Grading: my least favorite part of homeschooling. Can I get a witness?

Take the checking of daily assignments, factor in multiple students and you can get—a mountain of work. Having recently concluded a marathon session of grading, I am reminded once again that, though necessary, this is not what floats my boat as far as homeschooling goes.

Granted, as homeschoolers we have an advantage over the traditional classroom when it comes to evaluating our students’ progress. For one thing, we don’t need to assign (or grade!) homework. Since our student-teacher interactions are often one-on-one or at most, in a small group, we are better able to gauge if they are mastering the subject matter as it’s being presented. And we can more easily use techniques like discussion and oral questions in addition to written tests.

Even so, a certain amount of objective evaluation is a necessary part of effective education. Minimally, for those students who are college-bound, a high school transcript is necessary. And producing such a document requires some record of grades. In addition, any future academic or vocational training will necessarily entail some type of examination or certification process. So it behooves us to help our students learn to master material and communicate what they have learned. Not particularly “fun” for either teacher or student, but essential.

Frequency and type of grading vary from family to family, and depend on numerous factors—including homeschooling method(s) used, grade level, and subject matter, among other things. Certain homeschool curricula and online courses include off-site grading of student work. Particular skill sets (such as memorizing multiplication tables or learning significant historical dates) generally don’t just happen. They require drill and, at some point, a demonstration by the student of his or her knowledge. College prep classes often include writing assignments and testing planned to prepare students for post-secondary educaton.

In our home, grading in the lower grades is minimal. [Actually, it usually happens because of “grade envy”; younger sibling wants a grade because he sees older brothers and sisters receiving them. Similar to the way children often want to wear braces….until they actually have to.] But although I don’t often assign letter grades to elementary students, it’s still necessary to check daily math and language work; how else will I (or my children) know if they’re doing something wrong?

As our children move into junior high and high school, they encounter more frequent testing, such as unit exams in science and grammar. Periodically, all grade levels are assigned math tests—usually student-preferred, because in the math curriculum we use, the tests contain fewer problems than the daily lessons! And I typically administer some type of evaluation at the end of a history unit, tailored to the various grade levels, to ensure mastery of the basic information.

I don’t think the goal is that we all do it the same way, but that each of us has a plan for tracking student progress and helping our children learn and achieve.

Checking work can be just plain tedious. It’s definitely a discipline to be cultivated by the teacher. But hopefully, remembering why we are aiming for excellence—that these children might be prepared for a great adventure with God—will be an inspiration the next time I sit down with a stack of assignments and hunker down to grade.