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My Goals Timeline

Goals on a timeline rather than in a list, so a child can see which one is for this week and that the big one at the end is reachable from the first. Ruled lines under each goal for the steps, a box to tick when it is done, and a line for what happens at the end.

The sheet

Title

Child's name

Leave it blank and the sheet prints a line to write on.

What stretch of time

A school year, a term, a summer. It prints under the title so the sheet says what it covers.

Colour

Lines for how I will get thereRuled lines under each goal for the steps. This is the half that turns a wish into something a child can do on a Tuesday.A box to tick when it is doneA line for the reward at the endWhat happens when the last one is reached. Agree it before the sheet goes on the wall, not after.

The goals

In the order they should happen. Put the nearest one first - it is the one that gets worked on.

Add a goal

Tap one to add it, then write when it is for. Or add a blank one and use their words.

Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. The sheet is built in your browser and disappears when you close the tab.

My Goals

Year 4

Name

1
This monthRead every night for a month
How I will get there
2
By half termLearn my 7 times table
How I will get there
3
By ChristmasRead a chapter book on my own
How I will get there
4
By the summerSwim a whole length
How I will get there

When I get to the end

Goals timelinePebbleYard - pebbleyard.com

Ask a child what they want to get better at and you will usually get a good answer. Write the answers in a list and they become a wish list, because nothing in a list says which item is the one for this week. This sheet puts them on a timeline instead: in order, each with a when, each with ruled lines for how they are going to get there, and the big one at the end visibly reachable from the first.

Why a timeline and not a list

A list of five goals is five equally urgent things, which means none of them is urgent. A child reading it has no way of knowing where to start, and the usual outcome is that the easiest one gets done and the sheet stops being looked at.

A timeline answers the question the list leaves open. The first stop is what is being worked on now, and everything below it is deliberately not yet. That is a genuinely calming thing to be able to see, particularly for a child who takes on too much and then abandons all of it at once.

It also makes the distance visible in a useful direction. A goal that is months away reads as impossible on its own, and reads as four stops down a line when the line is drawn. Children are considerably better at the second version, and so, in fairness, are adults.

Goals a child can act on, and the lines underneath

"Read a chapter book on my own" is an outcome. A child cannot do an outcome on a Tuesday, which is why the ruled lines under each goal are the part that matters. "Two pages every night after tea" is a step, and the gap between the outcome and the step is where most goal charts for children quietly fail.

Write the steps with them rather than for them, and accept steps that are smaller than you would choose. A step the child proposed will be attempted; a step you proposed will be negotiated. If they cannot think of one, ask what would have to be true for the goal to happen, which is a question children answer surprisingly well.

Three or four goals is usually the right number and the sheet gives those more room to write. Six is available, and six goals with two lines each is a page of intentions rather than a page of plans. Fewer, with the steps actually filled in, is the version that gets used.

Mix the kinds of goal. One academic, one physical, one about being a person - remembering the book bag, being kind to somebody new - makes for a better sheet than five about school, and it means a hard term in one area does not make the whole thing look like failure.

Reviewing it without turning it into a report card

Look at it about once a month, and look at the steps rather than the ticks. A goal that has not moved is almost never a child who does not care; it is usually a step that turned out to be harder or vaguer than it looked, and the fix is to rewrite the step rather than to repeat the goal more firmly.

Let goals be crossed out. A child who decides in November that they no longer want to learn to whistle has made a reasonable decision, and a chart that does not allow for it teaches that stating a goal is a trap. Reprinting the sheet with a different third stop costs nothing.

Agree what happens at the end before it goes on the wall. The line at the foot is for that, and filling it in afterwards, once the effort has been made, is how a reward turns into a negotiation. It does not need to be a big thing - being allowed to choose the day out is usually worth more than being bought something.

Questions parents ask

What age is this for?

Roughly six upwards, though it changes character as they get older. At six an adult writes it with them and the goals are a few weeks out; by ten a child will fill it in themselves and can hold a goal that is a term away. Below about five, a routine chart does the job a goal sheet is trying to do.

How many goals should we put on it?

Three or four. The sheet allows six, and gives fewer goals more ruled lines for the steps, which is the trade worth making. Six goals with two lines each is a list of wishes; three with four lines each is a plan.

Can I use it for a school year, or only a term?

Either. There is a free text field under the title for what stretch of time the sheet covers, so it can say Year 4, Autumn Term, This Summer or anything else, and each goal carries its own when. A school year with a goal per half term works well.

What if a goal is not reached?

That is normal and it is worth saying so out loud when it happens. The useful move is to look at the steps rather than the goal - most missed goals are a step that was too vague - and either rewrite it or move it to the next sheet. A goal quietly dropped teaches something worse than a goal openly changed.

Is anything I type saved?

No. The sheet is assembled in your browser and nothing leaves it, which is worth knowing given it carries a child's name and a fairly personal set of ambitions. Print it or save it as an image, and close the tab.

The rest of PebbleYard

A chart shows the plan. This shows what they did

Maths, English, spelling, shapes, continents, space and Australia, as lessons to read and timed activities that are marked for you. One account covers the whole family, and you get a record of every run rather than a sheet on the fridge.

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