Monday, October 12, 2009

Calculating Grades & First Quarter Results

Thinking back to when I was in school, I remember getting grades for homework, quizzes, and tests mainly. (Sure there were the dreaded team projects with presentations and the subjective class participation components, but I try to forget those.) In coming up with a parallel for homeschooling this year, I've settled on a method for Jessie's core subjects this year.

Math:
  • 25% daily work (This is based on completion, so she always gets a 100. Of course, I also always make her correct any mistakes until the work is correct so it ends up being a 100 either way.)
  • 25% CWP (She can earn 10 points a day, so regular problems are 5 pts each and challenging ones are 10 pts each. I deduct points for errors in calculation or for setting up the problem incorrectly.)
  • 50% tests (These are the practice pages in the textbook and the review pages in the workbook.)
Final Grade for the first quarter = 97.5 A

English (Grammar, Spelling, Writing, Reading)
  • For grammar, 50 % worksheets and writing assignments & 50% tests
  • For spelling, 1/3 for completion of daily work and 2/3 for tests
  • For writing, 25% analysis, 25% rough drafts, 50% final drafts (My grading for writing is fairly lax so far. I only deduct for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Truthfully though, so far I haven't seen much subjectively that I would change either.)
  • For reading, 50% for narrating/discussing the material with me, 50% book reports
  • The final grades in each area are weighted equally for a final English grade
Final Grade for the first quarter = 97 A

Latin:
  • 25% completion of daily work
  • 25% Latin worksheets (free from website) and quizzes in Primer
  • 50 % tests
Final Grade for the first quarter = 99.5 A+

That's all I'm grading currently. My plan is to start grading science when we switch over to the anatomy text. I haven't settled on a final grading method for that. I also haven't figured out how to grade history yet. Her mapwork is always excellent. If I only grade her writing based on spelling, grammar, and punctuation, then she would end up with an A+ based on what I've seen so far. I begin to understand why teachers like homework questions and tests. We may try an oral test at the end of our first history term along the lines of the CM tests on Ambleside and see how it goes. I have another month or so to decide.

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