Grading for Mastery

As I sit here procrastinating looking at this stack of papers just begging to be graded, I am reminded of why I grade in the first place. It's not for my children—it's for me. Most of the time my kids never even see their papers again—unless they're worthy of bragging rights, or if there are mistakes on them that we need to go over. Otherwise, I tell my children how they did and file their papers away in a drawer along with all their counterparts. Yes, I save everything. I have no idea why.

I don't grade everything, but I do "look over" everything. When I give my kids an assignment, and they put forth the effort to do it, it seems only fair that I take the time to appreciate their work. But, most importantly, I want to know that they have mastered a concept before moving on to the next one. And by mastery I mean that they have learned what was expected. I don't expect perfection.

One way for me to judge mastery is by their grades. "Grading" sometimes means a smiley face, sometimes a simple pass or fail, and sometimes a calculated letter grade. It depends on the assignment, and it depends on who is doing the work. My oldest, who is in middle school, gets mostly letter grades. I want him to be prepared for high school when grades really count. My youngest, who is still in elementary school, tends to get assigned passing or failing grades.

But for us, mastery is more than just getting good grades on written assignments and tests. Effort, completion, discussion, and participation all factor into their grades. For instance, my daughter is great at explaining things, but has difficultly putting her thoughts on paper. She might struggle on a social studies test with short answer questions, but be able to answer every question perfectly if we go over them orally. I know she has learned what was expected, so she gets a passing grade. My son, on the other hand, has trouble focusing. He might miss every other problem on a math assignment, but get every one right if I give it back to him to correct. I know he has mastered the concept--just not the concept of staying focused. He gets an A. For our homeschool, keeping grades is important. It allows me and my kids to keep track of where they are in their studies.

Do you incorporate grades into your homeschool? Why or why not?