5th Grade Homeschool Goals 2019-2020

I’m pressing on with sharing our homeschool goals this year, and next on the list is 5th grade!

As I said in the 7th grade post, I make a list of goals for each of my children at the beginning of each school year.  As a person who leans towards planning for too many subjects, this list of goals helps me pull myself back on track.

I look at the list almost weekly, and if I want to add something, it has to pass this test:

Does the new task help attain the goals, or is it a hindrance?

In fact, this year I printed my goal lists and placed them behind each child’s tab in my Mama Folder.  It’s in front of my face as I plan for the coming week, surely to be noticed!

Today I am sharing our homeschool goals for our 10 year old girl, a 5th grader for the 2019-2020 school year.

You can find more homeschool goals here:
→ 7th Grade Homeschool Goals
→ 3rd Grade Homeschool Goals

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5th Grade Homeschool Goals

My 10 year old girl is at the upper elementary level of school work.  Praise the Lord we made it through 4th grade, where it seems all of my children tend to lose their minds for a year.

My 5th grader struggles quite a bit with distraction during our school day, and I’m researching and implementing even more strategies to help her with this.  These goals are to help her with that particular issue, while pressing on with our academics.

Have suggestions for kiddos that struggle with distraction?  I’d love to hear them in the comments!

For my 10 year old 5th grade girl, we are working on the following areas:

Do Your Best Work

In this 5th grade year, our biggest focus is on learning to consistently do your best work.

My 5th grader needs a lot of reminding that we should do our best work at all times, not just when we feel like it.  While I do my best to model this for her each day, she also needs quite a bit of verbal direction. 😉

If we can work on this one skill and mindset, the other things will fall into place.

Plan of action: I will be careful to not accept work that is only half completed, or was clearly hurried through just so she can be finished with the assignment.

I will be more consistent in only allowing “fun” things (a screen, a privilege of some sort) to be granted after school work is done to the best of her ability.  It will have to be earned.

I tell my children often that I never expect perfection, but I always expect their best effort.

Math

Math is a large focus this year, and it will be completed every day, no exceptions.  Last year, we occasionally did math 4 days a week, as our focus was on literature, Latin, and English.

This year, math is on the goal list as a Must Do Every Day.

In addition to consistent math 5 days a week, my 5th grader will work on instant recall of math facts.

Plan of action:  Daily flash cards alternating the 4 operations, with a heavy focus on multiplication and division.  She will also be able to answer 100 math facts of a single operation in 4 minutes, and 100 mixed math facts in 5 minutes by our Christmas break.

I created a chart for the year that plans a mix of flash cards and written timed quizzes.  She will also utilize the Speed Drills in Rod & Staff Math Grade 5, as well as the Oral Drills in the Teacher’s Manual each day.

Math will be scheduled each day we have school.

Latin

My 5th grader worked her way through Prima Latina and Latina Christiana the past few years, however, it was definitely not her first love. 😉

She will work through First Form Latin during 5th grade, and it steps up the Latin Game with memorization and recitation.

I didn’t see the type of effort I’d like with Latina Christiana last year, so Latin is a heavy focus this year.  Latin is important in our homeschool and it is non-negotiable during the upper elementary and middle school years in our home.

Plan of Action: I was fairly hands-off with Latina Christiana due to my own time limitations (there’s only so much of me to go around! Ack!), so I will have a different approach to First Form.  I am learning First Form Latin myself, so I can teach her the lessons in class.

This particular child does much better with heavy teacher involvement and discussion.  I think she will thrive in Latin this year with my direct instruction!

Other requirements: We will have daily recitation and I will require that she complete all of the workbook assignments with neat handwriting.

Focused attention on Composition Skills

The physical act of writing has always been an issue with my 5th grader.  She has never enjoyed writing and usually gives me a lot of push back with writing-heavy assignments.

I gradually increased her writing demand this year, and she rose to the challenge.  I’ll push her in small baby steps throughout this year as well.

The actual composition skills she needs work on:

1) Writing complete paragraphs with consistently correct punctuation and capitalization

2) Writing answers to comprehension questions with a thoughtful answer, in a complete sentence

Plan of action: We will continue to work through the writing exercises in English this year, which will be Rod & Staff English Grade 5.  We will also work through Classical Composition: Fable in the first semester and Classical Composition: Narrative in the second semester.

This past school year was my daughter’s first foray into writing thoughtful answers in complete sentences.  I modeled this sentence writing throughout the year, and she was able to do this (mostly) independently by the end of the year.

After spending a few weeks reviewing this skill, I’ll set her loose with writing her own complete sentences, requiring good penmanship, accurate spelling, and consistently correct punctuation.

Independent Learning

During 4th grade, my daughter and I had “class” in several subjects: Greek Myths, Insects, Composition, and a few others.

For some of these classes, she had to come prepared – the material had to be pre-read, the vocabulary defined, and the Facts to Know had to be familiar.

Most weeks, she did come to class prepared and ready to learn.  As I said, this girl loves teacher interaction!

Plan of action: We will continue to have class, where she must come prepared to discuss and interact with the assigned material.  We will continue to answer most of the questions in class so I can model excellent sentences.  She will be required to compose the sentences, but I will write on the board and she will copy them.

I will assign 1 comprehension question for her to complete beforehand.

She will complete all of her literature answers on her own, as she worked on this skill heavily last year.

Also, I will have her practice 1-level outlines towards the middle of the year.  She will complete one of these 2-4 times per month in either her classical or science studies.

And that’s it for academic goals!  Some of these blur the lines between academic and character-type goals, but such is often the case with a homeschool child, right?

Do you set goals for your 5th grader?  If so, what are they like? I’d love to read them in the comments!

Lauren Hill

Lauren Hill is a Christian mom to 5, ages 19 to 7. She homeschools her children in the classical education tradition and is currently in her 15th year of homeschool. She creates engaging worksheets and hands-on printable activities for Preschool and Elementary age children to supplement their daily studies.

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