Grading and motivation...

[Busymomma1]

Hi all!
Just curious... do any of you issue "grades" on work, like math tests/papers, spelling, writing, etc? I only grade math and spelling. In those areas, it becomes pretty obvious if they are doing well or need to improve. The rest just gets a "check" and we move on. What do you do when work is not up to par, say, on penmanship, copywork, etc? Do you have them re-do the task? Just curious on ways to motivate my kids to improve but without seeming like the "taskmaster". Like right now, I've occasionally had my kids re-write some copywork when it's a little sloppy. To them, that's terrible! ha! But... I'd also like to hear any ideas on how to motivate in a positive way to do a good job BEFORE the task is started without "threats" of having to do it over.

Also, along the "grades" line of thought, do any of you give your kids "report cards" or some kind of review? I'm debating doing a mid-year review with them for the 1st time, (they are in 2nd and 1st grade) and wondered if any of you have any ideas along those lines, too.

Thanks! Have a blessed day!

[Daisy]

Positive Motivators

1. I'm taking a picture and it is going on the blog for you grandparents to see or mailing them the verse they copied, etc.

2. I'm hanging it up on the bulletin board for your Dad to see. (He knows to look there and always comments on items; good or bad).

3. Stickers, smiley faces, stamps

Negative Motivators.

1. Poor or sloppy work gets re-done during a scheduled break time or instead of a fun activity. You waste my time, I'll waste yours.

2. Additional work given since the amount of work is inadequate to teach the skill. In other words, you purposely scribbled over the 10 math problems I was going to have you do. Now you get to do 20 of them.

Work they are struggling with but diligently working to improve gets set aside and just worked on again later. We don't do grades just because they don't mean anything to my children. They have no meaningful association with A, B, or C.

[3musketeers]

Hi busymomma1,

I have debated over this same subject in the past. I do give grades for grammar and math. They seem to be the easiest to give a number grade to. Last year I simply monitored how my ds's were doing without recording the grades. This year I thought that grades on those subjects would help me evaluate progress better. Especially since one ds was having an issue in math. This year I have bought a nifty R&S personal student assignment book for each ds. We write their assignments there. It also has a place for grades and attendance. So now I can keep track of how they are progressing.

I give stickers on everything. They have to bring all of there assignments to me to be checked off. If it is done well, they get a sticker on the page and a little sticker to go on a sticker sheet (they sell them at most educational supply stores). When there sticker sheet is full they get a prize box (I have a box of treats and VBS type prizes).

I try to have ds's look for mistakes and sloppy work first and correct. Inevitably they will say, "It looks fine to me." So if indeed there work is sloppy or they get an answer wrong I circle it (now in pencil thanks to Carrie's response on another post ) and they must redo. If they have not followed instructions or the whole paper is a mess, I'm the bad guy and they have to do it again. I usually try to explain it to them in a way that they can understand it's not just because mom is mean. I have ds's, so I tell them, "If Daddy's boss gave him an assignment at work and he did not follow the directions. What do you think Dad's boss would do? That's right he would have to start all over and do it again. See how imporatnt it is to learn early to take our time and do it right the first time. It will save you more work in the long run." We also have had a talk on, "Why do we do things? For God's glory. We want to give God our very best in everything we do." All that to say their inclination is to rush through, so they won't miss Word Girl or some other PBS afternoon show . But the talks plant seeds and they do try harder.

I also encourage with displaying work to others. We just finished a DITHOR project where we sent a card of encouragement. It helped to know we wanted to send our Pappy the best. We have had Grandparents Day in which we invited all the grandparents to look through notebooks and watch memorized verses or poems. We have also gone to a friend's who invited several families for dessert and recitations. All the children presented verses, instrumental pieces, sang, or poetry. It does help to know someone besides mom will be seeing our work.

If you would like to set goals for your kiddos each semester and then have a semester review meeting, I can recommend two books. One has great ideas for evaluating work other than grades and both have terrific forms you can use to plan and write notes on dc's skill improvement. Evaluating for Excellence by Teresa Moon and Homeschooling at the Speed of Life by Marilyn Rocket.

Hope these ideas may help,
Cindy

[Busymomma1]

Thanks for the input, ladies! I really appreciate it! I'll definitely have to look up those books. Very helpful!