Organized Homeschool Carnival – Organize Your Records
WOW! It’s hard to believe that we are already halfway through this wonderful carnival on organizing your homeschool! This week, the topic is Organize your records: grades, tests, attendance, etc. Last week, I discussed and reviewed several homeschool planners that contain pages for recording grades and attendance. I highly recommend keeping a grade book of some sort. It’s nice for children to have an idea of how they are doing and nice for the parent to keep track of their child’s strengths and weaknesses.
I really don’t put a ton of emphasis on grades. My children know that I expect them to do their best and learn the material presented to them. I mainly keep grades for my peace of mind! Since I divide my year into six 6-week periods, I present the children with their grades six times a year. I also average all of these grades into one final grade for the entire year. I use blank forms available in my planners to help me keep track of grades and attendance.
One tactic that I use with my children when it comes to taking tests is to allow them the chance to improve a really bad score. They can earn back half credit on any problem that they originally got wrong. So, if the test has 20 questions worth 5 points each, they can earn back 2.5 points on a previously incorrect answer if they answer it correctly the second time around. This is a method that I use to get the child to study the material again and to give them a chance to get a better score.
I have to say that the best thing about homeschooling is that we are able to focus on other things besides grades and test scores. Learning at home is F-U-N!
