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Schoolrmacres
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 2:43pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone do report cards for their children? If so how do you figure out the grades?
I have a dd starting 4th grade and we will be buckling down this year. Also my family gives money for good report cards and myy dd is not getting anything since she is homeschooled. She has a cousin who is going into 2nd grade and it bothers my dd when her cousin gets something and she doesn't.
I know I am probably wrong for doing a report card for this but I do not want my dd to hurt over this.( I hope that this makes sense.
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Mary K
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 2:56pm | IP Logged
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Hi,
I think you should make up report cards for your daughter only because your family rewards good ones. Maybe A's or B's depending on how she is doing in various subjects (if you do them).
God bless,
Mary-NY
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SallyT
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 3:14pm | IP Logged
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We have had to report grades twice yearly to our umbrella school (we're one of those states which allows this option, as opposed to registering with the state), and we use an online service -- Homeschool Reporting -- which will automatically print out transcripts according to year/grade, etc. You can print out a transcript for all of high school, for example, or you can print out one year or one semester. It's very handy, and also very "official" looking.
I give grades based on my kids' mastery of a given subject, which means that I don't give a grade until the child HAS mastered it, in my view. In the grades below high school I don't give tests of any kind or keep track of any kind of daily grades -- I just keep a log of what they've read and done, which helps me to see that they've mastered, say, multi-digit multiplication (but maybe not long division yet). So at the end of the term I give a grade (I use E's and S's for grades up to 7th, too) based on what the child HAS accomplished. I will award an E for a subject in which a child has not only mastered a body of knowledge, whatever I decide that that's going to mean, but has also exhibited great enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge. We actually have a LOT of E's. S's are the subjects we held our noses to do and didn't exactly surge ahead in, but got through.
I don't make a big deal of grades to my kids, and most of the time they don't even know that I'm keeping track, or what I'm giving them. Only my high-schooler has an idea of how she's doing, because by that point it actually matters. Up to then, it really doesn't, and we try to avoid even thinking about grades. Blessedly, none of our family rewards report cards in any way, or sets kids up to compete over grades. I really hate that on all kinds of levels, and I don't know how I would deal with it if the situation came up. But it does make sense not to want your child to be left out, if that's the situation the family has set up. She's certainly achieving as much as, if not more than, her schooled cousins!
Sally
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MacBeth
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 10:51pm | IP Logged
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The only time I have ever given grades is on the high school transcript. I just don't see the point...either you know the subject, or you don't. 80% doesn't cut it.
I had a boy in my CCD class this year who was furious that I did not grade him. I would show him his papers, show him what he got wrong, discuss the fine points of Catholicism with him, but no matter what, he insisted that he had to have a grade. It got to a point where he was disruptive in class. ...Just proved to me how damaging the whole grading system can be.
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momtimesfour
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| Posted: June 17 2008 at 6:38pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
I had a boy in my CCD class this year who was furious that I did not grade him. I would show him his papers, show him what he got wrong, discuss the fine points of Catholicism with him, but no matter what, he insisted that he had to have a grade. It got to a point where he was disruptive in class. ...Just proved to me how damaging the whole grading system can be. |
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Ooh. :( That's so sad. And grades in CCD are practically unheard of around here.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: April 28 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged
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Bumping this one up... the subject of report cards has come up frequently around here lately. My dad is anxious to hand out dollar bills for good marks. He says that is all part of the fun of grandkids  .
So... how do the rest of you handle this? I can't think of any good reason to give a report card to a K or 1st grade student. We did recently celebrate the completion of ds's phonics program that he's been working on for 18 months. Dh took him out for breakfast and presented him with a certificate.
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Helen
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| Posted: April 30 2010 at 9:59am | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
Bumping this one up... the subject of report cards has come up frequently around here lately. My dad is anxious to hand out dollar bills for good marks. He says that is all part of the fun of grandkids .
So... how do the rest of you handle this? I can't think of any good reason to give a report card to a K or 1st grade student. We did recently celebrate the completion of ds's phonics program that he's been working on for 18 months. Dh took him out for breakfast and presented him with a certificate.
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Melinda, when my children were your age I didn't know what to do with report cards. I didn't use them. As my children move up in elementary school and higher, I have found grades to be more useful. At least some children really respond to the prodding of grades. (I just read in CM's volume on school education her ideas on being prodded or the prodder -- very interesting. Here's a link to that section: Scroll down to Children must stand or fall on their own effort)
Kolbe includes intangibles in their report cards ... I can't think of them exactly now participation, eagerness...that's not it...but maybe for your little kids if you wrote down some things that were important to you and give them grades like ...
Shows improvement
Good work ethic...
Shows dedication
Something like that you could work out a compromise with Grandpa. 
Catholic Heritage Curricula also has a report card for sale.
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Mary G
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I'm with MacBeth ... I don't do report cards (heck the kids don't even really know what grade!  ). I figure they don't "pass and graduate" till they know the subject, so they'd either get all "A's" or all "Fs"  !
If your family wants to give rewards for excellence, why don't you have your child(ren) do a project or a recital or some kind of performance to show proficiency in whatever ... or reward the kids for completion of a particular workbook or lapbook or whatever ....
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aforb001
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| Posted: May 19 2010 at 8:51am | IP Logged
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I bought the report cards from CHC this year. I fill them out just like a teacher in school would with comments and grades. My 3rd gr son looks forward to my report card and the grade report he gets from Seton. I also keep grades for my high schoolers for a transcript.
Adele
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Report Cards??
