How Do Homeschoolers Keep Track of Grades?

Sooner or later, every homeschooler has to tackle the question of how grades are handled in their homeschool. You may often think about your homeschooling and wonder, “how do homeschoolers keep track of grades?” For some families, this is an easy decision—every student gets a grade on each assignment, and those grades are averaged at the end of the year. But suppose you’re looking for a more personal approach that’s less reliant on numbers and more focused on learning strengths and weaknesses. In that case, you might want to look into alternative grading methods like mastery-based learning or portfolios. Here’s what we found out about how other home educators keep track of their children’s progress:

Homeschoolers Don’t Have to Be Slaves to Grades and Averages

Homeschoolers don’t have to be slaves to grades and averages. It’s true that some states require you to keep track of your child’s progress, but some do not. If your state does require it, you should know right away that grades are a tool for teachers, not parents. Grades are only one way of tracking progress—a way that doesn’t accurately measure intelligence or ability. Grading is perfectly acceptable if you are doing worksheets with right and wrong awnsers. However, suppose you are following an active learning approach with critical thinking projects or projects that compile various lessons such as math, science, and history all in one. In that case, a letter grade may not may since. It is more about learning and comprehension than the letter. Always check with your state, however, to see what is required. Some states are more flexible than others, and you can check out our guide to the most flexible homeschool states.

Some Homeschoolers Do Use Grades to Track and Motivate Their Kids

Some homeschoolers do use grades to track and motivate their kids. In this case, there are benefits to a letter grade-based homeschool system.

Grades can be used as a motivator. Parents might reward their children with tokens or other incentives for doing well in school. The rewards are usually tangible things that the child enjoys, like toys or trips to the park. This practice can help kids stay motivated about learning and working hard in school because they know that if they do well on their assignments, they’ll get something fun (or at least interesting) out of it later.
Grades can be used to track how well a child is doing in school overall: If you’re using standards-based grading, then tracking grades throughout the year allows you to see how your child’s academic performance is trending over time—in other words, whether or not she’s improving as expected for her age level and grade level.
Grades can also help reveal where your kids need extra help: If one of your children consistently gets poor grades in certain subjects (such as math), then this may indicate that there are gaps in her knowledge base that need addressing before she can move forward successfully. It may also mean that she needs more support when it comes time for tests or assignments than her siblings, who excel academically in the subject.

The Most Common Grading System Is the Letter Grade System

The most common grading system is the letter grade system. Many schools use this method, and it is a common and acceptable method for college admissions.

However, some states also require homeschoolers to keep a portfolio and even a logbook for their homeschool program.

What Is the Simplest Way to Keep Track of Letter Grades?

The letter grade system is the most common grading system in use today. It’s simple to use, easy to understand, and can be explained easily to anyone who asks you about it.

When asked how homeschoolers keep track of grades, the most common answer is just to use a letter grading system. This is by far the standard and is really easy to do. You simply take the assignments, add up the scores, and then divide by the number of total points your child could have. If you want to turn that into a percentage, multiply that final number by 100. Here is an example of 5 assignments:

Assignment 1: 100/100
Assignment 2: 80/100
Assignment 3: 70/100
Assignment 4: 5/5
Assignment 5: 9/10

The total number of points this student received was: 264 out of 315 possible points. This makes the average grade: 0.83 or 83%

Typically letter grades go as follows:

A: 90-100%
B: 80-89.9%
C: 70-79.9%
D: 60-69.%
F: 59.9% and lower

Some Homeschoolers Use a Mastery-Based Approach.

Some homeschoolers use a mastery-based approach to grades. In this method, students are given a grade only when they have mastered the material. All homeschoolers do not use this, but it is gaining popularity.

Mastery-based learning can be used as an alternative to traditional grading systems or as part of a comprehensive grading system that includes traditional grades along with letter grades on tests and assignments (it’s worth noting that some online courses also use mastery-based learning). With mastery-based grading, students submit work at regular intervals and receive feedback from their teacher before submitting more work for evaluation; for example, if a student completes ten math problems correctly within two weeks of starting them, he will be given full credit for those ten problems–and no one gets any points deducted from their final grade if they get one wrong!

Other Homeschoolers Use a Portfolio Approach.

Another homeschooling style is known as the portfolio approach. This is when students keep their work samples in a collection, showing what they have learned over time. A portfolio can include things such as:

Assignments, projects, and tests that were completed throughout the school year
Written comments from parents or teachers about what was done well and how to improve for next time

The portfolio isn’t necessarily a replacement for grades, but it allows you to see what has been learned by your child throughout the year. Some states require this type of record instead of letter grades or with them (for example, Massachusetts).

Some Homeschoolers Are More Laid-Back About Grades

Some homeschoolers don’t feel the need to grade their kids. They may not have a system of grades at all, or they might use a non-standardized system like “A’s” or “stars.” If you’re one of these parents, you can simply keep track of your child’s progress by noting what has been covered and what skills they’ve mastered. For some parents, an outside source also handles the grading approach. Some states have standardized testing or yearly school district evaluations; other parents use courseware or accredited private school options that handle grades. If you do want to use a grading system, though, there are several options available:

The most common grading system used among homeschoolers is the letter-grade method, where each subject has its own set percentage range (for example, A = 90-100%, B = 80-89%, etc.). This can help motivate students who want an A in every class but might get discouraged when they realize they won’t get those perfect scores on everything!
Another option is using standard GPA ranges like 4.0 GPA would mean all A’s or 3.8 would be mostly As with some B+’s sprinkled in there somewhere along the way. GPA is common for high schoolers.

There’s a Wide Range of Approaches to Grading, but Ultimately It Comes Down to Knowing Your Child and What Works for Them

When it comes to grading, you have a lot of options. In some cases, you may even be able to get away with an entirely non-graded approach to education, such as unschooling in states like Oklahoma.

However, in general, every student must understand their strengths and weaknesses from both a content and process standpoint. Without this knowledge, it can be difficult for your child to set goals for themselves or identify areas where they need help or reinforcement.

In addition, if you don’t know how well your child is doing in certain subjects, how do you know that the work being done at home contributes to stronger grades? How do you know if the methods used are working?

We hope this article has helped you understand the different approaches to grading and how homeschoolers keep track of them. In a nutshell, it all comes down to knowing your child and what works for them.

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