I just saw your post and wanted to comment even though I don’t have an answer because my oldest is entering 9th grade this year.
The certified teacher who did our portfolio assessment said that she meets to discuss high school years for $40 for an hour and I am going to take her up on it because she is familiar with the laws/requirements.
Just a suggestion in case that’s something you would find helpful, too!
Our state is uncomplicated, so this is coming from that perspective.
Determine your grading scale, first.
Determine what things you will grade, and document. I.e. written narrations, essays, tests, quizzes, field trips (with some sort of written follow up); bios, specific curriculum finished.
watch a documentary? Have her/him orally or write a narration, timeline maintenance.
Determine a rubric or outright grade for those various things, determine what percentage they will be worth (you could probably clump a few together) and then average out the grade.
I’m pretty relaxed about grading. I know how my kids are doing because I see it every single day. I always make my kids redo their work until it is acceptable which is usually A level work. If it’s a subject that one of my children struggle with, then I don’t expect such high level work and I grade accordingly. For instance, I gave my son a C in Algebra 2 because he did not do as well in that course and it was a major struggle for him. In that case my expectation was simply for him to get a passing grade.
So I guess my answer is that, I choose the grade I think my child is capable of and then I don’t accept any work that doesn’t live up to that grade. Does that sound convoluted? Lol.
Someone posted this grading “scale” from Lee Binz (author of Setting the Record Straight) on the WTM boards a few weeks ago, and I really like it. It’s written for classes that are more difficult to grade:
A = met my high standards
B = pretty good job
C = disappointing, but learned enough to move on to the next class (say from French I to French II)
D = did enough work to earn a high school credit, did not achieve enough to move on to the next course in this subject