HomeLife Academy

How do I know what grade to give my student(s)?

No one knows your student(s) better than you do because you are with them all day, everyday. You know if your student is putting forth an effort in his/her studies or not. Furthermore, you are now working from a much different MODEL of teaching: The mentoring model, or one-on-one model. Unlike in the classroom you have the luxury of personalized attention (unless you have 35 children!). In short, you are a mentor!

I had a Child Development course in college which I will never forget. The teacher passed out note cards to each of us on the first day of class. She said, "I want you to write on the card your name and what grade you would like to receive for this course. And you can only choose an A or B grade." After repeating the instruction a couple more times (because this was so out of the ordinary) we did it, and most put an A on the card under their names. Then she collected the cards and explained: "Here's how this will work. I will give you an assignment, sometimes a writing assignment, sometimes a test. You will turn in the work. I will grade it and give it back to you with suggestions for improvement. You will turn it back into me as many times as it takes for me to be satisfied that you have made an A on it." We were in awe. "I call this the mastery model of education," she declared. I LEARNED MORE IN THAT CLASS THAN ANY OTHER. We learn from correcting our mistakes, learning why we missed it. We learn from being able to mull over it a while, think about, come back to it later if need be. We learn, not from testing and rushing on to the next test, but from stopping long enough to digest the subject matter and connect it to other subjects and to real life. True, it was harder work for my Child Development teacher. She put in long hours to ensure we learned from our mistakes. But she had 17 of us.

You may think that you are biased: your child is perfect and will always "deserve" a perfect score. But think about it this way: Imagine that a public school was able to hire enough teachers to have a 3 to 1 ratio. One day the principle walks into a home room of 30 kids, followed by nine more teachers. The principle declares to the teachers, "Find three students each, take them to the library and work with them all year until each of your three students make straight A's in all subjects. As you get to know your three protégé's you may cater to each child's strengths and weaknesses and you may use any resource you deem useful. Use the mastery model. Don't move on until they've got it. If you need to wait a while and return to a certain thing, that's fine. From now on your three student(s) are all that you are responsible for. Next year, and every year until they graduate, you‘ll have the same three students." With that much freedom, personalization, time and resources it is certainly feasible that the kids of this public school would make nearly straight A's. Well, that is exactly what home education offers you. And that is why WE SEE MOSTLY A'S in your files.

I really needed to read this today. I appreciate it.

You are so very welcome. It's very exciting to see kids enjoying learning. I continue to be amazed by the quality of education when freedom to explore and master the subject matter is involved.

I spoke to a mother this morning who's 9 year old son is so excited about animals he can't get enough. Because he has the freedom to explore this subject to his heart's content he's already beginning to learn the scientific names. She has not told him to learn those long words. He just wants to because he wants to know everything about animals he possibly can. So they're using everything from biology games and magazines to web sites and field trips to continue to fan this flame.

This mother and I agreed that the worst thing for her son at this point would be to construct a 100 question multiple choice test on animals and make him take it. It would be counter productive because it would end up punishing him for the few things he may not know. NO, what this young student needs is just all the room in the world to satisfy his appetite to learn about animals. He may never become an oceanographer or biologist but he will take the confidence and skill he is gleaning from being able to master this subject with him the rest of his life. No matter what job he ends up with he will always draw from the time he was 9 and couldn't get enough of animals!

She asked me how to submit a grade for this. I said, "You select Science or Biology and give him an A!!"

What if it doesn't look right to give all "A"s?

I'm the high school guidance counsellor at HLA. I wanted to comment on your statement that it wouldn't look right to give all A's. Actually, most homeschoolers do give all A's because they're doing exactly what you are doing. You don't accept work until it's done well, until it's "A" quality. In fact, if David or April at HLA see students getting B's, C's, and D's and no A's, they really get concerned and find out what the problem is, because our kids should be getting all A's, or at least mostly A's. We are more like private tutors for our children than teachers. Teachers have to move on whether a child has learned the material or not, but a private tutor doesn't move forward until the student has mastered the material.

Attitude has a lot to do with grades also. For all of you first year homeschoolers, don't worry, the good attitude about learning will come, although it may take a full year. Many things that my kids learn can't really be measured with a test, but I go by what they are learning, their attitude about learning, and the effort they are putting into it. You've heard the expression "an A for effort". I think that goes a long way in building a child's self-confidence and it also teaches them not to settle for less than an A. So don't feel badly about giving your kids all A's - it's the norm. I've only given one B to any of my four kids, and that was for handwriting - he improved drastically after that! And that reminds me - I'd better get my grades in!

Lani Carey
HLA Guidance
lani@homelifeacademy.com

>>>We are more like private tutors for our children than teachers.

I've done two years of teaching; and I've done a lot of tutoring. They are very different.

The teacher must make the student conform to the schedule.
The tutor may conform the schedule to the student.

The teacher must follow the set curriculum.
The tutor may adapt the curriculum as needed.

The teacher must apply one curriculum to an entire group.
The tutor can custom tailor the curriculum for the individual.

The teacher has limited time to get to know the student.
The tutor gets to know his or her students intimately.

The teacher receives an evaluation from superiors.
The tutor receives an evaluation from the student.

The teacher is viewed by the student as an enforcer of rules.
The tutor is viewed by the student as a resource for further understanding.

The teacher's job and success is completely measured by the final grades (and now, the standardized tests).
The tutor's job and success is measured by interaction with the student (through conversation, relaxed projects, field trips, writing and re-writing, etc.).

The teacher's student is primarily concerned about making the teacher happy.
The tutor's student is primarily concerned about satisfying their curiosity and desire to learn.

The teacher must keep moving in order to "cover" all the material.
The tutor may take as long as needed for the material to cover itself.



If I could have my way I would change all our correspondance with parents, and all our information on the website, from calling parents "teachers" to calling them "tutors." It seems to make a great deal of difference.