How to grade???

[edsnyder]

Okay --- if there is a post containing info on this if someone could link it for me that would be great!!!


So, how do you grade them? I check their work and if its wrong we go over it and they correct it. So I don't know the correct procedure I guess because they always end up getting the answers correct.

I guess because they are in the lower grades = it probably is not a big deal but my kids came out of public school so they are asking - so I was wondering what if anything - everyone uses for the end of the year report card type thing or other suggestions..


I always get such great answers here,


I can't wait to hear from you!!!

Thanks,
Elisa

[lissiejo]

I actually made a report card for my daughter (6, 1st grade, Beyond) this year. I grade her based on points. For instance, in math if she gets 18 out of 20 correct, on her gradesheet I write down 18/20. I divide the 34 weeks into 4 quarters and grade her each quarter. I add up the total points received and divide by the total points available to arrive at a percentage. I have separate grades for the worrkbooks and tests making workbook stuff 60% of the grade and tests 40% which is pretty standard in schools. Some do a 70%/30% ration, but that is preference.

As far as individual grades I started out doing what you said, but now I give her the original grade as her grade and we still correct it. For things like spelling and handwriting I grade her on neatness and completeness. I don't give grades this year for the Bible, literature, history, or science we do, just participation grades. She was struggling with reading comprehension, so I have a supplemental curriculum I've been using and grade her on that. So basically her grades that could potentially not be 100% are math, spelling, reading, and handwriting.

My background is in education so having a grade was important to me as it was to my daughter who we pulled out mid-year this year. I found a cute report card here: http://www.justmommies.com/unit_studies ... card.shtml and filled in the comments and grades for her. It's fun for her to show her grandparents and helps me see where her strengths and weaknesses are on a larger scale. At the same time, I don't emphasize grades as being all that important, just explain it's a way for me to see how much she has learned.

I know a lot of homeschooling families don't do grades for various reasons and I think that's fine for them, but for me I like having them. If nothing else it helps keep me on track and to know how best to help her. Math isn't her strongest subject. On a daily basis it feels like she isn't getting it, but after averaging her grades she had a 94% which showed me she was indeed getting it on a larger scale if that makes sense.

I hope this helps you think through what you want to do! I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Melissa

[countrymom]

We don't do grades, we look at the result immediately. If the child did his best, was neat, had a cheerful attitude, and followed directions we are done. If there were errors in his work, we go over the errors together. If the child did not do the above, he does it over. We are in the lower grades so everything we do is teacher directed at this point, so usually I am immediately picking up on the fact that he is doing something wrong and we fix it right then. If you prefer to give grades, here is a link that has a neat example of a rubric. The original thread was on something else, but scroll about 1/2 way down and you will see a large rubric.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11014&p=80036&hilit=report+card#p80036
Here are a couple of other threads that may have info in them that would be helpful to you:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4438&p=32719&hilit=report+card#p32719
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5907&p=43338&hilit=reporting+grades#p43338
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9430&p=68943&hilit=rubric#p68943
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8145&p=62653&hilit=rubric#p62653
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4477&p=33016&hilit=rubric#p33016
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4438&p=32719&hilit=rubric#p32719
Ok, that was more than a couple

[edsnyder]

I guess, I don't really want to do grades = we go over things and I check them and when there is mistakes we fix them - I think I need more of a guide for them to know that it won't be acceptable if it doesn't meet these expectations... if that makes sense...kinda like the rubic

But now I have lots of threads I can look at and get different ideas!

Thanks Ladies!!!

[MicheleW]

My background is in education so having a grade was important to me as it was to my daughter who we pulled out mid-year this year.

I pulled my kids out of PS also, but even in PS they didn't get grades in elementary school. They got smily faces, stars, or "Redo" if it was done poorly with little effort. On their report cards, they got M (meets expectations), P (Progressing), N (Needs improvement), or E (Exceeds expectations). At that time, my state required quarterly report cards (thank goodness they have now done away with that silliness), so I just used the same letters.

Now that I have a middle schooler, I do grade math and grammar assignments (and then have him fix them all). I don't really give him a grade for the quarter though, just the individual assignments. He is a pretty good student and always tries his best. His notebook is fairly neat (for a boy) and very complete. I don't grade his history, art, poetry, etc. I just expect him to do his best and he does.

I do have one in high school, so for him I grade everything and track the grades so he can have quarterly report cards and transcipts. For math, science, etc this is fairly easy. For more abstract subjects like history and Bible, I give subjective grades (A if he did it neatly and put a good amount of effort into it, and so on.)

I know that is not very helpful, but I just wanted to point out that PS's don't always use A, B, C... grades for lower grades either. I just want them to be learning. (and I don't want to spend all my time grading and tracking grades. I have to do that with my high schooler and I hate it! I'm not going to put myself through that with the younger kids.)