To Grade or Not To Grade . . . .

. . . that is the question for this homeschooling mom!!  I am philosophically not a fan of grading, generally believing in an unstructured lifestyle of learning approach to homeschooling.  But things are changing around here.  Rosie Girl needs the structure of knowing what is expected and when.  I need concrete measuring guides for consistency.

One of the really nice things about Mr. Math Tutor having gone back to school to get his teaching certificate is that he learned some good stuff about evaluating students.  For one thing, the purpose of evaluating students is to improve teaching, NOT to determine whether they are doing well or poorly.  In other words, we don’t evaluate to give a grade.  At this point in Rosie Girl’s life, I will give grades so that it’s nice and easy to make a transcript.  Each weekly evaluation, though, is intended to help her see what she needs to do to improve her performance and to help me see where I need to improve teaching.  Grading is to improve my teaching and her learning, not to put a grade on the paper.

Right now, I’m feeling rather overwhelmed by the entire idea of grading.  I’ve read through lots of Sonlight forums to see how other families do it.  This year, we’re going to have to be more structured than previously.  My plan right now is to do some kind of weekly evaluation of most of her subjects.  She’ll also be taking some tests and writing papers.  I’ll be spending this week sorting out how I’ll be doing the evaluating.  Pray for me!!

So, the answer to the question is, Yes, to grade.  But, to grade to help a child learn, not just to have a grade in a grade book.