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Ebenezer
Dec. 2, 2006
Report Cards
Here in Michigan we are not required to keep formal records of grades or anything, so I haven't been doing that. We just work on things until I think they are mastered.
This has posed a little bit of a problem with a work ethic in my son. In fact, one of the reasons I started homeschooling was because he was getting the impression that school was a lark -- things came easily to him, and when something looked challenging he'd just not even try.
On the homefront, he's been starting to slack because, while I have him do something over if it's messy or incorrect, there's no incentive to do things right the first time or in a timely manner. And when I have told him to do something over I got an incredible amount of backtalk and yelling and saying it was somehow my fault and so on. I was tired of repeated discipline -- it just wasn't working. This is a drawback of a bright and stubborn personality, which he comes by honestly -- DH and I were EXACTLY the same way.
So last week I hit upon the idea of a daily report card. Each subject would get a grade based on correctness, neatness and promptness/attitude, and he would get an overall grade for the day for comportment, broken down into grades for attitude, obedience and diligence. Report cards would be talked over with Principal DH each evening.
I never dreamed it would work as well as it has.
Not only did he try hard THE FIRST TIME in each subject to get a good grade, but when he slipped up, he would say things like "I think I'll go back and practice those piano pieces once more," and "What can I do to improve my grade?" I was flabbergasted! This worked, mostly, all week. I guess it appeals to his need for objective and tangible results. The one problem I see is that he may (like I used to) start to work just for a grade and not for the joy of things. But so far it seems to be having the opposite effect -- he's doing things more completely instead of skimming the surface of acceptable. Things are no longer just pass/fail in his mind.
Has anyone else tried something similar?
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