The HomeScholar Helper» Grades & Credits

Options for Grading Without Tests

Lee — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:25:43 +0000

How can you give homeschool grades without tests? There are other options. Today’s video post will share some grading options for your high school homeschool.

Learn more about high school credits and grades with my webinar.

What Do They Do For Fun?

Lee — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:12:14 +0000

What do they do for fun?

When I’m helping parents with a transcript, that one question can open the floodgates! How does your child spend unstructured time? When they are supposed to be working on school, or emptying the dishwasher, what are they doing instead? That can be a great indication of their Fun Factor.

If they enjoy their fun for more than one hour a day, you may be able to translate that into high school credits. Anything involving music, band, handcrafts, or theater can be a fine art credit. Children who love starting or working with a small business, from yard work to online marketing, may earn a credit of occupational education. Children who love creating or fixing computer hardware or software can get credit for computer technology. If children love something that makes them sweat, give them PE credits – whether it’s dance, gym membership, team sports, or individual athletics. Kids who love speech and debate may get a credit each year. Some children will love a specific THING, like mushrooms, birds, or horses. Others will love a specific IDEA, like economics or politics.

Whatever they love, put it on the transcript! If you aren’t sure how to get that fun stuff on paper, I do have a free webinar called “Grades and Credits and Transcripts, Oh My!”

What do they do for fun? I don’t know – but YOU do! And you can often put that on their high school transcript!

Learn how to translate all those great homeschool high school classes into the words and numbers that colleges will understand. Get the Total Transcript Solution .

Mix and Match Curriculum

Lee — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:10:44 +0000

Progeny Press, Easy Grammar, Strunk and White – when you mix and match within a subject area, how many credits should it be?

If you are using two completely unique, completely credit-measured classes, then I would feel comfortable calling it two separate credits. For example, one year I did Sonlight Language Arts PLUS we did Learn to Write the Novel Way, so we did have two English credit that year. (We also nearly died trying, but that’s another story…. I just DO NOT recommend doubling up that way!) Another year we did Power Glide French AND Latin Road for foreign language. So I knew that was two credits.

If you are not using two whole credit curricula, then I suggest you assume it’s like a math textbook, and that it’s just taking more stuff to teach your children. When I taught math, I used Saxon, but I added the DIVE Cd’s and I added some math games, and I added some Teaching Company college lectures. All together it took perhaps 2-1/2 hours a day (lot of problems in those upper level Saxon books – plus my son took FOREVER on them). Still, it was just one credit. So if you are pulling together things from pieces, I would consider each subject to be it’s own single credit.

And can I give a little advice? I have learned the hard way (VERY HARD way) that it’s best to avoid duplicating a subject. Make sure you aren’t piling it on in one subject, particularly in a subject area that is a weak area for your student. Piling it on is one subject can cause burn-out, but piling it on in a weak area can can frustration and rebellion, which is even worse.

This question of credit value is answered in Chapter 6 of my book “Setting the Records Straight” on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Setting-Records-Straight-Descriptions-Scholarships/dp/1449583555

Learn more about high school credits and grades with my webinar.

Grading Hodge-Podge Homeschool Classes

Lee — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:59:09 +0000

When you are pulling together a curriculum from free, online, or mix-and-match sources, it’s hard to figure out what to put on a transcript – especially if you aren’t using tests. No matter what you use, these general guidelines may help.

For credit value

Give credit based on the number of hours worked. Working about 45 minutes per day, 5 days a week, most of the school year, is a 1 credit class each year. Working 15-30 minutes per day, 5 days a week, most of the school year, is about 1/2 credit per year.

For transcript grade

Give a grade based on general performance and general evaluation. Don’t factor that in. Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Grade based on a function of annoyance: A = you are not annoyed, B = pretty annoyed, C = very annoyed.

2. Grade based on moving on: A = met your high expectations, B = didn’t meet high expectations, but probably better than public school and C = not good, but kept moving on anyway

3. Grades based on his work: A = awesome, B = better do it again, C = come on, not even close!

4. Grade based on achievement: give an SAT Subject Test or other test at home, and give a grade based on the score.

I hope that helps! If you need more help with grades, I have an A la Carte Class on HomeschoolThruHighSchool.com called “Making the Grades” that will help. You can also get more help with my free webinar – Credits and Grades and Transcripts, Oh My!!

Are you my facebook friend? Please send me a friend request. I would love to get to know you better.

Weighting Grades

Lee — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:15:49 +0000

Is the stress of weighing grades weighing you down? Let go of that burden!

Teri on facebook asked this question: How to compete with the 5 pt grading scale in public school…. they take a college credit type class and it’s weighted at 5 pts vs 4pts for an A then their GPA can be higher than 4.0 overall. A friend told me that some exclusive/ivy league colleges aren’t even looking at kids unless their GPA is near 5 or at least over 4.

Colleges tell me that they take weighted scores and un-weight them and then weight them again they way the COLLEGE wants them weighted. The colleges I spoke to at the college fair two weeks ago said that weighting scores made it more difficult for them, and they prefer it when scores are NOT weighted. I’m sure there are some exceptions, but this is what I was told just two weeks ago. For more information, call the college you are considering and ask them what they want – then give it to them.

If you need any extra help, you will really appreciate my Gold Care Club, as well as lots of templates and tools that will help.

Applications, Course Descriptions, and Questions

Lee — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:44:15 +0000

Start your college applications early. It can be complicated, and questions can come up. Read how it took this mother weeks to prepare detailed course descriptions. Plan ahead, like Leanne.

Hello, Lee-

I have been working for weeks now preparing detailed course descriptions (like yours in your publications on the subject). I take my son to Grove City College next week for an interview.I was wondering about a course that you really only have a pass/fail grade for. I noticed you had one like that (Driver’s Ed) and still gave your son a grade.

My son attended Worldview Academy and did a lot of worldview/apologetics elsewhere, too, that I am combining into a course. Unfortunately I have no “analysis” grades for this course (no papers, reports, tests, etc.) other than a test he took at Worldview, which was extremely challenging and which he didn’t get a great score on! He did well enough to still get 2 credits from Oklahoma Wesleyan University as a “Pass” for attending Worldview, however. I doubt Grove City will accept those 2 credits, but I thought I’d put the exam under Analysis as a “Pass” (and the fact that he received those 2 credits) along with Reading: 100% and Participation-Attendance and Discussion: 100% as the other 2 categories on the course description and give him an “A” for a 1/2 credit class. I just don’t see him writing a paper anytime soon that I could count.

Also, do you think it’s all right to organize the course descriptions in a binder by subject? (rather than by grade taken?) Please pray that the interviewer will accept the binder and allow us to leave it there to be referred to after Evan applies to the school. I think I would scream, “Do you realize how much time this took?!!” if they said, “No, thanks”.

Thanks for your invaluable advice.

Sincerely,

Leanne

Dear Leanne,

I hope you have wonderful success at Grove City! They are a great, homeschool friendly college, and I don’t anticipate you will have any trouble.

In general, I don’t recommend pass/fail grades. I did it myself, but since then I’ve learned more. Some college will use pass/fail classes in their GPA calculations, and may randomly assign a C (or even D) to the class. For that reason, I often suggest parents either apply a homeschool grade or leave it off the transcript.

Not every class has to have analysis. Not every class needs to have a paper. Here is a blog post that may help:Homeschooling High School – Underwater Basket Weaving: Sometimes Easy is OK.

If colleges are going to use your comprehensive record, then having it by subject will be easier for them to use. I like that idea.

The interviewer is MUCH more interested in meeting your son that reading the records. The records are evaluated when they are looking at the total application. If they look at your records, that’s a bonus, but this interview time is about your SON and not about his SCHOOL. Does that make sense? When they interview other students, they aren’t looking at academics, they are looking at social and non-tangible skills. Have him dress clean and neat, look the interviewer in the eye, and shake hands firmly. Come prepared with some questions about the school. Have a mental list of things that he can say about himself. Parents should generally stay FAR out of the way. They are trying to determine how your son will do alone on campus – so letting him be alone on campus during the visit will help.

Learn the SECRET to getting your student placed at the TOP of the stack for college admission consideration as well as one of those MASSIVE university scholarships. Get the Comprehensive Record Solution!

Look Inside – Check Out the Comprehensive Record Solution

Lee — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:36:20 +0000

About a year ago we launched our Comprehensive Record Solution. Since then, we have had some fantastic feedback from some very happy customers. You can read some of these testimonials on our offer page here,
www.ComprehensiveRecordSolution.com.

If you are like me though, you really like to look under the hood and see how a product works. That’s why I’m excited to draw the curtain back on the Comprehensive Record Solution and let you see exactly what is inside! The three videos below will show you all about the 4 BIG modules of the Comprehensive Record Solution, as well as the 6 amazing bonuses (Sorry, the surprise bonuses are all gone.) You’re going to love what you see.

As a bonus, I have an entire how-to webinar on homeschool comprehensive records. You will be amazed at how easy it can be to create delicious records that colleges will love! Check it out here:
http://www.thehomescholar.com/homeschool-records-webinar.php

If you are excited with what’s inside and what a huge difference it will make to fulfilling your student’s college dreams, please leave me a comment. I would love to hear your feedback.

While working on your homeschool records you may want to do some extra reading. I am now a featured expert on Bizymoms.com! You can read my articles here.

Honors Science

Lee — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:25:35 +0000

What is honors? When do you put honors on a title? Is Apologia Science an honors curriculum?

Is Apologia Science courses, plus labs considered honors on a high school transcript. (Biology, Chemistry, etc.) – Sally

Dear Sally,

If the authors/publishers of your curriculum, Apologia Science, say it is a honors course, then you can call it honors.

If your child passes a honors level test after taking taking the course, then you might call it honors. (AP or CLEP exam from Collegeboard.com)

If your child does more than the expected work, beyond high school level, then you might call it honors. (Adding a college textbook or college level supplement.)

There is no country-wide definition of “honors.” It just generally means “more than usual or expected.”

I hope that helps,

Whether it is questions about honors, CLEP, or the ACT, I am here to help. My Parent Training A la Carte courses can help you become fully prepared for your next step in homeschooling.

Senior Year Grades on the Transcript

Lee — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:25:11 +0000

Senior year feels so awkward. You have to submit the transcript during applications, but your child is still in the middle of senior year! What do you do with the classes they are currently taking?

Hey, Lee-
I wanted to tell you that Evan’s interview at Grove City back in Sept. went well and the Admissions person loved my notebook with course descriptions and said that’s exactly what they want to see. He said to send it when Evan applies, which will be soon, as he is applying for Early Admission. I was glad you had said to cool it with the course descriptions at the interview; I just casually showed it to him and asked if this was something they would want with Evan’s application. Anyway, my question today is with regard to the classes he is taking now, during his senior year, that he obviously hasn’t finished yet. Should I include course descriptions for them with or without his grades thus far? They are of course on his transcript as “Taken during Senior Year” but have no grades by them. Just wanted to see what you thought.
Thanks again!

Leanne

For current year classes, list them on the transcript and list them in the course descriptions. Just don’t provide the final grade. You can say “To be Determined” or “In Process” for the grades. I suggest you give the course title, completion date, and credit value just as usual on the transcript. The only thing that is different is the final grade. For the course description part, you can fill in the description, and grading criteria if you know it (or just the part of the grading criteria you DO know) but leave the final grade blank.

For more information, I have a free webinar class called Homeschool Records that Open Doors!

Homeschool Credit for Learning Microsoft Office

Lee — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:00:38 +0000

Jeannine asked a question on facebook:

This is a great game for learning Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010.http://apps.facebook.com/ribbonhero/ Lee Binz-The HomeScholar, could you take a look and give me an idea of whether this would work for credit??

Here is my answer.

Do you have any fun ways to teach technology at home?

P.S. You can get quality answers to your homeschooling high school questions by becoming a Fan of The HomeScholar on Facebook!