Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
This week I’m joined by Alan Hudson, a homeschooling father of seven. Thank you for joining us on Home School Heartbeat, today!

Alan Hudson:
It’s my pleasure, Mike, thank you for having me!

Mike:
Alan, over the years you’ve trained your children to set goals. Would you explain the best way to begin teaching a child to set tangible goals?

Alan:
Well, sure. Since our seven children span from age 22 to age 8, we have had to have lots of practice in doing this. We’ve found over the years that the best way to begin teaching goal-setting habits and techniques is to start when they’re young and with goals that match their attention span and their interests.

Long term goals often don’t have much impact because they have abstract results. For young children, we’ve used things like cleaning a room within a short time period. Now that can be very appropriate. For homeschooling families, we’ve found that having a thicker school lesson, or a project, or a subject, or maybe even an entire day’s work completed within a certain amount of time is a good way of instilling goal-setting habits and realizing the satisfaction of reaching the goal.

As a parent, we need to make it our goal to teach our children how to set goals, and even tell them of our goals. It’s a great way to grow our skills together.

Mike:
Alan, I’m sure many parents will find that very helpful. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.