How are homeschooled pupils being graded?

Question

Who judges their performances, who grades their papers? have the parents the necessary knowledge to do that? If your dad is a math teacher, of course, but what if he' s not? help...

Answer 1

For us it depends (we are very eclectic)...

For some things, we do not formally grade in the traditional sense.  We sometimes use a "capstone" type project for demonstration and application of what was learned.

For other things, our ds is in a coop and he is graded by those teachers.  It has not happened yet, but if his "marks" did not reflect mastery of a subject, he would get "remedial" lessons until he could demonstrate mastery.

For yet other things, we use computer software which has built in testing...

This upcoming year, our ds will be in a university based science academy - and we will get feedback from his professors.

Starting next summer he will begin community college and working towards an AA.

We tested using the ACT in both 7th and 9th.  Our ds scored a 24 on the ACT at 14yo - well above the national median score for high school seniors.

Sophomore & Junior years: PSAT.  Sr. year: ACT & SAT.

I think we are doing just fine - thank you for asking.

***UPDATE:

I'll add that my ds is tougher on himself than any external "judgment."   I call it self-motivated.

Answer 2

Parents are best people to judge the children's learning activities.  The state has no reason to question them.  It is in the whole family's best interest for children to grow up and become viable members of society.  No parent wants to have an illiterate 20yo, 30yo, 40yo, 50yo child that they have to support.  Unfortunately, that seems to be what public schools have been turning out into society all too often.

Answer 3

There are multiple math curriculums out there - including the ones used in schools - that provide teacher manuals with answer keys.  

Same with English grammar and a whole host of other subjects.

But what are grades, anyway?  They are methods by which students are pitted against each other.  They are used to reward and/or punish students.   In short, grades are not part of learning.

One interesting example.  Amy Tan, who wrote The Joy Luck Club, was thrilled when her book was chosen to be part of a literature program at several high schools.  After she saw what passed as "comprehension tests," however, she stated that she would have flunked the tests.   The authors of the tests did not understand her book.

Answer 4

We have this magic thing called a teachers key! You know, the same one public school teachers have. When we get stuck and need extra help, we seek out help. Public school teachers do this as well.

Once a year we do standardized testing (not all home schoolers do this). My children routinely score about 2 grade levels higher in most subjects.

I have just started the tricky concept of keeping a detailed transcript for my high school age daughter. I keep records of all the books she uses, I keep her notebooks, and any tests she takes for subjects such as math and grammar. She also writes papers which I have evaluated by people who where public school teachers and now home school their own kids. From all this I form a "grade." She only gets an "A for mastering the subject, which she usually does or we keep going back anyway. For bad attitudes or struggling but she has the concept, I take off a little and she may get a "B," but the point is that she needs to master the subject before we move on, not just learn enough to pass a test and then forget the material.

Hope this helps!

Blessings

Answer 5

It depends on how you are homeschooled. If you use an online chater school, there are tests and quizzes that mostly are done online that your teachers will grade. If you are being traditionally homeschooled and use your own curriculum, then a parent needs to keep track and keep a log of your grades and transcripts once you are in HS

Answer 6

Okay, for one thing not all homeschoolers have "grades" in the public school sense. But even for those who do, it isn't like teachers grade every assignment without ever looking at an answer key or teacher's guide. Teachers aren't gods, and they don't know everything there is to know about their field of study. Not even close.

But as I said before, not all homeschoolers have grades in the sense you're thinking of. In fact, most that I know at least do not. There are other ways of determining whether or not you're/your child is learning, and they're usually a lot better and more accurate. A letter or number grade is good if you have 30 other kids to monitor, or even more in other class periods, but it is certainly not the only way and it is certainly not the best way.

Answer 7

Why do I need grades? Don't you think since mom is also teacher that mom would know how her children are doing in school?

Math? We teach that? LOL! The curriculum I use is DVD based so that I don't have to! Math is not my forte. I have a hard time with it myself so I use Math U See and he teaches it for me. I sit and watch the lessons with my daughter so that I can answer any questions she may have then use the key to check the answers. If they are correct (99% of the time they are) then we move on if not we go over what she missed and she does another worksheet on the same lesson. Pretty simple!

In some states you have to subject your child to the torture  of standardized testing. But home schoolers typically score much higher than their PS counterparts. Why? Because they had the time they needed to learn the work. It wasn't crammed down their throats so quickly they have a hard time understanding it.

Teacher keys give us all the info we need to teach it. Just like public school teachers have key with how to teach it in front of them so do we. As a public school teacher you are not necessarily a specialist in the subject you teach! This is especially true is high school! Almost every science and history teacher I had are coaches that were there for the sports not the classes they had to teach to work in the school. Heck my biology teacher would deliberately skip s*x ed week because he was embarrassed to teach it!

Are you one of those who thinks we need the all important skills of crowd control and lesson planning? Crowd control has yet to come in handy for this home school teacher and I don't use any lesson planning beyond do this lesson in math. The rest is already written for me because the program we use sets it up for us! If I were to change programs then maybe I will need it but even still it's common since. Go over the material and decide what you will work on for the next week. Not too hard! For objective things like essays and reports I can read and decide if it is correct. If I can't than I can type it into Microsoft word and it will pick out all of the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Then I can email it to my sister in law (a certified teacher) and she can help! There are resources out there for us.

Answer 8

First of all, lots of homeschooled kids AREN'T graded. What are grades mostly about? They are to compare the students' results against a curriculum and then to share those results with parents. Homeschooling parents already know how well their kids are doing without necessarily having to provide grades. Some parents still choose to grade and for the objective stuff, it's fairly easy to decide if the question is right or wrong (like what's 6778 x 456, or the 4th planet from the Sun, or spelling tests); for the subjective stuff, parents may set their own standards or find samples to base any grading on.

I'm a little confused about the whole math thing and not being able to grade papers. Math programs come with answer keys--even school teachers have answer keys. Many school programs also come with a collection of tests you can give the students--with the answer keys. If the math program is clear enough, the teacher doesn't even have to actually teach anything and doesn't have to know anything about math. Which is something I noticed in elementary school--that the teacher simply presented on the board what was already in the text. Seemed like a waste of time to me. Then we'd hand in our work and she used the answer key to mark it. Then in high school, same thing (in jr. high, our teacher actually taught us stuff at the board then had practice worksheets--for some reason, our school did not have texts). And actually, my grade 12 year, my math average would have gone down dramatically had I not decided to rely on the text and learn it myself rather than rely on my math teacher.