to your homeschooling process. For example, you might want your kids to get more physical activity each day, or you might want them to spend time volunteering in the community.
When setting these homeschool goals, you mustn’t try to be flexible and think creatively. A goal like “read every day” might seem easy at first glance, but it’s actually hard when your child has special needs or behaviors that make this goal difficult at times. If you make goals fun for your child, they are also more likely to keep them. We use a gamed-based Minecraft homeschool board for our routine. It has five different levels, and my child moves a Minecraft player piece along the board to keep track of the school day!
Get the free printable for the Minecraft homeschool schedule today from our free printable library!
3. Record Adorable Moments and Take Photos
As the school year begins, it’s a great time to record your kids’ lives and all the cute moments that happen during them. If you like taking photos, set up a system for saving them so that you don’t lose all your pictures when one of your kids accidentally knocks the phone into the toilet or something.
If you aren’t very good at taking photos (or even if you are), keep in mind that there are many other ways to record memories as well—and these may be more useful for some topics than photographs. One example is keeping a homeschool portfolio. In fact, depending on where you live, a homeschool portfolio might actually be essential to keeping your homeschooling journey legal. You can check out our guide to homeschool portfolios to find out more.
4. Keep Your Homeschool Fun
Make sure that you and your kids are having fun. It’s easy to forget how important the homeschooling process is supposed to be, especially if you have a lot of deadlines or homeschool goals to meet. Make sure you don’t get bogged down by all the work and stress, but don’t let yourself get overwhelmed with it all. Remember that this is supposed to be a positive experience! If you make learning fun, then you create a lifelong learner. Lifelong learners are critical thinkers who don’t just follow the crowd but think for themselves.
Keep moving forward—don’t get stuck in a rut. Sometimes when we’re trying something new or making an adjustment to our kids’ education plan, we can feel like things aren’t working out exactly as planned. When this happens (and it will), take some time off from your courses and just have fun together! Scheduling more breaks for homeschool can make it a more tolerable process for everyone.
5. Schedule Time for Special Subjects
If you’re like most homeschooling parents, your children probably have a few special subjects that are important to them. The trick is to find the time to fit in all their favorite classes within your schedule and family life constraints.
For example:
- Math and science are essential for every child’s education. If you want them to succeed in college or life, ensure they get enough practice with these subjects throughout the year (and not just during an infrequent unit). Try scheduling one hour per day or week devoted specifically to math and science; this will also give them plenty of time for other things. Some curriculums focus on science for 8 to 12 weeks out of the year before changing to another lesson. This works too!
- Social studies and history are also important because they provide context for current events and serve as part of basic cultural literacy. You may need only 20 minutes per day or week dedicated specifically to social studies/history—but remember: It’s easy enough for kids to forget what they’ve learned if they don’t review those lessons periodically throughout their school years! Again, many big box curriculums plan out history and social studies in an 8-12 week unit throughout the year.
- Language arts and writing should be practiced regularly because they help children communicate better with others—and who doesn’t want their child(ren) growing up into articulate young adults? Again: 20 minutes per day or week seems sufficient here (though, if possible, try increasing it!).
But what about the other subjects that kids love? Some kids love art, coding, Minecraft, socializing, and more! You can get these classes as individual lessons through Outschool! There are so many options for class, times, and teachers you are sure to find something that fits your lifestyle. You can check out our guide to extracurricular classes on Outschool to learn more about what they offer and how to fit it into your homeschool.
6. Streamline Your School Day
Streamlining your school day is a great way to make your homeschooling more efficient and enjoyable. Streamlining your home school schedule will help you get more done in less time and create a more relaxing, less stressful learning environment for the whole family.
To streamline your school day, you simply cut out all the things that are not necessary for your child’s learning process.
Brie Wetherby
Create an enjoyable, simple schedule. The best way to streamline your school day is by creating an enjoyable, simple schedule that fits everyone’s needs and preferences. You can start by listing all the things you need to do during the week, then organize them according to their importance (i.e., essential tasks on top) or by difficulty level (i.e., most difficult tasks at the bottom). If too many items are on this list, break them down into smaller chunks so that each task takes only one hour or less. Keep this list handy throughout the day so it can help remind everyone what still needs to be done before bedtime!
7. Celebrate the Little Things
As a homeschooling family, it’s easy to get caught up in the big things: books and curriculum, field trips, and extracurricular activities. But focusing on what you accomplish in one day or week is not enough to sustain your long-term goals for homeschooling. You need to celebrate the little things as well!
It’s easy to forget about celebrating the little accomplishments because they are so small—but don’t let that happen! Celebrating every success will help keep you motivated when times get tough and keep everyone involved with learning. For example, celebrate a nicely written name, great spelling word test, or record time on a math speed drill!
If you want to celebrate the first day of school, grab our first day of school picture printable pack for free! This free printable includes a scrapbook page for the first day of school and a poster for your child to hold for pictures! The first day of school, photos are a great way to celebrate the little things in life!
8. Set Learning Goals
Learning goals are an important component of your homeschooling journey. They help you stay focused on what matters, prioritize your time and efforts, and create a sense of purpose and direction for yourself. In fact, you may want to include these learning goals in your homeschool portfolio!
They can also be used to help plan the year’s curriculum or as a way to track progress during the school year. Some common learning objectives for kids in elementary school include:
- Learning to read
- Learn to add and subtract
- Learn to identify complete sentences
- Learn how to write
- Learn to express emotions
- Learn to multiply and divide
You’ll find that having clear learning goals will make it easier to stay on track with your teaching plans for each subject area, whether you’re just starting out with homeschooling or have been doing it for years! You can check out our guide to setting learning goals and objectives for elementary-age kids to learn specific information about educational objectives for kids between the ages of 5-10!
9. Find the Right Curriculum Fit
A curriculum is a set of instructional materials that guide your child’s education. It can be anything from a textbook to an online course or even an app, but the point is that you use it as a guide for teaching and learning.
In order to find the right fit for your family, take some time to consider:
- What will best support your homeschool goals? Do you want to focus on math, writing, or social studies? Are there certain subjects you want to teach more than others?
- How much time are you willing to invest daily in teaching and planning lessons? Will this curriculum requires extra hours outside of school hours each week in order for it to work well with the rest of your schedule (i.e. is it preplanned for you, or do you have to plan it?)
- Cost of the curriculum and your budget for homeschooling
Once these two factors have been determined, then look into which curriculum options are available and how they might work best with what you’re looking for! Check out the top five Christian big box curriculum sets if you want a preplanned curriculum.
10. Prepare Ahead of Time
One way to ensure you don’t have any unpleasant surprises is to prepare ahead of time. Prepare for the school year before it starts. If you have some flexibility in your daily schedule, plan out what days each subject will be covered and when. Write down or print off a list of all the supplies needed (both materials and tools) for each subject. If any books need special ordering, do that ahead of time, so they’ll be available when they’re needed. Once this is complete, post the list somewhere visible, so everyone knows what’s expected during the first week of school! If you order your curriculum ahead of time, you are less likely to receive things late due to backorders. Homeschooling is becoming more popular, and many people are running into backorders and low supplies if they order before the school year starts because the supply is insufficient to sustain the demand.
You can also plan ahead each year to make your year easier if you are homeschooling multiple kids at different grade levels. You may even find this guide to homeschool goals by age helpful!
11. Get Some Fresh Air
As your student’s teacher, you ensure they get a well-rounded education. One of the best ways to do that is by getting them outside as often as possible. The outdoors provides many opportunities for learning:
- Go for a walk in your neighborhood or local park. Walk around and take note of things like flowers and animals, or look at different types of trees.
- Go for a bike ride around town (or just your block). You can stop at various spots along the way to point out landmarks, historical buildings, etc.
- Or, if you prefer indoor activities, check out an aquarium or zoo nearby!
Or perhaps some time at the beach is what will inspire your child this year? Whether it’s swimming in the ocean or digging in the sand with their friends—seeing all those new sights will help them learn about nature! If you want some super creative ways to bring your homeschooling outside, check out our guide to outdoor schooling!
Homeschooling Is Hard, but You Can Do It with Homeschool Goals
Homeschooling is hard, but you can do it. I know that might sound like a bold statement. After all, there are always things to be done and challenges to overcome—whether you’re homeschooling or not.
It is my hope that these 10 homeschool goals will inspire you to take on your own new challenges this school year!
Setting goals for homeschooling can seem overwhelming. But if you’re struggling with where to start, we hope this post has given you some ideas. There are many different homeschooling methods out there, and it may take some time for you to find the one that works best for your family—but don’t get discouraged! After all, these goals aren’t just about improving your homeschool experience: they’re about improving life in general
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