Educational Goals and Objectives for Homeschool

Parents use both homeschool educational objectives and educational goals to plan and evaluate their student's academic program. Educational goals are broad, whereas objectives are quite specific and can be measured by the homeschool students' behavior.

Goal: The student will learn to type proficiently.
Objective: Within six months the student will type 45 words per minute with 3 errors per minute or less. For something like keyboarding, these are fairly easy to define. However, some topics are a little harder. For example, what goals and objectives might one have for studying the United States Constitution? Here is an example:

Goal: To understand the impact of the US Constitution.
Objectives:
Identify 5 of the rights in the Bill of Rights.
Explain how the Constitution can be amended.
Evaluate the impact of the Consitution on American society.

Some homeschool educational objectives, like the first above, are easier to measure. This one tells exactly how many rights the student will identify in order to pass. Other measurements, like evaluating the impact of the Constitution, will require that the student write or discuss the information, and will be more subjective to evaluate.

Let's try writing goals and objectives for the kids above.

Goal: To train the Seeing Eye Puppy.
Objectives
The dog will correctly obey 4 of the 5 commands.
The children will walk, feed, and take the puppy out for park time 3 out of 4 times without being reminded during the daytime.
Mom and Dad will get up in the middle of the night with the puppy, re-clean up after all the accidents, and drive the kids and puppy to all events and vet appointments.

Okay, that last one isn't really an educational objective, but I couldn't resist.

Types of Objectives There are different "levels" of objectives, which differentiate the type of thinking required of the student. All levels are comprised of a verb which deliniates what students are expected to do at the completion of their study. These levels are based on Bloom's Taxonomy which educators have used for several decades. The order here is based on more recent revisions which emphasizes creating as a higher level than analysis.

KNOWLEDGE:
List
Identify
Name
Match
Find
Order

APPLICATION:
Experiment
Illustrate
Solve
Choose
Teach

ANALYSIS
Compare
Critique
Test/Experiment
Distinguish
Predict

EVALUATION
Defend
Debate
Support
Argue

CREATIVE/SYNTHESIS
Construct
Develop
Propose
Make

There are far more exhaustive lists of verbs that can be used to generate educational objectives using Bloom's Taxonomy. There are also resources to suggest what kinds of educational experiences accomplish the intended purpose. Click here to link to the APA site for Bloom's Taxonomy and suggested learning activities.

Tool for Writing Your Homeschool Educational Objectives

Some states require families to submit their homeschool educational objectives before the beginning of the course of study. Attached is a tool that can be used to assist you in writing the objectives for your homeschool program. You can modify it so that it can be used year after year.

Click here for the FREE download on WRITING EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES.