The beginning of the school year started unlike any other.  As a parent or a caregiver, you may have been trying how your child was going to be schooled: face to face or virtually.  You may also have been trying to figure out your own work schedule as a parent, or trying to find a new job after being laid off.

So, school has started with less than a bang.  But even though we are schooling in a new way-one thing remains the same:

YOU STILL NEED TO MAKE GOALS!

Every year I pretty much say the same thing at the beginning of every fall: “Make Goals For the School Year!” But this year having goals is still very important.  This year they may be more important because everything around us is a wee bit crazy!  Having a goal keeps me focused and pressing forward.  

Now this year your goals may be different:

Instead of:

Terry will get better grades this year than he did last year.

It may be:

Terry will remember to breathe and then come ask for help when the internet is not working.

Or

Terry will log on to school independently everyday without a reminder from me.

Even though your goals are a little different remember in order for them to be great goals they must be three things:

-Realistic and Attainable

-Measurable

-Time Based

So instead of your goal being:

 Jeff will be ready for Kindergarten by the end of the year.

 Make it:

By December, Jeff will know all of his letters and colors and he will score in the average range in 4/5 areas of his school readiness assessment.  

Instead of your goal being:

Madison will focus more during homeschooling.

 Make it:

 Madison will be engaged in virtual school by sitting properly in front of her computer, completing her assignments without more than 2 prompts from me and interacting with her teacher and classmates appropriately (no daydreaming).

By creating goals like these you actually create a ‘roadmap’ for your children to succeed at the goals. After you and your child come up with your goals for the specified amount of time (I like to use months or the grading period).  Th is year you may evaluate your goal weekly. Don’t forget to put them somewhere they can be seen frequently.  Places like the refrigerator, their closet door, inside their planner or notebook, on their laptop and the bathroom mirror are all great locations for their goals. 

 The last thing to remember about goals is-when the time period for the goal to be achieved is over—check in with your child to see if the goal has been met.  If the goal was not met-then try to figure out why.  Did they just not do the work?  Was the goal too ambitious?  Are they showing signs of a receptive or expressive language delay? Were there outside factors (such as illness or life change) that made the goal impossible to meet?  If the original goal was not met—then adjust the goal for success.  If the goal was met—then make a new goal for the next marking period or month.  Getting through this time is not easy-but setting goals can be very helpful.  You can do this!!!