Do you keep a record of grades for elementary years?

[LauraClark]

I'm in NC and my son will be in 1st grade next year.  Do you grade and/or keep a record of grades for these early years?  Do you have a gradebook you like?  I don't think the state requires anything, but is it necessary for future homeschool transcripts?  I'm totally new to homeschooling.  Thanks!

Edited November 26, 2016 by LauraClark

[Clemsondana]

I haven't kept anything for elementary school. I got a box for hanging file folders and I put everything that they do all year into the box so that I have proof that we did something, should anybody evver ask. I hang onto the boxes for a few years and then go through and pick one folder's worth of things to keep as keepsakes. My older child is moving into middle school next year, so over the next few years I'll need to change as we start doing high school classes and putting together a transcript for college.

[HomeAgain]

No grades.  I use Homeschool Skedtrack, though, and type in what we do each day.  At the end of the year I print out all records by subject, staple them together, and put them in a folder along with a small number of work samples.

[Guest]

I don't grade anything, ever. I am working under the assumption that I won't until high school.

 

I do keep a loose record of what we do, so that I can reference it with the littlest one when he's coming up.

[Guest]

No. There's absolutely no reason to, unless you're one of those people who get a kick out of that sort of thing. For the elementary and middle school years, I just keep a little portfolio with work samples from the school year. But no grading.

 

I reluctantly started keeping grades in high school, because by that point you DO need to have a recorded transcript. However, even those were a farce and highly subjective, as I pointed out to all the college admissions. My kids still managed to get into college, so no harm, no foul.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Kinsa

[SilverMoon]

Nope.  It's extra work that's not required. I start loosely talking about grades and how performance changes them in 7th or more likely 8th grade, and I'll start actually recording them in 9th grade.

[Ellie]

I'm in NC and my son will be in 1st grade next year.  Do you grade and/or keep a record of grades for these early years?  Do you have a gradebook you like?  I don't think the state requires anything, but is it necessary for future homeschool transcripts?  I'm totally new to homeschooling.  Thanks!

 

No, I don't.

 

Compulsory school age in NC is seven years old. On your first child's seventh birthday, you notify DNPE that you are homeschooling. You don't have to notify DNPE for any subsequent children. You do not have to use the form DNPE has on its web site; I haven't looked at it in awhile, but it used to request information not required by law, and the rule of thumb is that you never, ever provide more information than is required by law. Check with HSLDA; in fact, I recommend HSLDA membership. Anyway, you're supposed to do some sort of standardized test once a year, any time of the year, and keep the results for one year. You only need to submit the results if you are specifically, directly contacted and asked to do so. You're supposed to keep "attendance records," but you never, ever have to submit them to anyone, and your children are always present anyway, so don't worry about that. :-)

 

 

ETA: If at some point you were to decide to enroll your child in school, yes, you would want to have some sort of academic record; below high school, it isn't a transcript, and at the high school level, no one will care how your child did when he was elementary-age. :-) You could do a standardized test before approaching the school, so you'd have test results. Also, you'd want to have up-to-date health/immunization records.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Ellie

[Clemsondana]

One other thing that I do is to write down what we've done each day in a student planner. I know that some folks do beautiful week planners, but I just buy a standard student agenda and write down what we did each day - pages 123-125 in math, spelling exercise 13A, field trip, etc. That way I can keep up with everything in one place, and it doubles for keeping track of attendance.

[KarenC]

I don't grade anything until high school.

[Rachel]

I don't keep grades, my kids are in 3rd and 1st grade. I do have a file folder for each school year with a few samples from each subject. I also have a beginning of the year fun interview that I file.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Rach

[EmilyGF]

No. I am working on an application for private school for my son for junior high right now and the school (which is incredibly selective; accepts maybe 5% of applicants) was completely fine with my short essay about why I don't assign grades (work for mastery, etc).

 

Emily

[Jean in Newcastle]

No.  I didn't grade until 8th grade for ds.  I needed that year to get up to speed on grading.  I didn't grade until 9th for dd because I felt comfortable with the process.  The only grades needed are for 9th grade (or for any high school level classes that they take in middle school.)  My state requires standardized testing once a year from 3rd grade on and I did keep those records in case they needed to be enrolled in public school at some point.  That said, look at your state's requirements to make sure. 

[ThatReadAloudLife]

I use the spiral notebook method for daily work.

 

I keep math tests, compositions, science lab sheets/notebook, and a list of books read. Those things, at the end of the year, go into a manilla envelope to be filed.

 

In high school I begin transcript keeping. So, basically, I don't really keep grade totals until transcripts start.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MinivanMom]

No, I don't keep a record of grades, but I do save work samples for my elementary age kids - more for my own memories than for documentation.

 

I think NC puts parents in a weird position by not requiring yearly standardized testing until the year they are 7. Due to the testing requirement schools often expect formerly homeschooled kids to show up with test results in hand, but if your kid is under age 8 then they wouldn't have been required to test yet.

 

So if you're feeling nervous about not having academic documentation or if there is any chance that you may wind up enrolling your son in public school for 1st or 2nd grade, then it wouldn't hurt to track attendance or to give an annual standardized test. Those would be the things that a NC school might ask for at enrollment. You are not legally required to give them to the school, but it might smooth grade placement - especially with a 1st grader since it is up to the principal to decide whether they are bumped back to K or allowed to enroll in 1st grade. 

 

I wouldn't worry about giving elementary grades at all. NC public schools don't even give grades in elementary; they do that whole number system.

[LauraClark]

Thanks so much everyone!  I'm relieved to know I won't have to worry about this for a few more years.

[Ellie]

 

So if you're feeling nervous about not having academic documentation or if there is any chance that you may wind up enrolling your son in public school for 1st or 2nd grade, then it wouldn't hurt to track attendance or to give an annual standardized test. Those would be the things that a NC school might ask for at enrollment.

 

 

What might "tracking attendance" look like for homeschoolers? You get up every day and there they are. If they are sick, you don't do school, so they are not absent. Why would a public school ask for that if a homeschooled child were enrolling? A standardized test, yes; I always recommend that. But attendance?

[Guest]

I do, absolutely. Many are just pass/fail or show completion, but I keep a daily record of what we cover and complete. It's our proof we are homeschooling consistently and covering material should there ever be a need to show it, and it also helps keep me accountable to doing the work every day.

 

The only subject I keep really rigorous grades in is math, but even things like typing practice and piano I log each day as complete or not. We do have to report grades on some sort of scale to our district and I chose an A-F scale as the easiest to manage, so this sort of data generates that really quickly and easily in the Scholaric program we use.

[Soror]

A lot depends on where you live and what is required.  Education isn't compulsory until 7 here, I keep absolutely nothing before then. After that, I keep track of hrs and samples of their work for the previous 3 yrs on the off chance I was investigated for educational neglect or had to re-enroll the kids (before highschool they are just placed by age anyway). I check their work for completeness and to see that it is done correctly but I don't assign grades. If they miss something it is corrected. I will assign grades in highschool as that is needed for their transcript and admittance to college but not before then(except maybe as Jean mentioned just for a bit of practice in Jr. High).

Edited November 27, 2016 by soror

[SparklyUnicorn]

No

 

I had to submit quarterly reports and end of the year assessments or tests for each grade.  These documents do nothing more than satisfy the regs.  I can't imagine what I'd use them for otherwise.

 

 

[G5052]

Never did. Both of mine were homeschooled the whole way from preschool on. One is in college, and the other graduates in June.

 

If they had gone to the classroom, I did have their scores from standardized testing, which is required annually in my state. I also kept writing samples. Friends who stopped homeschooling were able to get their kids placed with those two things. The expensive private schools in our area will use the same for admission and then test themselves for placement.

 

I worked out a high school plan when they were in 7th, and then kept a transcript from 8th on that I kept updated in case they wanted to graduate early. And indeed, my youngest decided to graduate early. :hurray:

[Dmmetler]

In my state, you do have to submit grades for each semester. However, I know the cover program DD is with encourages teaching to mastery in K-8. DD has had a few outside classes that give grades as well. Honestly, the main benefit of doing a report card at this point is that DD gets the freebies for having a good report card at the local pizza and games place :).

 

Having said that, I did keep detailed records from K, which has been helpful. I recently had to construct course descriptions, etc for the last two years for DD to apply to a specific program, and we also used them to support her application to start CC classes earlier than the usual DE age.

Edited November 27, 2016 by dmmetler

[mom2scouts]

I have never given grades for anything until this year. DS is in 8th grade and doing some high school level courses, so I'll need some grades for his transcripts. I can't think of any reason to give grades for elementary unless your child thinks it's fun and asks for them.

[MinivanMom]

What might "tracking attendance" look like for homeschoolers? You get up every day and there they are. If they are sick, you don't do school, so they are not absent. Why would a public school ask for that if a homeschooled child were enrolling? A standardized test, yes; I always recommend that. But attendance?

 

I have no idea why public schools ask for it. It doesn't give them any helpful information about the child. I suspect they ask for it just because they can - in a "you must prove to us that you were following the homeschool laws to the letter" kind of way.

 

I think everyone realizes that they aren't required give attendance records to the school when enrolling, but I know plenty of parents who have provided them to the school along with standardized test scores so that the school would view them as helpful and cooperative.

[Ellie]

I have no idea why public schools ask for it. It doesn't give them any helpful information about the child. I suspect they ask for it just because they can - in a "you must prove to us that you were following the homeschool laws to the letter" kind of way.

 

I think everyone realizes that they aren't required give attendance records to the school when enrolling, but I know plenty of parents who have provided them to the school along with standardized test scores so that the school would view them as helpful and cooperative.

 

But what do "attendance records" actually look like?

[Guest]

But what do "attendance records" actually look like?

They look fudged. (LOL)

[Clemsondana]

In our state, we're required to school for 180 days each year. When I registered with the county, we turned in a calendar with checks at the end of the year. At our current umbrella school, they use the same systeme. Usuallly at the end of the year, I look at my agenda, see which dates have school work written in them, and put checks on those days. We usually follow a M-F schedule with week or multi-week breaks around holidays and in the summer, but sometimes we have a sick day make-up or a cool educational trip and do school on a Saturday.

[MinivanMom]

But what do "attendance records" actually look like?

 

Just a little calendar. You can cross-out days they were actually sick or not doing schoolwork. Or you can just leave the calendar as it is, because aren't they present all 365 days?

 

NC actually provides a little one page calendar you can download and use as a homeschooler for attendence, but obviously you aren't required to use their little calendar.

[Ellie]

Just a little calendar. You can cross-out days they were actually sick or not doing schoolwork. Or you can just leave the calendar as it is, because aren't they present all 365 days?

 

NC actually provides a little one page calendar you can download and use as a homeschooler for attendence, but obviously you aren't required to use their little calendar.

 

If I had had to keep attendance (not required in California**), that's how mine would have looked: blank, because the dc are always present. :-)

 

It's funny that DNPE provides a calendar, considering that the law does not require people to actually submit attendance.

 

 

 

**California private schools (which includes homeschoolers) are supposed to keep attendance records which indicate when students are absent. There are no required minimum number of school days. Many PSPs require their members to indicate present as well as absent, and to have [insert favorite number...180? 175? it's up to the administrator of the PSP, because the law does not specify that] school days. 

[MeaganS]

We're in NC too. I do not keep any transcripts. I do blog occasionally for my own reference, but that's it. No attendance, no report card. Last year I had dd8 take a standardized test and saved the results in my email. Now I'm compliant! Her Psych did an academic eval, I wonder if that counts for this year. It had percentiles under various subjects.

 

As soon as they start doing high school credit stuff, that's when I'll worry about it.

Edited November 29, 2016 by Meagan S

[freelylearned]

For our charter school, we have to turn in math, language arts, and writing samples in addition to an attendance log and a PE log. No grades.

 

For myself, even though I don't have to keep records of work for my state, at the end of each year I pull out a few samples and staple them together for each child and shove them in a box. I also keep a record of the curriculum we used and milestones each child achieved. Each year, I do the San Diego Quick Assessment to get a gauge on each kid's reading level progress and save that, too. I keep things like their journals to show their writing progress. Also, I have an Instagram account just for pictures of our homeschool projects and field trips, and as a mini diary of our days. I keep these records mainly for myself and I figure that they are good to have in case some day an "official" person comes knocking at my door to ask what we've been doing all these years.

[HS Mom in NC]

No.  Records are important for high school, not elementary and middle school/jr. high.

[KristaJ]

            I track grades for my elementary school students, but not because I need to.  I’m teaching a blended household; my husband has a daughter and I have two, and their “other parents†(my ex husband and his ex wife) want assurances that we’re covering everything.  I use Scholaric to make a plan for the year for each kid, and it is super easy to input grades and print reports as we go.  I give a final “report card†to the noncustodial parents when they pick the kids up for summer break.  I also print and save the reports in each kid’s file at the end of the year to show an easy to read record of what topics we covered.  It also automatically acts as a record of attendance, in case my state actually asks (which they haven’t).

            My kids know that I keep a record of their grades, and sometimes it is helpful that there is a pattern when they start to slip in an area.  I can easily see the exact lesson in which they began to struggle and help redirect them.  But I don’t put too much stock on their grades as long as they are progressing.