Grading in the World Geography Guide. . . .

[Tiffini]

Thanks, Tidbits! That is helpful!

[Carrie]

Ladies,

For the "World Geography" course grading, for Oral Narrations, there is a listing of the Units and Days on which each type of oral narration occurs. It works to just circle the oral narration number to track when it was completed. To me, I just look for completion on the oral narrations, as I'm always giving a few little tips about what they did well and how to improve at the end of the narration.

Under "Written Narration" there is also a listing of Unit numbers and Day numbers for each written narration. It would work to put a simple plus or minus there, depending on how close to the guideline the student came on the first try with the narration. Then, I always have my kiddos correct the narration with my help according to the guidelines in the Appendix.

This could also be done for the "Map Drawings."

Anyway, just another easy way to track things right within the material we've provided so you don't have to feel like you must add another tracking system unless desired.

Blessings,
Carrie

[momtofive]

Thanks, Carrie!

It helps to know ways we can utilize that lovely introduction to the fullest, and stay on track, too! Thanks so much for sharing how you've used the introduction pages in your own family!

[swansonacad]

I am preparing to begin WG with my oldest this fall and have been pondering all this. I made a spreadsheet in excel to help me keep track daily, but I am still struggling to see how best to do this (which categories to include on the spreadsheet, which need grades each day, etc.). Do we need to enter a percent or just mark that it's done? If we just mark that the narrations or journal entries or literature unit reviews were completed, does that mean if my son just completes them he earns a 100% for those areas? What specifically needs a percentage as a grade? Am I making it too complicated? I hope it's okay to link a picture of just a sample of this 35-page spreadsheet. https://www.dropbox.com/s/sowiya4di4awnr8/DSC03092.JPG Please share your thoughts. Sometimes (usually) I take the long and hard way around to the simple solution, but in the end it all serves to help me understand more completely. Thanks.
Debra

[LynnH]

I have a similar question to Debra about if he just completes the notebooking pages, narrations etc then he gets 100%. My concern about that is he will then get almost all A's, but I know due to his learning challenges and his test anxiety his ACT/SAT scores will not line up with all A's and I know some colleges question the accuracy of the grades when they see this from homeschoolers.

[Tiffini]

Debra and Lynn have voiced my concern as well. I'd love to hear Carrie's answer to that. If I don't give actual grades for the narrations and notebook pages, journal entries, reviews, etc., and just count them as completed, then that would equal an A. Like I said, with my oldest, she is an A student, so I didn't worry about it too much. My next two might be A's, but then again, they might not be, and I'm not sure how to grade them on these things. Carrie, I'd love to keep it as simple as you mentioned in your post and just use only your grading sheets provided in the introduction. Did you write them to be the ONLY thing necessary for record-keeping? That was my concern as I try to prepare for school to start - how much, how many, and how detailed do my grades need to be? Can you speak any more to this topic? I'd appreciate it!

[momakhomeschool]

Debra, your spreadsheet sample looks great!! Carrie, and others, I need more guidance as well. I'm sure it is probably not as hard as I'm making it, but I just can not get my head wrapped around it. Like LynnH, I have a struggling learner who would get mostly A's if based on completion and effort alone. However, no matter how hard she tries, she does not produce A quality work. I really need more help to grasp how to do this. Glad to know I'm not the only one trying to figure out this high school stuff!

[momtofive]

I am preparing to begin WG with my oldest this fall and have been pondering all this. I made a spreadsheet in excel to help me keep track daily, but I am still struggling to see how best to do this (which categories to include on the spreadsheet, which need grades each day, etc.). Do we need to enter a percent or just mark that it's done? If we just mark that the narrations or journal entries or literature unit reviews were completed, does that mean if my son just completes them he earns a 100% for those areas? What specifically needs a percentage as a grade? Am I making it too complicated? I hope it's okay to link a picture of just a sample of this 35-page spreadsheet. https://www.dropbox.com/s/sowiya4di4awnr8/DSC03092.JPG Please share your thoughts. Sometimes (usually) I take the long and hard way around to the simple solution, but in the end it all serves to help me understand more completely. Thanks.
Debra

Debra, your spreadsheet sample is beautiful!!! I've been trying to come up with something similar, myself. You did a great job!

I too, share many of the same questions you ladies have. Looking forward to hearing more on this.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I think one thing to weigh as you are keeping grades is your own comfort level in how much documentation you feel you need in order to accurately give a grade. This will vary from person to person, and what one person considers a necessity will quickly become an overwhelming burden for another. So, it is important to find your own personal comfort level. By giving you the parameters for grading and showing how each grade is derived in the World Geography Guide, we have given you clear guidelines to prove how you arrived at your grade for any school district or state advisor that may be looking over your high school plan. This lends credibility to your grade and is actually what more advisors are concerned with, much more so than desiring to see your record-keeping in the day-to-day.

Another very important thing that I will share is that it would be very unexpected for a college to ever ask you to show your grade book or prove how you arrived at your grade for any course. Instead, no matter what your transcript grades are, they will be viewed as less important than an ACT or SAT score, simply because your child was homeschooled and colleges need a comparison grade (which is what the ACT and SAT provide). Other times, colleges may have an entrance exam for certain coursework to help in proper placement. This is also an equalizer. Before we get too worried about this though, it is good to remember that ACT and SAT scores carry a lot of weight for all students applying to college, whether they are homeschooled, privately schooled, or publicly schooled. This is because it is a comparison score where all students have taken a similar test in a similar stage of life.

With all of this in mind, I typically try not to complicate the grading process too much or I end up bogging down in the process (and missing the teaching because I'm overwhelmed with the grading). In the end, your time will be better spent teaching and guiding then recording results. You may find that some of the extras you've designed give you comfort in the beginning and then are no longer needed as you proceed. Don't become a slave to the record-keeping, when it is likely that no one but you will ever look it over. Instead, focus on the teaching and keep your grading process stream-lined. You will have more than enough completed work from your child to show, should you ever actually be asked to prove what your child did. Your grade book will never be what an advisor wants to see. Instead, if proof is needed, it is the work that will be shown.

To help you as you ponder what record-keeping route to take, think about teachers in a classroom. Imagine how teachers keep grades for 150 students or more a day. Then, implement something reasonable like that in your own home. Do not make more work for yourself than is needed. Remember that you are a teacher, which means that your best time is spent teaching.

I do not use anything beyond the grading sheets provided in the front of our World Geography Guide. You may or may not be comfortable going that route. I encourage you to weigh what benefit hours spent creating grading sheets gives your child? For me, I require my sons' work to be excellent, and if it is not, I make them redo it. This means that instead of spending time completing a grading sheet over each piece of work, I am spending time sitting with each child going over each part of their assignment and helping them correct it to meet a higher standard of work. This is the same strategy I employed in the classroom during my teaching days in the public school. Over time, my kiddos begin working at that higher standard, simply so that they do not have to go back and continually redo. I do not spend time keeping a first and a second grade for their work and then averaging the two. Instead, I simply have them redo to fix it right away.

Admittedly, each child's "higher standard" will be different based on what that child truly can and cannot do in a particular subject area. But effort is worth something too, and definitely plays a role. If the subject is a true area of struggle for your child, you will know it going into the subject and it will reveal itself to be so as you progress through it. At that point, effort can make or break a grade bringing it up some or lowering it down some. Some subjects like math and grammar are very easy to grade. Others that are more subjective are subjective no matter how many grading sheets we create or complete. In the end, a certain amount of every grade is a judgement call. This is one area in which you will become more comfortable the more years you teach.

So, there is my take on the matter. Just remember that you need to teach, facilitate, and guide to be a teacher; otherwise you have become a tracker instead of a teacher. While tracking is one part of teaching, if you become too extensive of a tracker and the teaching time is lost, you may quickly find that you burnout. So, remember to teach first and track last. The tracking is just a reflection of your time spent teaching and guiding. It is meant to jog your memory as to the quality of the work or to give a quick check that the work was completed to an acceptable standard. You will find your comfort level in this as you progress!

Blessings,
Carrie

[LynnH]

Carrie thank you for so much for your response. It gives me a lot to ponder as I figure out just how much to grade and how to go about getting the highest quality of work from Noah without having unrealistic expectations given his struggles. Thank you for taking time out of your busy writing season to address this topic.

[momakhomeschool]

Carrie,
Thank you for your response. That does give me something to think about. When you spoke of grades being subjective, I realized that that is a big part of what is making me feel overwhelmed. I like to know exactly when and how to do things. Unfortunately, grading subjects other than math and grammar is going to be subjective no matter what. I sure would appreciate prayer as I try to figure out how to best do grades for my child. I don't want to be misleading to colleges, but I also want to be sure not to be too hard on my precious daughter and discourage her. She works very hard to try and overcome her challenges. I'll be praying for the rest of you too as we enter this new phase of our lives.
Karen

[Tiffini]

Carrie, I appreciate your response. It does help me in thinking through this. I do not have any desire to micro-manage grades or keep track of every little thing. It makes me nauseated just to think of it! My concern is with my own subjectivity. I want to be fair and give an accurate grade - so does this cause me to be too hard on my child? On the other hand, I want my child to do well academically - so does this cause me to be too easy on my child? I'm sure in school, if 3 different teachers checked my child's work, they would probably assign 3 different percentage grades. Ultimately, it is all subjective.

In the end, as you said, the SAT/ACT test scores are what are going to matter the most, unfortunately, rather than the beautiful portfolios of HOD work through the years! If only we could just show that and blow their socks off!

Well, thanks for giving me some relief that I do not need to do as much as I was planning. I would love to JUST use the grading sheets you provide in the WG guide and I'm going to try to do just that! I did for my first one going through it this past year, but wasn't sure I could do the same thing with the next two. You've put my mind at ease...for now!

[swansonacad]

Thank you, Carrie, for the insights you have shared!

My concern is with my own subjectivity. I want to be fair and give an accurate grade - so does this cause me to be too hard on my child? On the other hand, I want my child to do well academically - so does this cause me to be too easy on my child?

This is exactly the concern I have shared so often with my husband recently. I have no idea how teachers graded our work when we were in school. I went over the top to ensure A's all through school, and my concept of excellence is probably too high. I have many goals for homeschooling... one is to avoid that kind of thinking and behavior in my children. I don't desire for them to memorize everything to do well on a test (just to forget it) or to work hard only for a grade. There is a much higher purpose to life and learning. I keep reverting to those ideas, though.

An issue I am struggling with lately is this: We are using Videotext and I always have him rework the missed problems, even on tests. Should I give him credit for the corrected problem? I would ask the same question concerning mistakes or low quality work in written narrations and other work. I debate myself about this all the time. Carrie, after reading your reply, am I understanding you correctly that you would go ahead and give credit for the corrected work? even on a math test? Don't we need to take into consideration the extra time and help? Aren't students in school/college usually given one chance during a 50-60 minute period to take a test? These new and different ideas are so difficult for me to grasp. LOL. But I really do want to understand more clearly so I can go at it decidedly and wholeheartedly. Thank you!

Debra

[LynnH]

Debra just wanted you to know that at my daughters college,a christian college known for their strong academics, at least 50% of the tests/quizzes are given via the computer and they get more than one attempt. They take them in their dorm rooms or wherever so they are open notes/book. For finals those are usually taken in the classroom and they only get one attempt.

[Nealewill]

Debra,

I teach undergraduate and graduate college accounting and finance classes. A big part of my student's grades is contributed to following directions. I have students who don't read the instructions and then wonder why they only got 1/2 of the points. Once I their grades, then on future assignments they do not lose nearly that many points. In addition, many math classes that require homework have turned to online programs for submitting your homework. The really neat thing about it is that you get to submit your work and see if it is correct. If it isn't, then you keep reworking that problem until you get it right. The only downfall with programs like those is that you can't give partial credit. But I find that most of my students get perfects or close so it works out well. If classes have homework and they have to manually complete it and turn it in, most professors give partial credit if something is wrong. With a few my finance classes that I teach, we don't have online software and I am manually grade their homework. I am more than happy to give partial credit.

I will say, with HOD, I love the writing program that they have set up. I feel like it more than prepares the kids for all the writing they will do in college. I know for my accounting and my finance classes, my students write papers in these classes as well. Some can organize them well and some can't. I do take that into consideration as well. But again, did they follow directions? If they follow the directions and I don't particularly care for their paper, they still get a high score because they completed what was required.

With test and quizzes, all are completed on the computer for my classes. Students also get 2 attempts for their tests, however, if they choose to retake the test a second time, the second score is the score you get. This is done so that students get an opportunity retake a test that they fail miserably but not so much so that some can keep retaking it so that they can get a perfect. Also, all of my tests are open book and open notes. But they are all timed so you must still be very prepared for the test.

The only things I don't grade are labs because I don't teach science classes. But from what I can see with the Biology in the WH guide and my assumptions about future science programs, you will be more than prepared to write up a lab report. Again, following directions (for me) is huge.

Hopefully my thoughts may give you some piece. My kids are young and glad I don't have to grade their stuff yet. But with only grading college level work, I will still stick to my rubric of how I assess my students (kids). And if my kids do poorly on an assignment, they must redo it. If they do okay on it but they put a lot of work into it, then I will just grade it and not make them redo it. I also plan to not necessarily let my kids keep retaking tests so they can get a perfect. I will allow them to redo a test if they do miserably on it. This is mainly because they obviously didn't understand and for me, that is an issue. First they must understand, then they will retake the test. But I don't necessarily want my kids to get straight As unless they put a ton of hard work into it and they really deserve it. In addition, I was never interested in getting As as a child. I only cared about putting in enough effort to pass the class (yes it is very ironic that I became a professor LOL) so if my kids get Bs, I am totally fine with that. I want them to understand, I want them do well, but I don't actually care if they get As or Bs. But that is just me. HTH in some way