New Year Goals

New Year Goals & Check Ups Episode 319

New Year goals and resolutions are easy to make but not easy to keep. So many times we make our schedules without any wiggle room and the new year is the best time to look at our schedules and realign them with our newly made goals. No goals or resolutions, yet? Don’t worry—in today’s episode, I share some suggestions to get your New Year off to a great start!

Planning has never been my strongest gift. Let me rephrase this, planning on paper has never been a strong gift. I do plan, in fact, I have lots of long-term plans but I keep them in my head and as often happens they get lost because I forget! So, one of my resolutions years ago was to make a point of writing things down. Not hard, right?

At the beginning of the school year, I created a long-term schedule and then every January I would take another look to see if something was missing or if I needed to change things around. This helped me tremendously and the kids as well. Sometimes I gave us too much time to complete math but not enough time for science, history or art. We would have alternating schedules. I would block schedule and have 3-month segments where it was heavier on the science and lighter on the history or vice-versa. As the children got older the schedules changed, and we had to complete every subject every day.

Here is the list I used in order to evaluate our progress.

Wellness check. How are we doing? Is anyone struggling?
Look at the long-term plan. Can we accomplish our goals by year end?
How long is it taking the children to complete their work? Can this be changed?
Extracurricular activities: Is there time to add a class or sporting event to the schedule?
Time to think.
Family consensus
Goals for each child.
Recording system.
Projects
Year-end date. Evaluations or Testing.

How does this list line up with yours? Is there anything you would take out or add?