Teaching & Grading

Besides being home educators, many parents also join homeschool co-ops and have to teach in a classroom. And if you haven’t had much experience as a teacher, it can be overwhelming to suddenly be in charge of a roomful of students! So how do you begin when you’ve been assigned to teach a co-op class and you feel unprepared for the task? Every co-op has their own personality and variables to consider as you prepare!

What is the difference between teaching and coaching, and how does this difference apply to homeschooling? As it turns out, both can be appropriate depending on the context, situation, and type of learner. Understanding the distinction between the two terms will help you when choosing homeschool curriculum and supplemental resources for your child, especially as you consider the level of instruction that your student needs in a given subject area. 

Sometimes, just getting started is the hardest part of the writing process. In college, my writing professors noted my ability to get content on the page and how this was a gift for a writer. On the other hand, the red pen was dominant on all my papers, and a few were “not worthy of a grade.” You might be wondering whether or not you should grade your homeschooler's writing assignments. In this article, we will look at some of the benefits of deciding not to grade!

Homeschooling parents are often accused of turning ordinary events into learning opportunities – even in the summer! Out here in Illinois where Rainbow Resource Center is located, the summer months are often hot and humid. This heat inspired me to think of some summer learning ideas to explore in your homeschool!

Have you ever met someone who is just the most natural teacher and thought, that is SO not me? I am not patient enough. I am not nice enough. I am not good enough to teach my own children school-y things. Wait. Whoa. Back up!

How does a parent go from hands-on, exploratory, interest-driven learning in the early grades to the super-structured, credit-driven, academic standards content of high school? The middle grades (about 5-8) are a time to prepare students for the expectation of high school. It might not be around the corner, but it is down the street!

Our language skills progress as we grow, mature, and learn. Squiggles turn to letters, to words, to sentences, and before we know it, we are writing essays, papers, and reports! The written word allows us to express our ideas, understandings, and findings to others. As this skill develops for your young students, a new skill needs to emerge in your personal teacher toolbox: the ability to evaluate, assess, and grade our students’ writing. So, where do you start?

Evaluating essays can pose large challenges for parents. For multiple reasons, we can become discouraged and challenged with responding effectively to student writing. What should be “good” for student and parent instead becomes “the bad and the ugly.” Don’t wave the white flag! Evaluating your student’s writing and encouraging them in this process is important, doable, and can provide wonderful results.

Are you noticing the mountain top areas where your homeschooler is excelling in certain topics and contrasting those with valley areas of struggle? Now is a great time to observe and address these little struggle moments that could grow into bigger tensions in your academic year. What do you do when you start pinpointing these areas of pain within your student’s day-to-day work?

An assessment is a tool to measure a student’s understanding. While it can be a 10-question written quiz, there are loads of options for assessing a learner. Let’s talk about a few you can try.