Grades

There are many reasons schools use a grading system.  Some reasons are to give students feedback about their progress and achievement, for administrative purposes, to give guidance to students about future coursework, to provide instructional planning for teachers, and last but not least to motivate students.  

When I was in school I was not a great student and grades never really motivated me much.  With my own homeschool I took a stance of  anti grade and anti testing for a long time.  I preferred to teach mastery of the subject then give them a grade.   Last fall I decided to test C to see where she was level wise in math and reading/comprehension.  She took the test and really enjoyed seeing where she was and what she needed to do to advance to the next level.  

Over the year we worked on her math skills and her reading/comprehension skills.  In July she did the year end test to see how she advanced over the year.  She loved seeing how much she grew in each level and also where she still needed to work harder in.  This was a turning point for me.  

Over the summer we discussed different ways we can show this progress throughout the year.  I reluctantly said I could grade your work.  This makes more work on my end and I have to stay on top of the grading so they can see progress each week.  

We just completed our first week of lessons and I have kept up on the grading which is a huge plus for me.  The girls do really enjoy seeing those A's and B's and if they get a C say they will try harder. 

I use an online program for our lesson plans called Homeschool Minder love this program.  This is how I will be tracking their grades and creating transcripts for them.  I will have to get a better system to add assignments.  Instead of say read chapters 4-8 and do the quiz.  I will have to input two different lessons one for the reading and one for the quiz.  This is all a new learning curve for me.  I can see a lot of good this will do.  

For our family grades will be used as a tool for motivation.