Grading your child's work?

[LisaNY]

Hi Everyone,

 

I must confess that I have never really given out a lot of grades for my dc's work, except when I've given tests/quizzes.

 

I did begin to give grades when my older dd hit 9th grade, but not really before. My younger dd is in 7th gr., and has been asking for grades on all of her work.

For ex., we use Singapore for math. Does anyone grade their child's daily work in math?

 

I would love to see how others are doing this.

 

Thanks! :)

[Tina in WA]

We don't. For math, just tests and if they ask, quizzes. Oh, quizzes with Zoology 1 also.

[Pam Wilhelm]

We go over the paper and I tell them that if I was giving grades, they would have made a ______ . That seems to have kept them happy...and sometimes motivated them to do better. :D

[Karenciavo]

I do. My husband requested it so he could have an idea of how school is going.

 

I would sometimes bunch Singapore assignments together because my ds would often do more that one exercise. Basically I just divided the total number of problems into the number of problems correct to get the average, e.g. 18 (correct)/20 (total) = .9 = 90%

 

For writing assignments, I give my children have a grading rubric so they know what is expected of them.

[Beth in Central TX]

Hi Karen,

 

Would you mind sharing the writing rubric you use? I currently grade all of the objective work that my boys do, but I've been lax in assessing their subjective work, like writing.

[Ali in OR]

I have no plans to assign grades in elementary and I definitely would give grades in high school. You're in that in-between stage that I haven't figured out yet! I could see moving to assigning grades in middle school as preparation for what's to come in high school. Especially if dd is asking for it.

 

I taught high school math, and in some ways it's a lot easier to think about grading a class of 30 than a class of 1. Most math teachers would grade on a curve, usually combining a couple of classes (60 kids). That way you can write tests that challenge kids and make them think and they don't have to get it all right to get an A. How do you establish a curve with 1 kid? I guess you can just test basic mastery of concepts, but that's not as interesting! I feel like I know what is A work from having taught math classes, but that would be a lot harder if I hadn't done it before. Or harder for me to grade science or English papers. It wouldn't be too difficult to just test facts and use straight percentages (90-100% some type of A, 80-89% some type of B, etc.), but it seems like a classical education would incorporate student evaluation that goes well beyond regurgitation of facts. I'll be interested to read how others are going about it.

[Karenciavo]

It's from TOG and is available on their old web site. Scroll down around 1/2 way to the "Accessories For Your Use" section and click on "Rubric for grading writing."

[Beth in Central TX]

Dear Tina,

 

We are working through Apologia's Elementary Zoology I right now. Did you create the quizzes yourself? If not, where did you purchase them from?

[Tina in WA]

I got them from the yahoo group located in the file section. They are located in the file titled: Zoology 1-32 wk Co-op Homework.

 

They have some great stuff in the file sections for all the elementary books.

 

~Tina

[momofkhm]

Everyone- 13 yo, 10 yo, 7 yo gets graded on math, spelling, grammar, history notebook writing (usually spelling, not content), anything that they do really. The one exception is art is only a check mark for having done it. I figure I'm not an artist, who am I to grade it? AND who says my kids have to be good in art?

[AllSmiles]

Grades for Daily Work

 

I think the purpose of daily work is to learn the material. Thus, I do not grade on the number of problems that are correctly answered. Instead, daily work assignments are worth a total of 5 points. If I feel that they worked diligently and did their best to complete their work, they get all five points. Lack of effort, neatness, and diligence would all lead to loss of points. If the assignment includes lecture and discussion then the assignment is worth 10 points.

 

 

Tests

 

All of our tests our worth 100 points.

 

 

I don’t think I would keep grades for the younger grades, but I have to turn in reports cards to our local school district.

[Melissa B]

I grade math tests. They determine whether or not the child is ready to move on. Otherwise, I let my kids grade their own work. I taught them how to figure percentages for math grades and let them grade all other subjects however they like - or not at all. (Of course, no work is complete until it meets my approval.) It is amazing how honest children will be about the amount of effort they put into each assignment.

[freethinkermom]

No grades here. If we did they would all be A's anyway since I require mastery before an assignment is considered done. I don't understand why someone would move on to the next assignment or level when the first is not understood to its fullest.

[Holly IN]

My kids actually requested that I give them grades. So I grade them. However I do make them do their missed problems over.

 

Holly

[dirty ethel rackham]

I expect my kids to to "A" work. If that is not what I get, we go back and figure out how to get there. For us, grades are not important. I look at grades as a "school" thing. The purpose is to communicate with the parents how the children are doing or to "separate the wheat from the chaff" for tracking purposes. Since that is not our goal in our homeschool, we just don't see a need for them. Either they know the material well enough for mastery or they don't. If it is not mastery, I ask myself "Do I need a higher level of work out of them or will more effort only produce frustration without results?"

 

Since my oldest is in 8th grade, I am not sure what we will do about grades in high school. I have heard of people not using grades, but pass/fail for homeschooled classes, but keeping grades for outside classwork. Like many mentioned here, I am insecure on how to grade things that do not have objective criteria (math, science, grammar, etc.) I guess I have 6 months to figure that out.:o

[Mrs Mungo]

Hi Everyone,

 

I must confess that I have never really given out a lot of grades for my dc's work, except when I've given tests/quizzes.

 

I did begin to give grades when my older dd hit 9th grade, but not really before. My younger dd is in 7th gr., and has been asking for grades on all of her work.

For ex., we use Singapore for math. Does anyone grade their child's daily work in math?

 

I would love to see how others are doing this.

 

Thanks! :)

 

I give grades in the sense that I grade the paper but I don't keep formal records of grades for elementary school. Like the others, I do go over every missed problem with them in math and such. On quizzes that require memorization for Latin or spelling as long as they get an A they don't have to re-do it. Things like Science, Art or Writing-they will re-do it if they didn't follow instructions and/or turned in sloppy work.

[Audrey]

I only give percentage grades, e.g. 72%, 85%, 100%. I do not attach letter grade values to them. First, I know that letter grades are attached to different percentage ranges depending on the school system, so they're not really reflective of an "average" anyway.

 

Ds understands that I perceive anything below 75% unacceptable. We use the percentages as a way to measure how ds is doing in any given skill/subject. If he gets below 75% on something, then it tells me that either I haven't explained it well enough, or ds needs more practice.

[LisaNY]

I never planned to give grades before 7th or 8th grades (just as practice for High School Transcripts). my ds needed some motivation to do his best that went beyond making mom happy so dh suggested grades and I am doing it. Man, it is a lot of work! I wish I didn't have to but I see it helping ds feel like he has achieved something and so I will keep it up.:( Just think how good I will be at it once he is in High School..... and how much more time it will take!! :eek:

 

That is why I am considering grades. My dd likes the idea of getting graded for her work. Since her sister is in ps, and is getting graded, she wants her work to be graded as well. It helps her to know, in her mind, how she is doing.

[LisaNY]

Thanks for the helpful responses, Ladies! :)