What are your end goals for the subjects you choose to teach?

[Momto6inIN]

I started a thread last week about science - my biggest curriculum struggle. In that thread, I was encouraged by several people to not worry about retention in elementary science and history. Some of the things people said in that thread made me decide to try to take a step back and look at my end goals for those subjects, which then led me to think about my end goals for all the subjects I teach. I did this a little bit when I first started homeschooling, but at that point in my journey it was mostly a matter of thinking about what requirements were needed to graduate a high schooler. Which is not a bad goal, but I think now I'd like to dig a little deeper.

It was hard at first because I kept coming up with specific outcomes (e.g. master math facts) related to specific age levels instead of big picture goals. For some subjects I kept thinking the answer was "because this is needed in order to be considered an educated person." But while that may be true for some/most things, it doesn't really get to the root thing I'm trying to achieve. So I persevered and kept reminding myself of the questions "Why do I teach this subject? What do I want them to get out of it?" and I think I've got a decent start on some answers that will help me be more effective and purposeful in our schooling.

I'll list what I came up with in a follow up comment, but I am really interested in how others have approached these questions and what answers you all have come up with and seeing what I might have missed or where I might have it wrong altogether. You may have totally different subjects that you teach than I do ... or you may not divide yours into subjects at all ... and all that is ok by me. I don't care how you list it. I just would like to know what kind of end goals you keep in mind as you plan your school 🙂

[Momto6inIN]

Morning Meeting and Read Alouds - to start the day off on the right foot by glorifying God together - to foster unity and relationships

Math - to solve problems - to understand the language of science and creation

Reading/Literature - to love books and stories - to encounter ideas/perspectives they haven't thought of in a safe way

Spelling & Grammar - to be understood by others in their writing/communication

Vocabulary - to to able to play with language - to decipher unfamiliar words by their roots

Writing - to be able to communicate well and easily their ideas and thoughts and knowledge

Geography - to get a glimpse of how big and diverse our world is - to think about how different people's perspectives can be

History - to learn from the mistakes and patterns of the past - to understand man's limitations and tendencies

Science - to be curious about the world and how it works - to appreciate the complexity of the mind of God - to be a good consumer of science news - to search for truth

Computers - to function in society and the workplace

Art - to exercise creativity

Music - to love music - to practice persevering with something difficult

PE - to be able to play group games and sports - to develop a lifelong habit of fitness

Logic - to encourage different ways of thinking - to be able to spot flaws in their own arguments and in other people's arguments

Foreign Language (Spanish for us) - to recognize that our way is not the only way of life and speaking - to be able to communicate even in a rudimentary way with a large part of the US population

Health - to know how to balance the physical, mental, and emotional parts of their lives

Current Events - to form informed opinions of the issues of our day

Electives - to encourage branching out - to encourage passions - to feel unique and seen/heard for who they are as an individual

[EKS]

Literature: Cultural literacy developed from reading a wide range of books 

History: Cultural literacy and a respect for what went before

Science: Scientific literacy and an understanding of the process of science

Math: A foundation that allows the student to step into a STEM major/career with confidence, includes concepts and procedures and an understanding of how the two interrelate

Writing: The ability to produce a coherent and compelling document appropriate to the intended audience

Foreign language: Checking the box

All subjects: An appreciation for the discipline and its ideas, the ability to apply the knowledge flexibly and across disciplines, and an understanding of the ethical/social/intellectual implications of the various aspects of the human endeavor

[Momto6inIN]

3 hours ago, EKS said:

Writing: The ability to produce a coherent and compelling document appropriate to the intended audience

All subjects: An appreciation for the discipline and its ideas, the ability to apply the knowledge flexibly and across disciplines, and an understanding of the ethical/social/intellectual implications of the various aspects of the human endeavor

I might steal the "appropriate to the intended audience" and "apply the knowledge flexibly across disciplines" parts 🙂

[Lori D.]

I always attempted to hold both a very big picture/long term picture, alongside with the immediate/short term picture for our day to day homeschooling:

Our overall goals (mission statement?) remained the same throughout all of our homeschooling:
- teach them to read well (so they can teach themselves anything) --  and hopefully foster a love of reading
- teach them to think well (so they can make good, intelligent life choices)
- foster faith in and personal relationship with the Lord
- build/foster solid relationships between family members, and into the community (translates as serving God by serving others)

[In high school, I added one more goal: that of overall "balance" -- teaching/modeling (and aggressively protecting our time for) a lifestyle of balance (healthy eating and exercise, but especially in balancing commitments and time, so not so over-committed that we are stressed out, and so that we can stop and be available to whatever unexpected thing the Lord might call us to).]

Then each summer, I sat down and prayerfully, thoughtfully thought back over what we had accomplished academically, and considered what the focus needed to be for each student for each subject area. Usually 2-3 specific subjects and goals rose to the surface to work on for that coming year.

My list of subjects:
Bible/Religious Studies; LA (Reading; Writing; Handwriting; Phonics; Spelling; Grammar; Vocabulary); Math; Science; History; Geography (and at different times included other Social Studies topics such as Civics; Economics; our State; Current Events; etc.); Logic; Art/Music; PE; and then at different times: Typing; Computer; Health; "Home Ec" topics; and "Electives" (a variety of "personal interest" topics).

Sadly, Foreign Language/Latin fell out of my ability to make it happen after repeated early failures + dealing with one DS's LDs with the English language... However, we were able to do a roots-based vocabulary study (Greek and Latin roots), so that was a little something. Ultimately, in 12th grade, each DS did 2 semesters of dual enrollment for the high school Foreign Language requirements -- it was all we could manage on that front.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Lori D.

[Momto6inIN]

7 hours ago, Lori D. said:

[In high school, I added one more goal: that of overall "balance" -- teaching/modeling (and aggressively protecting our time for) a lifestyle of balance (healthy eating and exercise, but especially in balancing commitments and time, so not so over-committed that we are stressed out, and so that we can stop and be available to whatever unexpected thing the Lord might call us to).]

We try to do this, but definitely need more work on it! 2nd DS especially tends to overcommit and get swamped, and I go back and forth between letting him do it and learn from the lesson and pulling parental rank and telling him no. He's 17 and so needs to learn it, but he does 't seem to learn from the lesson and keeps doing it 🙂

Then each summer, I sat down and prayerfully, thoughtfully thought back over what we had accomplished academically, and considered what the focus needed to be for each student for each subject area. Usually 2-3 specific subjects and goals rose to the surface to work on for that coming year.

I do this too! 

 

[2_girls_mommy]

I have found, doing this through high school now, that my end goals are different by subject and by student as well. I teach Latin. With one of mine who despised math, but did especially well in literature, reading, and languages, but who also gets perfectionist stress, almost anxiety even, over writing for others, that Latin in and of itself, beyond its many benefits was a goal for her. It gives her a place to use those LA gifts in language, but in an orderly fashion, not a creative one like writing (even though she is a fine writer. It just really stresses her out quite often...) So we chose to focus on that as a place to head towards in college. With the degrees of her choice she will be able to teach Latin, Spanish, English, or history after her undergrad with some extra certification steps if she wants to and can then have college to decide on possible further end goals for further education or can go straight into an entry level job in any business that she finds interesting along the way. So we focused on Latin and testing to provide proof of proficiency for college entry, etc.  It actually led to a love of history and classics and that is what she will be pursuing for undergrad. I have no idea if she will stick with that, or be done at this point. But she has years to explore and decide.

With my next very artistic, possibly slightly dyslexic child, Latin was always more for just the benefits it gives: exposure to foreign languages and how they work, understanding of cultures that lead to ours, help with grammar in general in English, critical thinking skills, etc. She will not go on further than her required two high school years and will likely do Spanish in college. 

With my first child, art topics were introduced as a way to teach her beauty and exposure in an academic way as well as to find outlets that she might not pursue on her own. For my next child, art is life as they say. :) She needs it to breathe. So our goals there are more specific (and broad actually.) 

And so it goes with each subject. Each has end goals that are totally separate, though a lot of high school in many subjects is to just be an educuated person exposed to a lot of things (as is college.) 

 

[Momto6inIN]

50 minutes ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

I have found, doing this through high school now, that my end goals are different by subject and by student as well.

 

I have very different specific goals for each of my kids too. My specific goal for my oldest was to let him go as deep and far into math as he wanted to go and had time to pursue, and he did. That is not a goal that any of my other kids would appreciate LOL - so my 2nd and 3rd's specific goals are very different from each other too (too soon to tell yet what specific goals my 3 youngers will have). But as I thought about this question, it did make me realize that I do have very general goals for each subject that I think apply to all of my kids - although how we go about fulfilling those goals may look very different for each kid depending on their personality and strengths and weaknesses.

 

[lewelma]

Awesome thread.  I need to sit down and do some thinking. We are at the end of the year here in the Southern Hemisphere, and I've got our summer to nut out the final goals for 11th and 12th grade. I am not constrained like American university-bound students as our system here is different, so I have the luxury to focus on non-content goals.  Like Farrar said in the other thread - education is a process not a product.  I've been thinking about that one this whole week. 🙂 

Ruth in NZ

[Momto6inIN]

7 hours ago, lewelma said:

Awesome thread.  I need to sit down and do some thinking. We are at the end of the year here in the Southern Hemisphere, and I've got our summer to nut out the final goals for 11th and 12th grade. I am not constrained like American university-bound students as our system here is different, so I have the luxury to focus on non-content goals.  Like Farrar said in the other thread - education is a process not a product.  I've been thinking about that one this whole week. 🙂 

Ruth in NZ

Looking forward to what you come up with! 🙂