Jayden was accepted into the charter school

[MomtoJGJE]

So after much prayer and thought, we decided to put Jayden's name in to the lottery at the Charter School here by our house. I finally ended up just praying "God, there seems to be no clear decision as far as our human minds can reach. So if You want Jayden in school next year, let her make it. If You don't, then keep her out." We prayed that prayer for weeks before the lottery was held. There ended up being 8 open seats for 8th grade, with 40 kids applied. Jayden was the 7th seat chosen. So now we are moving forward with that plan. She will do fine. She just has that personality and is a smart kid to boot. Plus, because of HOD, she knows how to learn and how to manage her time.

Anyway, she is almost done with Res to Ref, so for the next few months we will be concentrating on getting her caught up with Grammar, Medieval Writing Lessons, and finish up her pre-algebra curriculum.

But I have to provide a transcript. Any ideas of what a middle school transcript would look like? I figure if I put all the RtR and CtC stuff in there and assign her grades based on completion and comprehension then we should be good for 6th and 7th grade. As of right now I've listed out all the resources used, split them into courses (history/geography, science, literature/art, Bible, etc), and gave her a number grade for each course.

However I'm not sure about the grading, especially in math and R&S. She did not do well in SM 6A/B with CtC, and doesn't generally do a super job on the written R&S work. But it's all because of careless mistakes. It's not that she doesn't understand the work. With SM, she'd be lucky to pass the first time through any given exercise or review. Going back through it and correcting it would give her a low B. But I'm hesitant to give her that low of a grade because she does understand the concepts and was just rushing through it because she cannot stand math. She's doing MUCH better with pre-algebra because she's actually having to stop and think through the work now. She's generally making As every time and sometimes not missing anything. So on my preliminary transcript I gave her an 87 in SM and a 94 in her pre-algebra course. I"m thinking I might need to raise the pre-algebra grade, but I have until June 22. If I gave her a grade in SM that I truly feel she earned as far as the work goes it would be a low C maybe even a D.

As far as R&S goes, if she slows down and actually thinks, she doesn't miss anything. But rushing through she misses a lot and tends to get low A/high B scores. I gave her 93 for sixth grade and a 94 so far for 7th grade. I'm hoping that when she's doing R&S 6 without all the other work of RtR that she will legitimately pull that score up though.

I hope some of that made any sense at all. Does anyone have any advice on what to do about a transcript? Any advice or suggestions about the math grades? My hesitation, especially in math, is that I know they are going to use the transcript as well as her yearly testing to place her, and I truly believe she will perform better in a school setting than she does at home. So I don't want her placed too low based on what I tell them, but then again I don't want to mark her too high and have her placed higher than she needs to be either. I honestly think she would do fine in Algebra in 8th grade.

[LynnH]

Ok so this is just me but I am a big believer in giving them the grade they earned. If she makes mistakes because she is hurrying I still would mark that as wrong and give her that grade on that assignment. If you want to weight daily work less than tests then that is a legitimate way to do it and it is something normal to do. What is she using for Pre-algebra? If she is jumping into a charter school then their Algebra could be very different. You might want to find out what curriculum they use before you push for her to go into Algebra. Also as far as Rod and Staff goes, remember you are giving her an English grade so grammar is just a third of her grade. If she is a C in grammar that is ok. Put that in with a reading and writing grade and come up with your final grade. I would not be afraid to give her a B. I have many friends who are ps teachers and they have all had bad experiences with homeschoolers who come in to ps with their parents saying they are a straight A student and then they find out that the student isn't a straight A student. I actually am surprised they aren't giving her a placement test.

[LovingJesus]

I agree with Lynn. I have heard too many times of inflated homeschool grades that the kiddos didn't live up to once in the classroom.

I have graded math (various, including Singapore) and English (R&S English) all along. They do extremely well, but when they earn that rare B or C on a test or assignment I give it. My oldest is used to 100 percent in math, but his 95 percent in Pre-Algebra this year is what he is getting instead with the occasional Bs thrown in. I think it has been good for him to see realistically the change, and know where we are. If he got a C I would definitely put it on a transcript so he didn't place over his head if I was putting him in school which we are not doing.

I don't grade HOD classes. I think they would be hard to grade, but it could be done. I would go on completion and thoroughness of work probably.

I wouldn't inflate. Like Lynn said though grammar is only 1/3 of LA. The rest is writing and DITHOR.

[StephanieU]

I agree with giving realistic grades and not inflating. If you mage get correct things, then you could grade both attempts. I would make the first, original attempt worth at least 50%. But it is also hard to go back and assign grades! Just do your best but don't give "bonus" points because in the long run it will hurt her because expectations will be higher and harder to meet.

[MelInKansas]

I agree with the others, though it is a bit "unfair" because maybe she doesn't know that the first time through is the actual grade. My daughter is the same way, she misses a lot of problems the first time just because she is not thinking it through and is not careful. She would be a C student in math if graded on her first time through. But she understands it very well. Since it's just Junior High, maybe that will be a lesson to her in being more careful the first time (it's not like it will be on any HS transcript so no one else will ever see it besides this school). Also it wouldn't be good for her to have a 94 in math and then going into the school start getting Cs or Ds, that probably looks worse. If she's a C student right now on her completed work, then give her a C. A C is not a really bad grade, but again, if it matters to her, maybe she will do something to change the scores she gets.

[Tidbits of Learning]

I have returned 2 students to school. It was in 9th grade. We too had to submit report cards and test scores. We didn't do transcripts b/c high school is it's own entity. However, for the report card I left the 83 C in Algebra that was taken in 8th grade. It actually helped the guidance counselor to suggest my student take Honors Algebra and get a higher grade for her high school GPA instead of counting the 8th grade Algebra with the lower grade. My student had grades ranging from A's to C's She was placed in her courses-Pre-AP/AP/Honors mainly based on test scores. They were really only looking for A's and B's in math and science to recommend the honors classes. That was why retaking Algebra was better than using the C grade and the credit. I wouldn't have known that and now my student is going into the Honor Society with a high GPA. So I would suggest as long as she isn't failing anything to report the first grade. You won't get do overs in public school. The grade is the grade. And it may give the counselor room to suggest retaking a class to better master it or something similar.
For the transcript, I would look up what classes are called for the middle school. Each state and school is a bit different, but the closer your class titles look to the classes required the less likely to repeat a similar course that has already been taken. Most web sites will list class titles from teacher links. You will probably want to name Science courses Physical Science or Earth Science or Life Science. Most middle schools make that distinction and require 1 year of each. History is normally World History, American History, and a year of state history at the middle school level. The lower math path normally has Pre-Algebra in 8th grade with the higher math path having Algebra in 8th grade. Most high schools no longer count Algebra A as a high school math credit. It is considered an elective now. You will want to find out how your state looks at Algebra for high school math credits. For us, there was a 1 semester Honors Algebra that was 1 full credit whereas regular Algebra was 2 semesters and considered an elective and did not meet math requirements for graduation. So that would effect what path I wanted my student to do if going back in 8th grade. Literature is normally a course by itself and labelled Literature 6,7,8 or Reading 6,7,8. Language Arts normally is Grammar, Composition, and Vocabulary combined so 1/3 of the grade comes from each sub-subject and it is labelled Language Arts 6,7,8. Unless you are going into a private, Christian school--Bible won't transfer as anything on a transcript. It won't even become electives on a transcript at public school. We don't have transcripts in middle school here but it sounds like it is important where you are so I would try to make the course titles match what is required for your area even if you took them out of order than they do--for example if Earth Science is 8th grade and you did it in 6th...that way your student won't retake Earth Science and miss Physical Science if Physical Science is normally 6th where you are. I hope that makes sense the way I am writing it out.

[MomtoJGJE]

I'm sorry it took so long to respond.

The problem is that I didn't grade any of the math work. I just marked what she missed and she corrected it. And by corrected it, I mean she looked at the problems instead of just writing down whatever it seemed should be the answer based on not actually doing any work. She still missed some, but I feel the "corrected" work is more the level she is. I know she will actually attempt it the first time with a different person checking it other than me. I think I'll give her a low B in 6th grade math. Maybe a high C. And I have until the end of June (I can't remember if I said that the first time), so I'm going to actually keep up with daily grades, quiz type grades (I guess that would be like the weekly review pages in her curriculum), and then test type grades (which I suppose would be end of chapter review). I can't remember what curriculum she is using right now, but the person I got it from had kids go straight from it to Algebra in public school and did well. It is very similar to the pre-algebra I did in school, just some of the concepts are taught at different times in the curriculum. Oh and in her yearly testing she is 99% through 10th grade math. I was also shocked that there is no placement test. Of course there might be one whenever we get to the point of choosing classes. I still need to talk to DH and see what he thinks. I seriously doubt she is going into any field of study that needs much higher level math. She is more a history/english type person. So she doesn't HAVE to be on a higher math route. I just don't want her to be bored. Then again, something super easy might be better for her first year anyway. UGH!!

Also, thank you for the help on the LA stuff. I wasn't sure how to combine everything. If literature should be its own category or not, etc. I feel like I did ok with that part

The school she is going to is a Charter School with a Fine Arts emphasis. They have Bible as an elective course. That's why I included that in my transcript. Honestly, I"m thinking about asking them again what they are looking for and just telling them we didn't keep grades. Maybe they will just accept a list of the books we used. Who knows. I'd much rather her do a placement test than me have to figure it out!!

[Tidbits of Learning]

You don't have to have them test her if you want to go in with a placement test. I didn't grade everything either, but I knew what grade she was turning in so B work got a B...C work got a C. I used homeschool helper on my Nook and just created a course title and put 1 grade in which was the grade I gave her overall for the course and then did a report card print. You can do online CAT or Stanford and not have to do any proctoring. Brewer testing sells Stanford online and Christian Liberty sells CAT online. I would ask if they accept those. I know that all states have to accept the Iowa Basic Skills Test. Brewer testing also sells it and if you have a degree you can proctor it. If not, it isn't hard to find a homeschool mom who used to be a teacher to proctor. I went in with my report card with my overall grade that I assigned based on the level of work my daughter turned in to me (not exact grades) and the testing report which had her working at high school level on most everything. It was really super easy and not stressful. I wouldn't stress an exact grade if you didn't keep up with it all or grade that way. I would grade based on the work she turned in and have a test report to back up my grade.
My daughter could have taken the end of course for several subjects and tested out and started higher but the counselor actually suggested that she retake them to get a higher grade for her GPA and to make a better transition. My daughter is in the gifted and talented arts program as well and this actually was a super way to go back and ease into school with confidence.