Hi being a newer homeschooler I was hit with a realization that at some point along this path marking work with averages will be necessary, or is it? I am eclectic in style and make our own curriculum up. I generally don't do written testing and we just continue in a forward momentum of gaining knowledge. How do you mark if there isn't a handbook to guide you. Is it necessary? Just curious what is working for others in this area. Thanks in advance for your ideas.
I don't even think about grading till high school. The only reason I would grade before then is to encourge a child to do his best. Then I would grade largely on attitude and following directions. In high school for math I grade a certain percent on completing daily work, perhaps 20%. I don't believe in giving a child a grade for something they are still learning as in the daily lessons so they just get graded for completing the work. The bulk of the grade would be on the tests, 80%. I expect them to study and know the stuff on the test. For science the grade may be broken down like this--Tests 50%, labs/experiments 30%, completing all work on a timely basis 20%. Other subjects that don't have tests, I grade heavily on the projects and completing all work required on a timely basis and with a good attitude.
Generally speaking, I don't like the idea of giving grades until high school, however, my son has been asking for grades over the past few weeks. His online Latin game gives him a grade, and he LOVES the challenge, so I've started grading just his English work. I still don't grade anything else, and even those English grades are "here today, gone ... 10 minutes later". Instant gratification, I suppose? I can tell what he knows and what he doesn't most of the time. When I'm not sure, I'll "test" him, but not with a traditional test. I just ask him questions several different ways and at different times of the day to see how he does.
I grade tests but anything they get wrong they do over anyway. So in the end they always get and "A". lol. I do not officially keep grades but I do keep some work and tests to show my dh. He feels more secure if he can see progress. In high school I will keep grades because of transcripts.
I won't grade until high school. Even then I will not grade daily work-I will mark answers wrong on daily work and they will have to correct them and we'll go over why it's wrong and make sure they understand it, but I'll only grade quizzes and tests, projects, etc...
I've been homeschooling for 12 years, and like others have said, I really don't worry about it until high school. Or upper-level classes that were taken during Middle School, such as Algebra and Geometry. Also the sciences in middle school, because you just gave the test and graded it. My youngest is in 5th grade. I can tell you what he got on his language tests and his math tests, but that's it.
I just started grading but only my highschool son. I grade mainly on his tests and quizes. Today he made a 70% on his test which I was not pleased with. I gave him the option to correct the test for a better grade. He did and ended up with an 85%. Science is graded three seperate ways. Quizes/tests, daily work, and labs. I don't see the point in grading the youngers.
I don't grade but I check at least their math most of the evening and mark the wrong answers . we work on them the following day.
Since we're schooling Other People's Kids, parents expect some kind of report card every so-often. Some of the stuff we do with primary-age kids doesn't really have quizzes and tests and things, so I'll put an S, N, or U on it, based on their attitude, what they remember orally when we discuss it, maybe attention to coloring the pictures?, or something like that, depending on what it is. From about third grade up, most of what we use has quizzes and tests, so I just use those, although we go over everything with the kids orally right before they take it in writing. We check and have them correct daily work, but we don't put grades on it.
I guess what got me thinking was being with other homeschool moms yesterday at the group swim class. They were talking about some of the kids graduating from grade 8 and that they should have a get together to celebrate. A kind of graduation thing. And then one Mom said they could announce what grade/percentage they were graduating with. I was hmmm. My kids are far off from grade eight but I mark work and like most of you said by the time corrections/observations are made it's 100% lol. So finding a overall percentage would indicate that one is making note of the grades all along throughout the year and averaging overall at the end. Which sounds kind of mainstream which is fine for some but not all. Me I think the kids are young enough testing isn't necessary as I and others can see improvement. And I am striving for a love of learning not grades. So that being said has anyone else run into this homeschooling and what do you make of it?
Okay I was a mean mom! MY dd had straight As on all her transcript except for two B grades from me! I may have been angry with her the day I graded her even and that may have influenced me because she went through a time of total laziness in her studies doing just the bare minimum to pass with an A, so I graded her down.. then she did not do some projects in Science SOS you know the assignment sheets you print off and they write a report etc.. so I let it grade her down. They were not even needed, but it was for making a point. now when I look at the gpa I feel bad.
I don't plan on giving grades until high school (to create a transcript). I don't really see a purpose now. My son's math program does grade his work.
We don't do a lot of grading. I try to circle the wrong questions and go over them and have her to re-do them. I use a rubric for writing and TT automatically grades her work. We have been grading quizes w/ Easy Grammar and MOH, but not all of the other work.
I wouldn't think it would be necessary to announce the 8th grade graduates' gpa's! I think those moms are way to focused on "the obvious results", making a show for other people, "see how great my kid is", stuff like that. If you want to have an 8th grade graduation party, fine, give them a certificate of graduation, whatever, but leave the public school stuff to public school. Even for high school transcripts, where you're required to put down grades and averages and such, it's basically Mom's word that it actually means anything other than which courses the student took, which is why ACT/SAT test scores become very important at that point. Although I do send periodic report cards home for my students' parents to see, I have only ever bothered to calculate GPA for one student whose parent specifically requested it.
I just started grading DD 4th grade this year for math and language arts. I don't allow correcting for a better grade. She gets what she gets the first time. Anything under an 80% needs to be corrected, but the grade stands. To get the final grade I will count quizzes twice and tests three times (math). I basically started this so I know how she is doing. Even when I thought she did horrible in an assignment, but the time I grade it is usually much better than my first impression!
Lindina it was such a blessing to me when my dd got straight As on someone else's ticket,kwim? When I taught her for 11 years I knew she was learning it and I knew what she knew but when I made her go to private school for her senior year it was for my chance to see if she really learned it or not. The grades she has on her transcript show me that I graded her harshly in the two areas that I mentioned in my earlier post, I recalled what we were going through and what the reasons for the lower grades were attitude stuff for one even and I think keeping grades is important in HIgh School. But in earlier grades just do enough that it pleases your child and helps him or her to see that they are improving because that is the point , to improve on yesterdays unknowns or mistakes right?
I'm feelin' ya, TM! As far as correcting to improve the grade - not most of the time. I have rarely done this, and only when the material contains only one (unit or chapter) test. For example, Saxon math: if the student made say a 75, I sometimes would give the test back with the numbers of the incorrect problems circled, telling the student "if you can correct the mistake without looking back at any of the instruction in the book, and without my help, I'll give you half your points back." It was way easier to do it this way than to try to make out a whole new test myself! But in material where there's an alternate unit test provided (like with CLE!), I'll have them correct their first test, with help if needed, then do the alternate unit test.
I don't grade anything but tests and quizes and then I only mark them on a paper "just-in-case" I ever need to show it to anyone with authority. I wouldn't worry about it until high school.
I don't grade for a few reasons. First, in most of life, the only people who really care about grades are the people yo're trying to influence getting into college and/or getting that first full time job. So at my kids' ages, that can wait. Second, I have one kid who doesn't care (won't find it motivational, may actually backfire) and one kid who cares WAY too much. He enjoys the challenge, but he also can't accept it when he gets less than 100%. Like, stress, trauma (get over it all ready type drama). It's hard for me to relate, because we always fix everything, ykwim? When they are in high school levels, I will grade on a regular basis to generate a "paper" trail. My plan is this: no grades for daily work, just a notation done/not done. Grades for quizzes and tests (tests weighted more heavily). Anything not "easy" to grade (like math or history - the answer is correct or incorrect, but with English essays or projects, there a lot more potential things to consider), I will establish a rubric (hopefully when I assign the project) of what evidence I'd like to see that would demonstrate accomplishment (in my mind).
I only grade the subjects that I do that are quantifyable. Like Math, Grammar, etc. I find many subjects to be, well, subjective! Like Writing, etc. I don't really keep "grades"....but I like to know how they're doing...so I'll check every so often.
