Sue G in PA Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I'm not sure how else to say this. My dd14 is a young 9th grader (just turned 14 in late Nov.). She has always been a good student (at home & at public school). She is doing MFW Ancients this year and really likes it. I do as well. She does well in all subjects except writing (she hates it) and now, surprisingly, math (Alg. 1). She says she understand the material but when she takes the test, she consistently gets Cs or even below. :001_huh: I'm at a loss as to how to continue. Do I assign these grades and count them toward her cum. GPA and just keep moving forward or do I stop, rewind a bit and go over these tests with her until she understands all the material and can pass with a B or above? I want her to understand the material (master it) and have never before been concerned with assigning a "grade". That means nothing to me except as a diagnostic tool to tell me with what she is struggling, kwim? But this is high school and I must assign a grade. How would you handle this? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 What kind of math? We use Saxon for Algebra and in the test answer book it tells you what section applies to each question (1.1 for example). If there is a pattern in that, where I can see she missed/forgot/does not understand something, we go back and reread, then do the practice. If that doesn't help then we do the problem set together one by one. A lot of my dd's problems come from rushing through and trying to squeeze her work onto one line. I started requiring her to spread out. Fractions were to be written on two lines, there should be a line between each problem. For some reason she is really miserly about paper and that bites her in the bottom when it comes to arithmatic. In other words, it's not a comprehension issue so much as simple mistake issue. We've also started some relaxation techniques. She rolls her shoulders every ten problems, takes a deep breath and stretches. It helps her not to get too rushed or stressed out. ETA, I use their scores from the standardized tests for their grades. I keep track of test scores, but we do the test on separate paper first to check for gaps. Then after some review and a few days she retakes it for the 'final score.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 . She says she understand the material but when she takes the test, she consistently gets Cs or even below. How do you assess her "understanding the material"? Is she able to solve every single practice problem correctly? Do you verify that before letting her take a test? If she gets all practice problems, what is different about the tests? How often do you give tests? If she does not get every single practice problem correctly, I would not let her advance in the material but work on the concept until mastery is achieved. Where does she make mistakes? Why? Unless it is just carelessness, she may not have truly understood the material - even if she says she does. My kids need to get every problem correct. I do not give grades for homework or lesson problems - we work on it until they can do it. If they still make mistakes after doing the problems in the book, I make up more practice problems for them. Their grade is based solely on an end of semester cumulative exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 It seems her mistakes are 95% due to carelessness, sloppy work, rushing, etc. The rest are problems with comprehension. She uses Saxon Alg. 1, btw. I check her problem sets every week on Fri. but she comes to me if she has questions throughout the week. We go over problems together on those she either gets incorrect or doesn't understand. I have her re-take the tests she does poorly on to see if she can correct her answers by being neater and taking more time on the problems. This usually helps. I guess I was just concerned about keeping her test grades as the Cs or below, adding them together to come up with the end of year grade. It makes better sense to just use the end of year exam for her grade. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It seems her mistakes are 95% due to carelessness, sloppy work, rushing, etc. The rest are problems with comprehension. She uses Saxon Alg. 1, btw. I check her problem sets every week on Fri. but she comes to me if she has questions throughout the week. Can you have her check her problems every day instead, to catch issues right there and then? (If you don't have time, let her self-check her work with the solution manual) I have her re-take the tests she does poorly on to see if she can correct her answers by being neater and taking more time on the problems. I would not accept a re-do as a test grade. I would call it a pre-test, have her correct it, and make a NEW test that uses similar, but not identical problems. (We have done this before with the end of semester test: if they still make mistakes, they still need to practice before being allowed to take the test.)When we had issues with rushing, I would assign a test time during which all the kids were allowed to do was take the math test. No benefit from going faster, as they were stuck at the table with their exam for a set time. that helped a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It seems her mistakes are 95% due to carelessness, sloppy work, rushing, etc. The rest are problems with comprehension. She uses Saxon Alg. 1, btw. I check her problem sets every week on Fri. but she comes to me if she has questions throughout the week. We go over problems together on those she either gets incorrect or doesn't understand. I have her re-take the tests she does poorly on to see if she can correct her answers by being neater and taking more time on the problems. This usually helps. I guess I was just concerned about keeping her test grades as the Cs or below, adding them together to come up with the end of year grade. It makes better sense to just use the end of year exam for her grade. Thanks. We must share a daughter :p I highly recommend making her spread her work out over the paper. Having her stop every ten problems to roll her shoulders or somthing of that sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Karen, thanks. I think that I will have to force myself to check her work at the end of each day and go over errors like you suggested. I spoke to dd and am making her use lined paper to show her work and to show each and every step of her problem. Hoping something helps. I am also considering purposely holding her back and counting this year as 8th grade as she is young (started K at age 4) and had she started here in PA, she would only be in 8th. Make sense? That will give her and ME another 1/2 year to really make some changes in her habits and have a successful 9th grade year and beyond. Thanks everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 When I know my sons really do understand based on the daily work and a "bad" grade is made on a test due to being careless or rushing to get done, I'll do one of two things. 1. Circle the problems with the wrong answers and have them rework those problems for half credit. 2. Give another test. We usually skip a review worksheet so the skipped page can become a test. Having to rework missed problems or having to do "a whole nother" test once or twice USUALLY is enough that they really do their best on tests again. When they get a bad grade because of truly not understanding the material, then I'll take the test and go over every missed problem step by step. I'll then try to find additional problems or make up some additional problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullia Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) ITA with the advice to check math work daily. It helps avoid cementing a pattern of errors and will help you distinguish between careless errors and failure to understand a concept. It's too easy to get off-track with math and lose a bunch of time. The issue of moving ahead vs. achieving mastery is a bit trickier, IMO. For a young 9th grade student, I'd definitely keep the balance on the mastery side. However by the end of high school I'd suggest you get her ready for the faster pace she will see if she plans to attend college. I was firm on the importance of working for mastery, especially in skill-related aspects of a subject, but adjusting to the pace of college work was definitely a challenge for my son. And, in college your dd will benefit if she's developed a habit of being very active with you in working out mastery issues. That way she will be ready to take the initiative once she gets to college. ETA: About the value of grades. I agree that assigning a grade is important, but depending on your circumstances, grades on homeschool transcripts might not be terribly important. They are important for you, and in college keeping track of grades will help her stay on top of things. We weren't terribly grade oriented even in high school and I did assign grades so it took my ds awhile to understand that keeping track of grades as you go prevents anxiety at the end of term. From what I've gleaned from these boards, standardized test scores are probably going to be assigned more weight, and while it's not essential to stay on the normal math sequence-- not doing so can hurt. Being out of sync for math hurt my son's PSAT scores. He eventually did get back on track, and did much better on the SAT and ACT which are what NM schools are primarily interested in seeing from home schooled students. His academic advisor at the CC did look at his transcript, and noticed that the "mommy grades" were consistent with his test scores--but that was the only time grades were ever mentioned. Of course, YMMV, depending on what schools interest your dd. Edited January 27, 2011 by Martha in NM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 A couple of things. I try to find math programs where more than one form of the test is provided. Last year we used a program without that and so when my son failed one of the tests, we went over the same material using a different program and then I had him take the test for the other program. There are benefits to being a curriculum junkie! Also, while going over the problem sets every day is a great start, I find that it's even more effective to go over the material with my son and have him do practice problems with me so I can see where he is struggling. That way we can clear up any misunderstandings *before* he gets to the problem sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Karen, thanks. I think that I will have to force myself to check her work at the end of each day and go over errors like you suggested. I spoke to dd and am making her use lined paper to show her work and to show each and every step of her problem. Hoping something helps. I am also considering purposely holding her back and counting this year as 8th grade as she is young (started K at age 4) and had she started here in PA, she would only be in 8th. Make sense? That will give her and ME another 1/2 year to really make some changes in her habits and have a successful 9th grade year and beyond. Thanks everyone. Oh yes, dd HAS to show her work. I showed her how I can find exactly where she went wrong in her arithmatic if she actually puts her work down. Again, it also helps to keep her from stressing out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 When I know my sons really do understand based on the daily work and a "bad" grade is made on a test due to being careless or rushing to get done, I'll do one of two things. 1. Circle the problems with the wrong answers and have them rework those problems for half credit. This is the method that Callahan videos recommend, and they say it is common in their real-life classes, so that's one option. Also, you can consider chapter tests as part of the learning process and just grade the semester tests, which show what knowledge has built up. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.