Gulp...weighing grades for completion and transcript (Lori's list)

[sheryl]

Well, ok, here it is.

 

DD is finishing 10th grade and I have yet to complete grading her 9th grade work and have not even started on her 10th.  Her Alg 2 and Biology are outsourced, so that's helpful. 

 

Lori's list is AMAZING!  One of my threads is on her list even.   :)   But, I feel like I need to go back to school myself to homeschool high school! LOL

 

I know it's my fault for not "keeping up" with tracking, grading and assigning final score, but I'm overwhelmed.  How did this happen? 

Truly I didn't purposefully let it go, but with 3 deaths in the family since Nov. 2013, I feel like a Ping-Pong ball.   On top of that my Dad has been hospitalized twice.

 

So, there are obviously too many threads for me to peruse, as useful as I know they are.

 

1.  Do you "weight" all subjects?  Certainly, not P.E.    LOL!     English -  Or do you weight even more precisely, like: grammar, writing, literature?  So, do you "weight" inside the 3 listed and then again weight the 3 together for a final English grade?   YIKES!  

 

Where have I been on this?  

 

2.  English, Math, History, Science.   PE?  Elective?   Foreign Language?  Other?

 

3.  It's all so subjective and it's hard for me to wrap my brain around this.   Everyone grades differently - places weight differently.   I may assign 45 % weight to tests and you 33 %.   

 

Today DD and I went to the local CC for an introductory meeting.  She'll be a rising 11th grader this summer and we are only considering her taking 1 class at CC.  I, of course, need to have the transcript done NOW!   Now, reread the purple sentence above!  :)

 

I'm too black and white on this issue and it's driving me nuts.   What makes me qualified to assign grades?  Wonder if I grade too low or too high.   I want all that I do to be fair to her. 

 

Enough whining from me now.   

(yes, you have my permission to laugh first).  But, move on quickly..........ADVICE?  

 

[Mom22ns]

No, I don't weight grades.

 

I only give grades for tests and papers. In truth, all papers get an A because my kids are required to rewrite them until I consider them to be A level. I don't grade homework or any other work including science labs, which like papers must be completed to my standards or redone. 

 

Why are you qualified to give grades? Why wouldn't you be? Do you give tests? Can you count right and wrong answers and figure a percentage? Grades don't have to be complicated. Keep the criteria simple and the grading scale consistent. It really doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

 

ETA: I'm not sure how you got behind a year in grading. I won't beat you up about it, but I would say that failing to give your child feedback on her work is a major failure. She can't earn grades without someone doing the grading. Start grading everything she finishes as she finishes it and then work backwards to catch up.

[Marla]

I outsource a lot of my daughter's classes, so I don't have practical advice for you, but I'm sure you are not the first homeschool mom who has had to play "transcript catch up", so I trust others will have helpful advice.  :)  I  just wanted you to know that I understand how easy it is to get overwhelmed when so many unexpected things happen in life.  I'm sorry the past few years have been so difficult.   Hang in there!  You'll get it done!   :grouphug:    

[plansrme]

Do her grades really matter for CC admission?  If not, I would make them up.  Seriously, use your best judgment, make up a transcript using one of the thousands of samples available online and call it done.  Then I would spend the next two years catching up for regular college admissions when it might really matter.  I suspect that for CC admission, what matters is what she has covered, not what her grades were, as long as her grades meet the minimum 2.0 or whatever is required for admission.

[MerryAtHope]

I have not weighted grades--I consider our courses rigorous and a good match for my students, but not "honors" classes. If I was going for top scholarships somewhere, I would reconsider my stance--but other than to be "competitive" for scholarships, I really don't see the point or the need to weight their grades. If your dd has (or will likely have) top ACT/SAT scores to back them up, then I'd go for it. 

[creekland]

We did not do weighted grades - too much effort on my part and too many college admissions folks told us they unweigh them when they get weighted grades in anyway.  Some also told me they only consider the main four subjects and foreign language - the grades in things like Art and PE didn't count at all unless those courses were important for their major.  They wanted to SEE those courses, but not count the grades in them.

 

I only used tests (or papers/projects) and the occasional quizzes for grades.  I never saw a need to grade homework and count it.

 

And we tried to school to mastery - taking longer and redoing things if needed or flying through if concepts were easily grasped.

 

In the few cases where middle son had an AP test in the subject, I made sure he had a 5 on the test before officially assigning that as his grade.

 

I wrote about it all where applicable on the common app.

[Arch at Home]

Before you panic about needing a transcript for CC, make sure that you really need one. Our local CC system uses the COMPASS exam for admissions and placement; no transcript was required.

 

That said, I would still get to cracking on developing a transcript. You will need it soon enough.

 

Sarah