Do you do these? Grades/Progress Reports/Report Cards

[Penguin]

DS asked for a report card. It is a reasonable request. We are not long-term a homeschool family, so report cards seem like a normal thing to us. And I am in the middle of writing one for him. He had a great year, both in terms of attitude and academics, so this is a pleasant task :)

 

I decided to create two separate documents to close out the year. The first is an educational summary that lists and notes the topics he covered, the resources he used, the skills he worked on, etc. I wanted this for record keeping purposes anyway.

 

The second is more report-card like. I am noting his hard work and good attitude and the fact that he mastered [fill-in-the-blank]. I am also taking the opportunity to give him some thoughts (focus points) for next year and giving him an idea of what to expect in 7th grade. We are quite relaxed in many ways, but we both enjoy clear and well-defined expectations.

 

 

 

I have pulled some ideas from this site: Examples of Portfolios, Summaries, Transcripts, and Logs

 

 

I love to hear about what you do for your 6th/7th/8th grade child.

 

If you give a progress report, do you do it annually? More often?

 

Do you give letter grades? if so, do you start with a grading rubric?

[linders]

Would you be willing to share what you do for the report-card style? DS12 will be trying out for the public HS swim team in a couple of weeks and they need a report card, even from homeschoolers. I tried arguing for me to submit a letter about academic status, but the check-the-box people want something called a report card with letter grades. Thanks!

[redsquirrel]

I have to report progress etc to the state every quarter and at the end of every year. I don't share it with my kids, but I have to do it. I also have to test my older boy and I do share those results with him.

 

My reports to the state do not require grades. I just have to give a brief overview of what we covered in each subject during the quarter and state if my son made adequate progress. So, a plan at the beginning of the year laying out what we will used, four quarterly reports and an end of year report/test. So, yes, I do keep track of what we do, but I don't feel the need to share it with my son. He's never asked, but then again he has never attended public school so he's not familiar with the concept.

[Penguin]

Linders, I gave him more of a progress report than a report card. When I had scores I used them, but the end result was far more narrative than quantitative. I think he actually enjoyed looking at the educational summary more. It made him realize that he had done a lot this year.

[Maddysmom26]

Same here. My kids have never seen their quarterlies nor end of the year assessments. I did show DS his test score when he had to take a standardized test, but that's been it.

 

I wouldn't know how to give grades. I don't score any of his work in that way. If it isn't done completely right I have him rework anything wrong until it is right. Grades really are a communication tool between a school and parents. Although if my son asked for it, I dunno, I guess I'd score his attitude/effort.

 

 Quick question... I feel the same way about grades. New to homeschooling high school & I find that we work through things until its right , so I don't feel grades are necessary.   I am approaching our first quarterly and I don't feel like I want to do grades.

 

My question is .. If you don't report "grades" in quarterly reports etc.. What do you do for the HS  transcripts?

btw we live in NY

 

Thanks!

[Dmmetler]

My DD wanted one when we started homeschooling so she could get the free game card at a local pizza place. I just printed out the report I file with the cover school, and that met the need.

 

I've always done letter grades, and we do end of year testing. So far, her end of year tests match her report card grades pretty exactly, so I feel pretty good about giving her those A's.

 

 

 

[momto2Cs]

So far, no. I may for high school, but ds is going the community college route (junior college, but same thing really), so I don't know that he needs grades from me.

[kiwik]

The reports my kids get just have achieved/developing/of concern or below/at/or above standard. For me it is a slight nuisance because I know DS is at least 6 months ahead in some subjects but not I'd he is years ahead and I know he is behind in writing but not how far. For you though it might work.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I do a monthly summary.  It includes goals for the next month, questions to focus on for myself, and a summary of the various subjects which are either really working or which might need tweaking.  These summaries go into the yearly portfolio.  The portfolio includes a syllabus for all subjects.  The syllabus includes a book list, textbook resources, common core alignment and state alignments to standards, and specific learning goals/objectives.  This goes back to my teacher training.  I keep it so that if something ever happened, my son could drop right in at grade level without question. 

 

My son never sees any of it.  He could care less.  He is also far too competitive and would begin to try working the system.  He would start asking how many points something was worth and crunching numbers to see what he could drop or what he had to do.

[housemouse]

By law we are required to have annual progress report. So, every year, I would include in it things he had studied, what he struggled with at the beginning of the year and how that changed at the end of the year, list of books and any videos, online/virtual field trips and regular field trips he went to that were of educational value, any classes he may have taken that year. I also print out year worth of schedule (1 page for each week) from scholaric.com that we use for our record keeping which also includes breakdown on how many hours spend on which subject, their grades and final grade  for the year. Also, we do yearly testing so that gets included here as well. The only thing my kids ever see is their grades if they want to.

 

For now, it is pretty simplistic since mine are still in elementary, but will probably be more detailed as we get closer to high school.