Grading for High School

I’ve wondered about the same thing, and here is what I did –

My daughter was in 9th last year and I wanted to record something before I filed away that year’s things so I assigned a % to the areas I determined we’d done over the year.  In other words, I didn’t desgin the grading before the course but after it.  I looked at our reading list, narrations, evaluations and maybe a project or two that she did on a pariticular topic that year.  I assigned those areas a percentage (maybe 50% for the 3 evaluations at the end of each term; 40% for daily narrrations; 10% for a project or presentation – I can’t remember now), then I took a look at each area and gave it an over all number grade.  I then did the calculations for weighted grades and wala! came up with a course grade.  I also took in to account how well she knew the time period we covered – how well could she converse about it, did she see over arching themes, understand the major shifts, etc.  I wanted her grade to reflect her knowledge.

This method is pretty much how I  handle all the subjects for both kids.  Math is easier of course because there is no subjective evaluation if your using a text and checking the work.

I love that on SCM history is one of the largest areas of concern!  It’s ironic.  You realize no one, and I mean no fancy pants school anywhere in the US, does as much history as a CM student does over the course of their k-12 education?  So, I always marvel at how stressed and concerned and anxious we all are about getting history “just right” …. 🙂  I always tell my kids I’d have no qualms about giving them a credit per year all of their homeschooling career for history.  They’d deserve it.  The way we do it in CM is awesome.  Not to imply you are here but I’ve always wanted to mention that and this topic dovetails in to it.

For some subjects, I’m assigning letter grades that are pretty general. For example, an A means my kid did all the required work, learned the material and generally did well. I would give a B if they had some trouble, but completed it and did okay, etc. It doesn’t have to be an exact science for every subject.

I don’t stress over grading at all. I don’t accept shoddily done work and I require that it be redone if I feel the student has not done his/her best. My kids mostly make A’s but I did give my son a few B’s and he even earned a C once! It was in a subject that he really struggled with and we were both happy with a passing grade.

In the end, I think us moms really do know what grades our kids deserve. We know if they’ve done their best and we tend to be harder on our kids than a more objective teacher might be.