For those of you with homeschoolers grade 8 and up, how do you determine mastery? Do you quiz? Test? Up until this year, Ive never given grades. Our goal was more so, understanding. I didnt require mastery of anything other than grammar and math. Now we are getting to the point where study skills, mastery and all of that good stuff is important and Im trying to help set a precedent as we move forward into high school years.
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We’re still unschooling this year so I’m speaking from that perspective. I use projects to determine “mastery” and rely on rubrics to keep my grading non biased. My 9th grader has asked for spelling tests this year so we are adding those into the mix. Any project that is completed with very minimal assistance from me or Dad I view as mastery. Having the ability to see a project through from start to finish without much assistance, in my opinion, requires an in depth understanding of a topic or skill. My 9th grader has some anxiety around test taking so her asking for spelling tests this year is a big deal. I tried to ease them in last year but they didn’t stick. This of course is easier for ELA based subject matter, but can be applied to math and sciences with some creativity. Also, this is something I just started last year in preparation for 9th grade. 8th grade I did not focus on mastery form this perspective. There was a lot of hand holding through everything we took on academically with the intentions of getting her ready for the independence needed for 9th grade year. We didn’t have any display of mastery until the end of the school year. This also may have something to do with us being unschoolers—improvement isn’t measurable as fast when unschooling. Seems like they are learning absolutely nothing and then, bam, all of the progress floods in. I realize I’ve never asked, what is your homeschooling style? Hopefully this is helpful!
I don’t have an 8th grader here so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I’ll post a graphic in case it’s helpful in sparking ideas. From my perspective when students have the opportunity to evaluate, synthesize and create they’re showing a deeper level of understanding/mastery. Tests and quizzes can be helpful bench markers to an extent to see if they’ve retained the info , but giving students opportunity to create and apply their knowledge can provide a deeper scope of their understanding and not just memorization or recalling of facts