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Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community.
As a parent, helping your child set and attain their own goals can be one of the most rewarding experiences. It’s one thing to tell your child you’d like them to do something, and quite another (better) thing to give them ownership over what they achieve!
The process of setting goals is just as important, if not more, than the particular goal. Whether your child wants to ace their high school math course or reach 100 subscribers on their YouTube channel, effective goal setting can boost their self-confidence and foster a growth mindset. So it’s important for us to make goal setting for kids fun and engaging!
At Prisma, each of our middle school and high school learners is matched with a mentor coach, who gets to know them as an individual, and works with them to set academic and personal goals throughout the year. In regular 1:1 meetings, coaches check in on progress toward goals, cheering learners on and providing inspiration and support.
The goal-setting process should be driven by your child as much as possible so they feel ownership over their personal goals. We recommend a process of experimentation with different goal-setting systems until you find the one that resonates with your kiddo.
In this blog post, we’ll review some of the most popular goal-setting frameworks for kids (including the ones our learning coaches use with kids at Prisma!), and provide concrete strategies for trying them at home.
At Prisma, we believe that the secret to motivating kids to do anything is making it fun, interesting, and connected to their passions. So if you want to teach your child goal-setting skills, we recommend doing it in the context of something they really care about. Once they learn how easily they can achieve hard things with persistence and a strong system, it will be much easier to apply that same system to less fun goals, like higher grades or a clean room.
Would any of the below types of goals be exciting for your child?
Now, let's dive into one of the most popular goal-setting systems, S.M.A.R.T goals - an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. It’s a simple yet effective way of setting goals that are clear and reachable.
Here are the steps to devising a S.M.A.R.T. Goal:
The pros of S.M.A.R.T. Goals are the specificity, which help your child know exactly what needs to be achieved. Some people who prefer other goal-setting systems find S.M.A.R.T. Goals to be too rigid and intimidating, since they are so specific. It’s also important to note that this system only helps you set a goal, not create a process for achieving it!
While S.M.A.R.T goals are a fantastic tool for goal-setting, let's explore another strategy: the W.O.O.P. approach. W.O.O.P. is an acronym that stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan.
Here's how you and your child can use the W.O.O.P. strategy:
Let's put it into a concrete example. Suppose your child's wish (W) is to join a competitive travel high school basketball team. The desired outcome (O) might be the joy of being part of a team and playing a sport they love. The obstacle (O) might be the need to improve their shooting skills. The plan (P), then, could be to practice shooting baskets for 30 minutes every day.
The W.O.O.P. approach is a powerful tool in the goal-setting process because it well-incorporates the emotional components of goal setting, that some other systems tend to leave out. It also helps kids envision an action plan and how things might go wrong. It's particularly useful for helping your child understand that obstacles aren't roadblocks, but rather opportunities for growth and learning.
W.O.O.P. goals can be combined with S.M.A.R.T. goals, but again, be careful of over-engineering the process with too many steps.
At Prisma High School, our learners use the Agile system to set goals for their schoolwork, with support from their learning coach.
The Agile methodology is a technique initially designed for software development but now used in various fields, including personal goal setting. This system involves "sprints" (short, focused bursts of work) and "points" (a measure of the effort required to complete a task).
Here's how you can use this system with your kids at home:
1. Break down goals into tasks: The first step is to identify the goal and break it down into smaller, manageable tasks. For instance, if your child's goal is to read a specific book, the tasks could be reading a certain number of pages each day.
2. Assign points to tasks: Points are used to estimate the effort required to complete a task. The point system can be simple, like assigning 1 point to an easy task, 2 points to a medium task, and 3 points to a hard task. In the reading example, each page could be worth one point.
3. Plan sprints: A sprint is a set period during which specific tasks are completed. For kids, a sprint could be a week. At Prisma High School, our “sprints” are two weeks long. At the start of each sprint, decide on the tasks (and thus points) to be completed by the end of the sprint.
4. Regular check-ins: Have daily check-ins to discuss progress, just like a "daily standup" at tech companies who use Agile. This helps your child learn to monitor their progress and adjust their effort as needed. At Prisma, each learner has a daily standup with their cohort, as well as regular 1:1s with their learning coach for this process.
5. Review and retrospective: At the end of each sprint, review your child’s progress. How many points did they earn? Did they meet their goal for the sprint? Discuss what went well and what could be improved for the next sprint. Use this process to make sure each sprint contains realistic goals that aren’t too overwhelming for your child.
6. Celebrate milestones: Celebrating the completion of tasks and sprints helps keep your child motivated. Perhaps they earn a reward for a certain number of points, or you have a special celebration at the end of each sprint.
Remember, the goal of this system isn't just about achieving goals—it's also about teaching valuable skills like planning, time management, and self-reflection. With this Agile-inspired system, goal setting can be a fun, rewarding, and educational experience for your child!
At Prisma High School, coaches use a simple Google Form to complete Agile check-ins with learners. You could set up something similar to monitor progress on your child’s goals.
To make the process more engaging, here are a few more fun goal-setting activities and resources, including links to some free goal setting templates and goal setting worksheets available online:
Goal setting is not just about achieving goals; it's also about the journey. It encourages problem-solving, step-by-step planning, and helps kids develop personal skills like discipline, persistence, and decision-making.
By instilling the habit of setting and achieving goals from a young age, we equip our children with the tools they need to navigate life successfully. Happy goal setting!
Want to learn more about how Prisma can empower your child to thrive?
Talk with usTalk with usMiddle School Curriculum Designer Lizzie uses her diverse experiences: studying Literature at Harvard, leading outdoor adventure expeditions, and teaching high school English, to help Prisma learners find their voices.
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