Marking and Grading

[lewelma]

I have read recently that a few of you feel behind in your marking/grading. I don't mark or grade anything for my ds(10), and I am trying to understand how/why my homeschool is different than yours. In our home, my son marks his own math (AoPS), grammar (KISS), and vocab quizes (MCT). We do spelling orally and I help him edit his writing assignments but do not grade them. History and Science for us is reading, reading, reading (WTM style); and we discuss the literature classics he reads.

 

What I want to know is 1) what do you grade/mark? 2) Is there a good reason that my son cannot do it on his own for the objective subjects? 3) How critical is it that I give a grade for writing for a 10 year old boy who gets his writing done, but does not like it? 4) How important is it to give grades in 5th grade and middle school?

 

There seems to be some philosophical difference here, and I would love to understand better others' approaches so that I can evaluate my own.

 

thanks!

 

Ruth in NZ

[Cleopatra]

Ah yes, I was one of those parents who feel this way ....:001_smile:

 

I don't actually grade my dd's work, except perhaps for math tests and Latin exams. At this point I don't think grades are important; I prefer to concentrate on what she is actually learning. Some days kids are 'on' and some days they are 'off'. I don't want to put too much emphasis on grades at this age but later on I plan to grade her work because that's what she will face if she ever goes back to school (doubtful) or in university.

 

Marking is different ....... Marking, for me, allows me to see where my dd's comprehension stands on concepts. I mark her math because I was too lazy to buy the teacher's manual, so I have to figure it out myself :001_smile: but it also allows me to analyze her work. It's not black and white (ie. whether she understands a concept or not) but how she gets it, what she does to arrive at an answer, does she get the correct answer but is lacking in procedure and/or logic arriving at that answer, etc. For Latin, this is even more important, as is Greek. The level of coursework in these subjects is getting more intense and detailed and I need to know exactly what she understands and doesn't, as well as the degree of understanding. She's doing German online through Oklahoma State University and I, as the onsite teacher, am required to mark all her work (and they give lots!). Again it's to target the areas she needs to work on and to see how she's progressing. Overall, if I mark her work, I feel like I have more of a handle on things.

 

We do lots of reading (like you) and I simply work with her on her writing and encourage improvement. History is quite casual, as is science. I did make a jeopardy game for review but am ashamed to say, we rarely use it (it looks lovely though :D )

 

So, to boil it down, for me, marking is important to guide my teaching but grading isn't. My dd is technically in grade 6 and this year is the first year that I've felt this pressure to keep up! I believe it's simply because she's working at a higher level and is more independent, so marking is also a way of keeping me more connected. I'd enjoy your time with your ds for a few more years and trust your own instincts. You'll know when you have to 'ramp it up' ...... or not ....... :001_smile:

 

HTH!

 

ETA: I know in my siggy it says my dd is using TT7 for math, but she's back to using Horizons for awhile. Horizons needs to be marked; TT is self-marking.

Edited January 1, 2011 by Cleopatra
Additional information

[Mom0012]

Until recently, I have corrected (I only grade tests and quizzes and I do that so that they know how well or poorly they did) all of my children's work in the following areas each evening -- math, grammar, spelling. I did this because I wanted them to see what mistakes they made and correct them first thing each morning before going on to their new lessons. That just makes sense to me. IMO, it would be even better if I could immediately correct their work and give it back to them as soon as they are done, but that doesn't work here.

 

My son is 11 and began making more errors than I was comfortable with this year in math, so I asked advice on the board and someone recommended that I have him correct his own work and to have him do that after he completed each section before moving on. That has been working pretty well. Most days, he makes far fewer errors than he was making. I do worry about setting him up for cheating though. He is extremely conscientious and if he did cheat, it would eventually come out, but I think it is a huge temptation to give any kid the teacher answer book each day, so I continue to check his other work and I also recheck his math work so that I can see he actually erased an incorrect answer and wrote out his work for the new one. He knows I do that and I think that helps temper any temptation there might be to cheat. I have heard way too many stories on these forums about kids who were merrily going along "correcting" their own work and then the mom comes to find out they've just been filling in the answers from the answer key.

 

As far as writing goes, I work with helping him improve his papers and trying to get him to find and see the errors he's made, but I don't grade his work. He is taking an outsourced IEW class and the teacher gives feedback as well, but does not grade the papers.

 

Lisa

 

ETA: One other reason I don't have my children check all their own work is that we have very busy days. I want them to focus on completing their schoolwork and the few chores they have before they either have to get to swimming, ballet or a friend's house for a prearranged playdate. I'm not sure how much extra time it would take them each day to correct all their work, but I suspect it would add up quickly.

Edited January 1, 2011 by LisaTheresa

[JudoMom]

I have read recently that a few of you feel behind in your marking/grading. I don't mark or grade anything for my ds(10), and I am trying to understand how/why my homeschool is different than yours. In our home, my son marks his own math (AoPS), grammar (KISS), and vocab quizes (MCT). We do spelling orally and I help him edit his writing assignments but do not grade them. History and Science for us is reading, reading, reading (WTM style); and we discuss the literature classics he reads.

 

What I want to know is 1) what do you grade/mark? 2) Is there a good reason that my son cannot do it on his own for the objective subjects? 3) How critical is it that I give a grade for writing for a 10 year old boy who gets his writing done, but does not like it? 4) How important is it to give grades in 5th grade and middle school?

 

There seems to be some philosophical difference here, and I would love to understand better others' approaches so that I can evaluate my own.

 

thanks!

 

Ruth in NZ

 

I am one who feels perpetually behind.

 

My older 2 sons use the solutions manual to check their daily math work, but I grade their tests. We use Saxon, so there is a test after every 5 lessons. I do wonder if/when they'll cheat, but because there are tests so often I think I would catch on pretty quickly.

 

However, for everything else, I like to correct it. Because I have 5 in school this year, my older 2 are very independent with their work. If I don't check their work, I often have no idea what they're doing in grammar, Latin, Greek, or logic.

 

I give grades for math, grammar, and Latin. This is my first year doing this, and it's mostly so I can familiarize myself with those features of Homeschool Tracker before my oldest hits high school.

 

We're using Sonlight for history and literature, so we just read and discuss there.

[NanceXToo]

My daughter is in 5th grade and I don't really give her grades. She does Teaching Textbooks for math this year and they keep an automatic gradebook at this stage so her math does get "graded" I guess you could say.

 

I give her weekly spelling quizzes but I don't think she's ever gotten any wrong, so I'll always put a "100" and a sticker at the top of her sheet.

 

Other than that, I've never graded or marked anything. When she has writing assignments, I'm usually on hand if she needs guidance, and when she's done, we'll proof read it together, and I'll point out the minor things that might need to be fixed "You need a comma here; this one's a run-on sentence, you have to fix the spelling of that," and I'll make comments on what I think she did nicely "Oh, I love that adjective. Great adverb!" etc.

 

I don't feel like she needs grades or report cards. Although I guess maybe in like 7th or 8th grade I may need to start doing something just to start getting used to or practicing for whatever it is I'll need to do from 9th grade on (assuming we're still homeschooling at that point) because then she'll need transcripts and all I imagine.

[Mallory]

Every thing for my 4th and 5th grader gets graded right after they do it, sometimes me, sometimes them, it just depends what else is going on.

 

But my 15 sis does lots of things independantly, some things here and some at Dad's, and I feel like there are always things of hers I should be checking/editing/making sure she is on task.