Transcript

Are you a person who likes to set goals? Some of us are, myself included, but I know not everyone naturally is drawn to setting goals. I want to encourage you to set a few goals for teaching preschool at home. Goals help give us something to work towards. If you completed the assessment in lesson 2, then you will have an idea of what your child need to work on academically.

I’ve put together a printable where you can write down your goals. But before we get together, let’s talk about your “why” for teaching preschool at home. Knowing what your why is will help you stay motivated and keep you reaching towards your goals.

I know my why for teaching preschool was for a variety of reasons:

• Be my child’s first teacher

• Save money

• Do lessons based on their interests that are hands-on

Now let’s talk about goals. Have you ever heard of SMART goals? It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound I like to create a few SMART goals at the beginning of the year.

The S stands for Specific. This is where you ask yourself, “What exactly do you want to achieve?” 

The more specific your description, the bigger chance you’ll achieve that. An example would be, I want my child to be able to recognize all the alphabet letters

M stands for Measureable. Measurable goals means that you identify exactly what it is you will see, hear and feel when you reach your goal.

How will you measure this goal? Maybe with the assessment I provided in lesson 2?

The A stands for Achievable. This is where you ask yourself if you think this goal is possible? For example, you wouldn’t choose a goal of having your child know how to read by the end of preschool if they don’t even know any alphabet letters. Think of something that is reasonable.

The R is for Relevant. It’s similar to the attainable goal. Is your goal relevant towards preschool? Why do you want to reach this goal? Will this make your child a better student?

T is for Time-Bound. Make a tentative plan of everything you do. Everybody knows that deadlines are what makes most people switch to action. If you want your child to know all their alphabet letters by the end of the year, do a mid-year check in to see if they know half of them. 

You could use SMART goals with anything in life. I want you to think of 1-2 SMART goals for your preschooler this year. Use the printable I have in this lesson to write out your goals and then save them. Refer to it throughout the year and see if you actually reach the goal by the end of the year!