How to Conquer the End-of-day Correcting Pile-up

[Carrie]

Hello ladies!

I thought it would be a great to share tips for dealing with correcting student work so that it doesn't pile up. If you have any things you've tried, feel free to share!

How do you deal with the correcting that comes along with doing school?

Blessings,
Carrie

[Norrfam0506]

I only ya e two children, so I try to check each box as they complete it. If I’m in the middle of something, I simply get to it as soon as I can.

[daybreaking]

For some subjects, it works best for me to correct work with my child at the beginning of each oral time. For instance, when I sit down to do English or math with one of my children, we first correct the work from the previous day before doing the oral for the new day's lessons. I'm much more consistent this way and it provides a nice review before moving on to the new lesson. For dictation, we correct it immediately after it is completed. For written narrations or notebooking, I find I need time to look over them on my own, usually in the evening, and then I'll review them with the children the next day, right before they begin their new individual history assignments. For science, my son and I correct his work during a 1:1 time that immediately follows his science block.

[my3sons]

To prevent the correcting pile-up, I like to correct work at the beginning of each teaching block of time I have planned with each child. So, for example, during my first teaching block with Emmett, we go through/correct his Bible Quiet Time, his State Study, and his Independent History Study. Then, we do his dictation and look over the rest of what he has to do next to see if he has any questions. For my first teaching block with Riley, we go through/correct his U.S. History, American Literature, Bible, and Foreign Language.

I usually start teaching block times with oral narrations, as they have typically recently read the book and I like to keep the narration as close to directly after the reading as possible. When correcting written narrations, I have our sons read them aloud with pencil in hand to self-edit for any mistakes they discover as they read. Then, they correct any editing I've suggested. Then, I go on to correct any other completed work. At the high school level, we do this together. So, I might have Riley read aloud his Spanish answers to me (which is great practice for speaking Spanish too), as I hold the answer key and correct as we go. We do the same for Bible. Every Day 4 I have our kiddos say their Bible memory work for me. I like to hold the HOD guide in my hand and check off assessment guidelines as I see they are met (i.e. in American Lit, I check off the Introduce question after I ask it, the Read and Annotate section as they flash me their pages, the Reflect and Literature Journal guidelines as they are addressed, etc.).

I rotate teaching blocks with independent blocks of time for each son, so while I am working with one son during a teaching block time, my other son is working on independent work. This way, there is always newly completed work to correct when we meet together for the next teaching block time. Anything completed after I have left for work is texted to me, either with a voice memo or a picture of work completed. I save things for this time that they can do more on their own. This way, I never have a pile-up at the end of the day! The only thing I need to fix is the final editing of the In Their Sandals pieces. I'm not getting that consistently done!

In Christ,
Julie