The Semi-Annual Progress Report

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 One of the homeschooling laws states that parents will issue “a semi-annual progress report including attendance records and individualized documentation of the student’s academic progress in each of the basic instructional areas specified.”  I have yet to issue any progress reports this year, but as we are exactly halfway through the school year, grades have been on my mind.  And since most families are about halfway through their school year, it seemed like a good time to expound a bit on the topic.

  a semi-annual progress report including attendance records and individualized documentation of the student’s academic progress in each of the basic instructional areas specified

  Take a minute to look at the law again.  It doesn’t give much guidance as to how those progress reports should be made and what supporting documentation should accompany the progress report.  And this is a good thing.  It means that as long as we comply with the basic requirements and issue at least two progress reports each year, we can tailor the progress reports to meet our needs and those of our children.  So here is how some of those reports might look:

• Letter or number grades – simply tally up the scores on every paper and workbook page, divide by the number of assignments and you’re done!  Well, probably not that easy.  While this is the method we prefer for high school students (more on that in a minute), it does require the parent to grade every assignment, and furthermore to grade that assignment without bias. Grading math is not so hard; an answer is generally either right or wrong.  But grading something like a composition is much more subjective.  I usually make a list of the things I am looking for in a paper and assign a point value to each.  Then when I come across a mistake or poorly written section I already know how much to count off.   

So why do we prefer this method for high school students?  Well, in order for us to help them apply for scholarships and college admission, we have to make a transcript, a single page record of the four years of high school.  One thing we calculate is the grade point average (GPA) which gives colleges and scholarship boards a snapshot of where the student stands academically compared to other students.  We encourage parents to submit number grades not only to facilitate this process but also to help students get the most accurate GPA possible.  For example if a parent submits only letter grades we must convert them to number grades using the state’s guidelines.  An ‘A’ becomes a 96, a ‘B’ 88, a ‘C’ 80, ‘D’ 73 and ‘F’ 61.  A student who receives all ‘A’s can only earn a 96 average, but if that student really earned mostly grades in the 98, 99, 100 range then the average will be much higher.

• Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory/Needs Work – register your satisfaction with your student’s work in each subject and be on your merry way.  I know the public schools used to use this method with early elementary students years ago.  It gives a succinct label to each class without the pressure of actual letter or number grades.
• A brief summary of each class analyzing the student’s progress and assessing where more work is needed.  This is a little time consuming, but it can be a valuable tool to help you see which subjects are going well and which need some adjusting.  I typically use our mid-term break to take a good look at what worked well in the first semester and see why we aren’t making as much progress as I would like in other areas.

 These are just a few ideas to get you started – each person’s grades will look a little different, just was every homeschool looks different.  Personally I use a combination of grades and summaries.  The grades give me a firm number and oddly enough encourage my students to try a little harder to earn that “A” on their work.  The summaries give me a snapshot of where we’ve been and help me know where we should be headed.

  The law states that the progress reports should include “attendance records and individualized documentation”.  But what does that mean?

  We are required to homeschool for 180 days in each school year.  Somehow we must document that we completed those 180 days.  I have found that the easiest way is to simply date my lesson plans and keep a running tally of the days at the top of each lesson plan sheet.  This shows which days my students attended school and what we did that day (fulfilling the keeping lesson plans part of the law too…).

  Similarly, the individualized documentation can be taken care of with another item required by the law - the portfolio.  The portfolio is basically a sampling of your students’ work from the school year.  I try to select work that corroborates my progress reports, showing improvement in various areas, and highlighting areas that still need work.

  Together the progress reports, attendance records or lesson plans, and portfolio give a good picture of your homeschool.  As you have time over the next couple of weeks, take a few minutes to think about putting together your own progress report.