Grading assignments and recording grades are probably the least enjoyable tasks of homeschooling and possibly the most overlooked by those who are first embarking on their homeschool journey. Determining the best grading method, grading scale, grading weights and computing quarter grades, final grades, grade points, yearly GPA, etc. can seem overwhelming when, in addition to this, one must consider all the more obvious curriculum decisions, textbook purchases, and scheduling challenges that a homeschooling parent must face in setting up their children’s educational plan for the year. If this sounds like you, then this video will hopefully help you sort through some of the different methods for recording grades while homeschooling.

To begin with, let’s address the common question, “Should I record grades at all?” As a homeschooler, you have the freedom to create your own grading system, or not have a grading system at all and simply evaluate your student’s progress by means of checklists or rubrics. That being said, there are several very compelling reasons to use a letter/number grading method, making it in our opinion an essential aspect of homeschooling. First, some states require grades, and if you are in one of these states you will have to comply. Second, if you have high school students, you will need these grades in their transcripts in order to be accepted into a college. Third, if you do not have a high school student, but are thinking of possibly attending a private or public school in the future, having a report card with grades for previous grade levels will likely be required. And finally, having grades can provide a strong motivation for your children to improve their scores and retention throughout the year. The quantifiable data of grades also provides insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your child’s progression and highlights areas that may need improvement or adjustment. For these reasons, number/letter grades are strongly recommended.

So, what are some of the systems that are used? The most basic and important system is the one that uses the percentage grade. In fact, it is the percentage grade that is used as the raw building block for all the other grading systems. To calculate the percentage grade, the number of points earned by the student for a particular assignment is divided by the number of possible points or total points. This decimal is then converted into a percent number which will be used as the grade for the assignment.

Now, this grading method provides grades that are numbers and thus easy to average at the end of the grading period. However, students may not have a clear understanding of what these numbers mean in terms of how well or poorly they performed. To solve this problem, the percentage grade can be paired to a corresponding letter grade found in a grading key that you have chosen for your school. The end result is the traditional letter grade of A+, A, A-, B+, and so forth. These letter equivalents make it easy for even a young student to perceive how well he/she did. However, it is difficult to average these grades. For this reason, it is a very common practice to use a combination of both systems. Teachers will place the Letter Grade on top of the assignment for the student’s benefit and the corresponding Percentage Grade in the record book so it is easy to average later. It is interesting to note here that the grading key used for this method differs by institution, and as the primary educator, you have the freedom to create your own grading equivalencies, though it is recommended to use one of the more common ones available. If you want to be even more efficient, you can create a 3^rd column in your grading key that is numbered 1 through 13. After finding the percentage grade, you can write the corresponding Letter Grade on the assignment, and place the corresponding number grade in the grade book. If you are averaging grades at the end of the grading period without the use of a spreadsheet or grading software, this can greatly simplify the calculations as the numbers are much smaller and therefore easier to sum mentally.

Now let’s look at how to set up the year. If the student is in High School, then each course needs to be assigned a number representing the credits of the course (usually ½ a credit to 2 credits). The credits will be used to calculate the Grade Points earned by the student at the end of the course, and the subsequent GPA for the student. Though not an absolute rule, traditionally, in grade school and high school, the year is divided up into 4 quarters. Grades are recorded during each quarter, and then averaged at the end of the quarter period to produce a “quarter grade”. The final grade for the year is a calculation, usually the average, that is derived from these quarter grades.

Recording the grades earned by your child can be done in a number of different ways. One can use a traditional grade notebook, a digital spreadsheet, or grading computer software. Using the tradition gradebook, the parent records by hand all of the student’s grades into a gradebook, keeping track of the subject and type of assignment. These grades can then be averaged using a calculator at the end of the quarter to compute the quarter grade.

In the event tests and quizzes are present, then applying weights to the grades is necessary.

This is where you apply more weight to a grade based upon the category of the assignment. Thus, tests will receive a higher weight than quizzes, and quizzes may receive a higher weight then an assignment, but this is up to you. The easiest way to do this is to enter the grade multiple times into the gradebook. This will force the grade to more heavily impact the final grade. Alternatively, if you are using grading software, this should be a feature that can be adjusted within the program.

To calculate Quarterly Averages, simply add up all the grades recorded for a student in a particular subject and divide the sum by the total number of grades. This produces the average grade for the quarter. To determine the yearly grade, one method is to use the average of the four quarter grades.

At the end of the year, other items are sometimes needed for high school such as grade points and GPA. In this case, yet another column needs to be added to your grade book key. This is the Grade Point or GP column. This corresponds to the Letter grade and is relatively standard among schools. The GP grade is used in conjunction with the credits for a particular course to compute the earned grade points. The calculation is as follows: take the final grade and locate its corresponding GP grade. Multiple the GP grade by the number of credits for that course. This yields the Earned Grade Points for that particular course. Once all earned grade points are tabulated for all courses, you can calculate the final GPA for the student. This is done by taking the sum of the “Earned Grade Points” and dividing it by the total number of credits of all the courses for the year. The result is the student’s Final GPA for the year. These calculations are not difficult but are more advanced than simple averages, and thus many people will find it far more convenient to purchase grading software that is capable of producing these calculations automatically.

Hopefully, at this point, you have a much better understanding of how to set up and record grades for your homeschool. Since time for homeschoolers is a precious commodity, investing in grading software to take the heavy lifting out of the grade recording process and give you more time to focus on educating can be hugely beneficial. It is for this reason we developed the software called A+ GradeBook which is designed specifically with homeschoolers in mind. This eliminates the need for manual quarter grade averaging, weighted grades and gpa calculation, and even generates a quality report card at the click of a button.

As homeschoolers ourselves we have developed an aversion to the monthly premium model adopted by so many software giants out there today, and have therefore developed our program as a stand-alone program obtainable with a one-time purchase. If this sounds like something that would help you, click the link in the description below. Otherwise, we hope you have found this video helpful and wish you all the best in your homeschooling endeavor. God bless and have a great school year!