How do you do grades/progress reports/assessments?

[egao_gakari]

When I was growing up, my parents didn't really worry about record-keeping or grades--which came back to bite them when they had to send my brother to public school in 11th grade and didn't have any grades or records of what he had studied. So I always planned to keep better records when I homeschooled my kids, but I've never seen the need to "grade" their work, especially in the elementary years when at-elbow instruction and immediate correction makes the most sense.

 

However, with my stepkids, there is a hostile and acrimonious ex situation. We have full legal and physical custody, but she is continually starting things both in and outside of court. (We are reasonably sure she has a personality disorder.) Hubby is understandably worried that at some point our educational methods will come under scrutiny, and we'll need to have some way of demonstrating beyond doubt to the court that the kids are making good progress with me as their teacher. I've thought about a few different ways of doing that, but Hubby suggested I post here to see if anyone's dealt with a similar situation. Any thoughts, anybody? It's a 4th grader and a 6th grader, and this is their first year homeschooling.

 

 

[snowbeltmom]

I didn't keep grades or records in the elementary years beyond a couple of work samples that the kids needed for their yearly assessments.  After the assessments, the papers were tossed.  However, I did not have to worry about a hostile ex situation. :grouphug: 

 

In your situation, I wouldn't keep grades if you don't feel it adds anything to your homeschool, but I would have your kids take a nationally normed standardized test every year.  If the ex is going to challenge your kids' homeschooling progress, any grades you would assign would probably be meaningless.  No one can argue with nationally normed standardized test scores.

 

Good luck.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Well, in your case you might consider doing some testing.  Maybe the on-line CAT from Academic Excellence.  It's not too expensive and easy to administer.  You can print out an official looking report.  Then maybe do a basic course list, materials used, maybe list topics covered. 

 

Unfortunately, I have heard that in many of these cases the courts tend to side with the parent who wants the kids in school. 

 

 

[egao_gakari]

I didn't keep grades or records in the elementary years beyond a couple of work samples that the kids needed for their yearly assessments.  After the assessments, the papers were tossed.  However, I did not have to worry about a hostile ex situation. :grouphug:

 

In your situation, I wouldn't keep grades if you don't feel it adds anything to your homeschool, but I would have your kids take a nationally normed standardized test every year.  If the ex is going to challenge your kids' homeschooling progress, any grades you would assign would probably be meaningless.  No one can argue with nationally normed standardized test scores.

 

Good luck.

 

Yes, I'd thought about that especially since they have standardized test scores from their years in school to compare. MCAS, PARCC, and Stanford 10. I'm thinking maybe Stanford 10, since their PARCC scores are typically rather low, and MCAS takes multiple days to administer and seems pretty stressful all around.

 

Thanks for the input!

[egao_gakari]

Unfortunately, I have heard that in many of these cases the courts tend to side with the parent who wants the kids in school. 

 

I thought I'd heard something about that, yeah.  :wacko:  They are doing so much better homeschooling this year, though! So so so frustrating.

[EKS]

I kept all work done and a record of all books read (free reading, assigned reading, and aloud by me to them) and all resources used.  Then at the end of each academic year, I prepared a report of everything that had been done as well as my impressions of their work.  I would start with a one page (single spaced) overview and then I had more detail in subsequent pages about the various subjects we studied.  I ended with a list of resources used and books read.

 

I find that I actually refer to these reports quite a bit.  They were well worth the time it took to generate them.  And when my kids moved into high school work, it was easy to move into writing course descriptions, keeping a gradebook and lists of resources/books used.

 

If I were in your situation, I would not only do an annual report, but also monthly reports (which I have also done to satisfy the requirements of a public "homeschool school" we were enrolled in at one time).  For those, I just recorded what was done for each subject, the resources used, books read, and any comments about how things were going.  To facilitate preparing these documents, I made a planner with each subject listed that I filled in each week in pencil.  Then as the week evolved, I would change it to reflect what actually happened.  That way it served as a record as well.  

[73349]

I keep an annual standardized test score and calendar of instructional days (required by state law), and four times a year, I write a narrative progress report touching on the child's progress in each subject.  Here's the last one to give you an idea:

__________ is making good progress in most subjects in third grade. This quarter, he mastered many multiplication facts. He now knows them up to eleven times nine, though he can retrieve some faster than others. He has been doing well conceptually in math, working comfortably with variables in Beast Academy book 3C.

In cursive, by contrast, he is progressing slowly; he finds it difficult to remember the shapes of letters and the strokes needed to produce them. [Comments on piano also] Spelling is going a bit better, despite the writing issue. ________ continues to perform well in reading, having just finished Martin’s Mice by Dick King-Smith, and does very well with other language arts tasks. We read retellings of The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; ______ far preferred the latter.

__________ has a good memory for individual Spanish vocabulary words and verb chants, but has trouble putting sentences together. We’re continuing to work on this with Descubre el Español, which has a more conversational approach than previous resources he has used.

As always, _________ has been enjoying science. We have been focusing on heat and motion. The highlight of our history studies thus far was a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, and we are now studying the seventeenth century.

In Cub Scouts, ________ has successfully earned [badges]. He went camping with the Pack and his parents for two nights in October. He went door to door through the neighborhood selling popcorn for the fundraiser as well, improving his ability to have a friendly conversation with an unfamiliar person.

 

In your shoes, I'd also keep some work samples.

[purpleowl]

Agreeing with suggestions of others, but one additional thought: it may be useful to have a certified teacher review a portfolio of work samples and write a brief letter saying that each child is on grade level, making adequate progress, or something along those lines, once a year. Having an outside reviewer could demonstrate that what you've done is meeting the children's educational needs. I'd also suggest keeping track of extracurricular/social activities in case the argument is that the kids need socialization.

 

And please note that I have zero experience in this area; these are just ideas that make sense to me.

[Ellie]

When I was growing up, my parents didn't really worry about record-keeping or grades--which came back to bite them when they had to send my brother to public school in 11th grade and didn't have any grades or records of what he had studied. So I always planned to keep better records when I homeschooled my kids, but I've never seen the need to "grade" their work, especially in the elementary years when at-elbow instruction and immediate correction makes the most sense.

 

However, with my stepkids, there is a hostile and acrimonious ex situation. We have full legal and physical custody, but she is continually starting things both in and outside of court. (We are reasonably sure she has a personality disorder.) Hubby is understandably worried that at some point our educational methods will come under scrutiny, and we'll need to have some way of demonstrating beyond doubt to the court that the kids are making good progress with me as their teacher. I've thought about a few different ways of doing that, but Hubby suggested I post here to see if anyone's dealt with a similar situation. Any thoughts, anybody? It's a 4th grader and a 6th grader, and this is their first year homeschooling.

 

Your ex situation is a bummer. :-(

 

In your situation, I would probably do annual standardized testing and nothing else (and of course, complying with your state laws, if any).

 

As far as your parents, sadly, they were not unique.

[Rosie_0801]

I have always written a daily blog post listing what we've done each day. Nothing fancy. My ex has access to that if he wishes.

 

He did not find that adequate, so court orders currently oblige me to provide a monthly report. This is a merely a summary of the blog posts. I've set it out under headings of our state's key learning areas, e.g. Language Arts etc. with subheadings such as Grammar, Phonics, Literature, Memory Work etc. I also put a paragraph at the bottom of the copies that have or might get submitted to the court listing any self ed I've been doing. 

 

I recommend you do that and get educational testing done by an educational psychologist with the fanciest resume you can afford. If your kids have learning difficulties, make sure the necessary diagnoses are obtained. If you are going to be dragged through the court system, get testing done now so you have something to compare to months or years down the track when you finally get heard in court. The court won't care about "mommy grades."

 

If you have full legal responsibility for the children, the court is unlikely to be interested in their education, though.

[KristaJ]

It’s nice to see somebody else who homeschools stepkids! Although my ex husband (father of my older two) and my husband’s ex wife (mother of my youngest) are reasonably supportive of our decision to homeschool, I feel more “protected†if I have documentation. 

I use Scholaric to make a schedule, record grades, and document what topics we have covered.  It allows you to print out reports and official looking report cards.  I think the reports that show what we covered are more meaningful than the actual grades.   That way, if they question whether or not a certain topic was covered, you have documentation showing the exact date.  For grades, I usually have a basic set of standards that must be met (a point off for a punctuation error, for example).  For more subjective assignments, I’ll discuss ways to improve, but stick to the basic standards when I input a grade.  I usually don’t pick apart and “grade†elementary writing assignments for content or creativity, just for mechanics.  I also keep a spreadsheet that lists all of the basic resources that we use for each child to show that we follow a basic curriculum (although we do deviate often).  None of this is required in my state, but it gives me an easy way to look back at the work we’ve done and I can easily generate a report if one of the “other parents†requests one.  We also do standardized tests each year, and I send a copy of the scores to the other parent.

Five years after being divorced, my ex and I are finally on decent terms, so last week when I was reviewing our progress for the first half of the year, I shot him an email detailing each of his kids’ strengths and progress.  I also told him a little bit about our plans for the second half of the year.  He appreciated the update and asked a few questions.  I also send an annual report card at the end of the year when the exes come to pick up the kids for the summer.  I know my ex isn’t totally on board with homeschooling because he worries about the kids’ “socialization,†but I think his doubts about me teaching them have finally faded.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Look into your state laws. I live in a fairly open state (WA) and it nicely lays out just what I need to show. If it seems litigious, this would be my first stop. Yes, it is legal to homeschool, but like state above that doesn't mean culturally it is okay in court.

 

Next, if you know any public school teachers, ask them to help you take whatever curriculum you are using and buzzword the living snot out of it. You can Common Core darn near anything (I have done this with my son's stuff when Dh was getting fussy about being a public school teacher and not liking the homeschooling). If the current trend in your state are Power Standards, standard away. If it is RTI's, knock yourself out getting all happy with it. Essentially this makes you look very professional and thought out in a court of law. You do not have to change anything you are doing. You just have to fancy up what you are doing to resemble the current public school "norm." It gives you magical legitimacy.

 

I made a syllabus for each of our subjects as well. Not difficult. You can google one easily and tweek it.

 

This was all packaged together with a few beginning, middle, and end of year work samples in the major subjects. Flashy pictures were taken if Ds did a flashy looking thing, that was in there. Lastly test scores from the beginning of the year and the end to show growth (quick tests like you listed above, nothing long or drawn out). Mainly that made me not look like "Mommy", but educator.

[MerryAtHope]

Are you a member of HSLDA? I'd ask for their feedback.

[lanalouwho]

I have no legal concerns about documentation. My husband is fully on board and my state requires nothing, so my records are purely for my own benefit. But I keep a checklist of all the work we do, and every book we read. And once a month, I write out my thoughts about how he's doing, what's working (or not), and set some small goals for the next month. I was documenting this with Word and printing the records, but next month I will start keeping it all in a spiral, bullet journal style. In your case, computer records might seem more official.

 

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