Beyond Survival: Homeschool Goals for 2011-2012

We’re several weeks into our 2011-2012 school year and I haven’t really set any formal goals for our home school.  I’ve got some rough ideas and some basic lesson plans.  I think I’ve laid out a frame work of what I want to accomplish.  Sometimes it helps me to write it out and this week’s Blog Cruise Topic happens to be What are your homeschool related goals for the year?

So what are my homeschool related goals for the year?  I think it would help me if I broke it down into parts.  Grab a cup of coffee or tea or whatever cause this could get long.

General:

• To Survive.  Yes, I have a general home school goal of survival.  My goal is to survive having two in high school, one in junior high and one who defies grade levels.  I’ll be searching for ways to overcome home school burn out.  Maybe I’ll even blog about them.  Assuming I find some ways <grin>.
• Record Keeping.  As I type this I find myself challenged by how far behind I am in my record keeping.  Should I even be admitting this out loud?  I love Homeschool Tracker Plus and I intend to continue using it but my goal this year is twofold:  1) finish up the records from last year   2)not let myself get so behind this year.   

BooBooBear:

• Language Arts:  We are focusing primarily on writing skills.  We’re using materials from Institute for Excellence in Writing.  I want her to be comfortable and confident in writing abilities.  She’s planning to take the SAT and we’ll be using a program to help her write SAT essays.
• Weekly or Bi-weekly meetings: My goal it is to meet with BooBear at least twice a month to discuss her Sonlight studies.  She is using Sonlight’s Core 300 “20th Century World History” for her Social Studies credit.  I cannot read every book but thankfully Sonlight provides extensive notes and a study guide.  I want to use those notes and study guides as the basis for some great discussion and mom/daughter time.

Supergirl:

• Consistency:  Last year I felt like we did school in fits and spurts.  When push came to shove and something had to give, it tended to be Supergirl school that shoved aside.  My goal this year is to be more consistent and make her school work a priority.
• Struture: Supergirl tends to thrive on structure.  I think if we have a stronger routine (closer to a <gasp> schedule this will give her the structure she needs and provide a nice frame to build up consistency.
• Language Arts: We are using Primary Arts of Language by Jill Pike and published by IEW.  We’re using both the Reading and the Writing portions.   With structure and consistency we should be able to accomplish my third big goal for her this year: printing the letters of the alphabet.   Our goals are to be able to write her name from memory as well as be able to do some simple copywork.  We’ve been working for several years on foundational skills for penmanship and we are ready to put pencil to paper.

Turlegirl:

• Time Management Skills:  As Turtlegirl enters High School, she needs to learn how to manage her time to accomplish all her weekly assignments.  My goal for her is to be able to give her a weeks worth assignments and have her create her own daily agenda.  Managing time is a weak area for many in my family and this year I hope to use a combination of TOS Planner and Homeschool Tracker Plus to teach Turtlegirl how to divide up her work and still have time to play.
• Weekly or Bi-Weekly Meetings.  Yup this goal is the same as BooBear’s but Turtlegirl is studying Church History or The History of God’s Kingdom using Sonlight’s Core 200 as a starting point.  We’ve made some adaptations so that it has more of a focus on Orthodox feel rather than a Western or Protestant feel.  I am so excited to explore church history this year with her

TailorBear:

• Finishing what we start:  If we start a project or a book or a paper or whatever, I want to see it through to the end.  This is as much a character goal as it is a home school goal.  Tailorbear has lots of great ideas but unfortunately she inherited her parents flaw of lousy follow through. 
• Extra Reading:  I don’t just want to read aloud to her the books scheduled by Sonlight to read aloud but I have some books on my Nook that I would love to read aloud to her .There are also some books that she could read alone. 

So moving beyond merely surviving the school year,  I want to deepen my relationship all four of my daughters and choosing to home educate is one way to build our relationship.