At what point do you assign grades? start to earn credits?

[foofoobunny]

My daughter will be in 7th grade next year (will be starting our 3rd year in homeschool), and I have never recorded an overall grade for her in a subject.  At what point, if any, do we need to record grades?

 

Also, at what point do they begin to earn credits for high school? 

[regentrude]

As a general rule, students begin to earn high school credits in 9th grade. Some colleges specifically want only the work of the last four years of school on the transcript.

The topic of high school level work before 9th grade comes up frequently. Opinions differ. It is customary to award high school credit for math courses that have a clearly defined scope (i,e, algebra, geometry) and for foreign language at high school level. Some people list these courses with a note that they were taken before 9th grade; some people do not include them in the number of credits and the GPA and simply list them to demonstrate the student's achievement.

It seems to be general consensus that literature and history courses from the years before 9th grade are not awarded credit, even if the student works above grade level.

There are people who did not assign any grades throughout high school and explained their philosophy with the transcript. The majority of people on these boards seem to give grades in high school. i,e. starting in 9th grade. It makes the whole transcript business easier.

[Crimson Wife]

DD might start the high school science sequence in 8th in order to free up room in her schedule for electives later on. It would look funny on her transcript if she didn't have a credit for high school biology, KWIM? If we do decide to have her take bio for H.S. credit in 8th, I will be enrolling her through some outside provider (either a local class, Kolbe's single-course enrollment, or an online one) in order to have the accountability that it is high school level. She would also take the SAT 2 bio test as an end-of-course exam (the UC admissions require either a state-approved course or scoring at a certain level on the SAT 2 tests).

 

She's been using some high-school level materials but as I haven't been requiring the output I would expect for a high school student, I'm calling them "honors" middle school courses.

[1pageatatime]

Starting in 6th grade, we gradually build up to assigning grades for every subject. First math, then grammar, then science or vocabulary and so on.  Doing it this way, my kids haven't felt too much pressure all at once.

[Mandy in TN]

My umbrella school requires grades whether the child is in first or twelfth grade. Typically, grades 9-12 are considered high school. Credits earned during these years are the ones placed on a high school transcript.

 

On our umbrella school's transcript, there is a place for pass credits for things like Algebra 1 taken in middle school (school prior to grade 9). A grade is not listed. The courses are only on the transcript to help explain or fill in things like Crimson Wife was describing. However with my umbrella, if you take a course in middle school, it does not fulfill high school requirements. IOW, if a student is required to take a 4 math credits and only one can be basic math or personal finance or accounting, then the Algebra credit in middle school will not count as one of the required high school credits. If a child is required to take 3 science classes and one must be in the field of biology and one must be in the field of chemistry, then a child who takes High School Biology in eighth would be expected to take AP Biology or Human Anatomy or Marine Biology or something in high school. Does that make sense? I say this only to give an example of how it could be done.

 

However, IMHO, the best thing to do would be to check with colleges your child is likely to attend and find out what they expect to see on a transcript. :)

HTH-

Mandy

[texasmama]

I plan to begin in high school.

[Gratia271]

I grade and award credit for HS level work in math, science, and foreign language. Corroborating standardized test scores are present in the event any questions arise, e.g., National Latin Exam, National Greek Exam, and SAT scores from middle school we chose to retain.  Since my children do HS math, Latin, and Greek in middle school, it would look somewhat strange to begin a HS transcript with college math, Latin IV, and Greek IV, for example. 

 

[foofoobunny]

Thanks so much! 

[foxbridgeacademy]

I was thinking high school.  I am reconsidering starting next year, 8th grade, because I need the practice at keeping track of stuff.

[AmyontheFarm]

I'm starting in grade 8 to practice and get comfortable with monitoring it all daily.  But, I won't be sharing this with my son until the third semester.  I don't want to worry him about marks across all the subjects, however, he already calculates his marks for math and spelling himself so he has a baseline.  I want the skills in place for myself so I don't screw up anything when he is actually in high school.

[sagira]

This is probably the subject of a whole new thread, but how do you grade? DS10 has never been graded since K and I'm foreign born and don't know how to give out As and Bs. Percentages?

[linders]

I was suddenly forced to develop a full 6th grade report for my rising 7th grader last summer when he qualified for the high school swim team. It was a challenge - although I had given regular tests in math and language arts, I had been more sporadic about tests in history and science, and had given no thought at all to weighing in classwork and "class participation" (e.g., our discussions) in any subject.

 

This year (7th) I've really thought it through more. Again, it is necessary for swim team, but it is also helping me see how I might want to handle high school grades and credits. I encourage you to start now, when the grades don't matter so much, to give yourself a feel for the process.

 

ETA: Since he will do Algebra and high-school level English 1 next year in 8th, I'll be assigning high school credits as well.

[foofoobunny]

I'm starting in grade 8 to practice and get comfortable with monitoring it all daily.  But, I won't be sharing this with my son until the third semester.  I don't want to worry him about marks across all the subjects, however, he already calculates his marks for math and spelling himself so he has a baseline.  I want the skills in place for myself so I don't screw up anything when he is actually in high school.

 

That sounds like a good idea. I probably need a practice year, before the real grading starts.

 

This is probably the subject of a whole new thread, but how of you grade? DS10 has never been graded since K and I'm foreign born and don't know how to give out As and Bs. Percentages?

 

 

That is also a good question.  In public school, they use tests and homework and sometimes class participation.  Maybe someone has an answer to this...

[Gil]

I plan to do overall course grades once the boys complete elementary level work (so starting this summer, probably).

I have no idea about highschool credit though. Probably not until they are doing a crap ton of output at a good level...For now, the grades are just for me and my need to know and measure objectively.

 

 

[AmyontheFarm]

http://www.thehomescholar.com/blog/how-to-calculate-homeschool-gpa/

 

Try the link above for an effective way to learn what percentages to use. Whatever you use, pick one grading scale and stick with it. I'm planning on using the one above.

[laughing lioness]

9th grade. However, ds took Biology this year (8th grade) and will do bio lab next fall through Bridgeway Academy. I will be counting Bio as a high school credit w/lab on his transcript. 

Also he did LMF Algebra and Apps of Algebra THIS year, so depending on how far he gets in math, this might go on there, too. 

He is also doing Shakespeare Camp this spring, and our plans are for him to do that each spring, along with GC Shakespeare, just like older ds. This will count as at least a credit of Lit, but perhaps at least another 1/2 credit of performance or whatever. 

 

Our plan is for him to do DE at 16, so we'll just see how it all falls out.