As homeschoolers, you may not have thought twice (or even once!) at the idea of giving your children report cards. Why would they be necessary? I suggest you read my mom’s article (January Mom’s Corner) called Seven Important Reasons Why Homeschoolers Should Give Report Cards. After that, stop by our report card page and pick out what report card you want to use. We have customizable options!
Here’s the beginning of her article, but then please go to the link to finish reading.
Do you remember being in school and having your report card handed to you? How did you feel as you looked at it? Were you excited? Anxious? Did you open it then or wait until you were alone? What was it like taking it home and showing it to your parents? Did you want to hide it, or were you proud of it?
When I was growing up, report card day was a momentous event at home. We received a quarter for each “B” and a dollar for each “A.” If the report cards were good, we had a special family dessert – chocolate sauce over pound cake. I only remember my sister and me bringing home good report cards. Yay!
As homeschool families are there any reasons why we would give report cards to our children? They place an added burden on Mom to create extra time and effort to track the information that would be needed to compile report cards. Sometimes as homeschoolers we feel like we want to leave behind what we saw as the institutionalized part of education. Do report cards fall into that category? As a homeschool family for 30 years, we would encourage you that report cards play an important role in home education.
1. KEEPS TEACHER MOM ACCOUNTABLE
It is necessary for homeschool moms to be diligent about accomplishing homeschooling. The education of their children falls squarely on their shoulders. Planning to give quarterly report cards should motivate Mom to make sure daily and weekly school is happening so that she has data from her students to be entered into the report card. It is very difficult to generate a report card if school time has been lacking.
“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:
teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.”
Proverbs 9:9
This is good idea. I would add some different topics like “character” “music” “nature” “voice (challenge child to speak clearly and confidently)” and “reference (reading through encyclopedias)” so on. I would also divide up ‘bible” to different subjects like Psalms/Proverbs, Law, Old Testament, Gospel, and New Testament and perhaps even memorization. That way a parent KNOWS they have covered the whole bible that year with each child.
I never knew how difficult teaching truly is until I started teaching my own….. But it is wORTH IT!
Some families are a little different from others. Like only one parent is “Saved” or there is mix race and culture backgrounds or the family is not in a large home. Some of these issues can be overcome by good character in the child.
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The good news is that the report card is customizable. The subjects can be changed, you just can’t add more than there are on the current card, but you could always do two cards if you have more subjects than the card has space for.
Hope that helps.
Thank you, Teri! As a future homeschooling mom (I have one child so far, a baby) I look forward to using these resources. Exciting news: I have a young teenage cousin who has recently decided to accept Christ as her Savior! We are thrilled for her as she can now be confident in looking to where she will spend Eternity. Unfortunately her immediate family are not believers so she cannot draw upon her parents’ knowledge of the Bible daily in family Bible time, etc. She wants to begin daily personal Bible time but is overwhelmed by feeling like she can’t understand it and doesn’t know where to start. Do you have any recommendations for a new Bible reader? Thank you so much, from your sister in Christ, Rachel
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New Testament reading is foundational and Sweet Journey would make a wonderful discipleship gift that the two of you could work through together.
How sweet, I love the templates!! 🙂 My oldest will be turning five here in a few months so I’m trying to prepare now!! :-O I worry that report cards and tracking grades may just create busy work for me, though, and my I don’t have time for that with four little ones and another on the way! *smile* 🙂 Did you find the report cards to be helpful with the younger grades (say, k-3) or did you only use them once they are “middle-school” aged? Thank you! I read your blog all the time, it has given me lots of ideas!! 🙂
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We didn’t do report cards until the children were at a grade where they were taking tests, which for us was 4th grade. The tests and quizzes made an easy way for me to figure out grades.