Get your kids excited about going back to school by using this little readiness sheet to track their goals for the upcoming year. Goal planning is an essential skill to learn, and as they get older, it will be a necessity once tasks become heavier.
Goal setting teaches your kids about how to set short-term and long-term goals. No matter how simple or complex they might be, you can show them the difference. Separate goals into daily, weekly, and yearly. By setting goals, you can also teach them how to organize your time and how to use planners. See here for free printable calendars.
For days when we lose sight of our focus and things get hard, this is where you can pull out this sheet and look at the goals you set at the beginning. Reminding your kids about their goals will teach them in the long run that sometimes things don’t go as planned and we get off track. This doesn’t mean that we failed, but rather it’s an opportunity to get back up on the right track.
This activity page can be used for your younger kids on the very first day of school (whenever that is for you!). Get them in the right frame of mind while doing something fun. Print your Back-to-School activity page today!
Have S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Older Kids
For older kids, we can get a little more specific with goal setting. S.M.A.R.T. goals teach your kids to be more specific on what needs to get done and to get it down into their schedule so they’ll know whether or not they’ve accomplished it.
Here’s the breakdown for what S.M.A.R.T. stands for:
Specific - Be as specific as possible. This will help keep you focused.
Questions to ask: What needs to be done? What are the steps I can take?
Measurable - Make sure it’s something you can track your progress to show how close you are to hitting your goal.
Question to ask: How am I going to track my goal?
Attainable - Make sure it’s something you can actually achieve. Don’t set yourself up for failure by choosing something that will be too hard and then find yourself giving up in the process.
Question to ask: Can I do it?
Relevant - Goals should make sense and be something you are working towards on the whole for a better future.
Question to ask: Why am I doing this?
Time-based - give yourself a deadline to work towards. Without deadlines goals can quickly get pushed to the side and forgotten. A deadline helps keep your goals prioritized.
Question to ask: When will I be done? When will I reach the goal?
It’s important to note that we all make big goals, and sometimes they are quite lofty. These kinds of goals, though admirable, can trip us up in the long run when we don’t make them S.M.A.R.T. goals. We tend to give up on them, and we don’t want our kids to do the same. So help your kids make “SMART” choices. Here is a free worksheet for them to use for their goal-planning this year. You can print as many as you need!
The Bible prompts us to be wise in planning ahead and having a vision for the future.
“And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Habakkuk 2:2-3
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Proverbs 29:18
It is good to teach our kids to rely upon God when planning for the future whether it’s for short-term or long-term goals. We can make our plans, but it’s God who really helps us to see them through and we need His guidance for every step of the way! Once they’ve set their goals, have them give them to the Lord in prayer, asking Him for guidance and wisdom and blessing on the work they are about to do.
“Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.”
Proverbs 16:3 KJV
Happy goal-making!
This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).