If parents and students watched the Orientation video, which we highly recommend, you learned that I have created some grading tools.  Here they are in written form.

Grading Tools

It is our philosophy at The Mystery of History Online Academy that homeschool parents have the ultimate right and authority when issuing final grades to their students. We’re not here to replace parents; we are here to help parents and students manage grades with three practical tools. 

Tool #1—Automated Online Quizzes/Tests

We have created 24 Online Weekly Quizzes and two Semester Tests available on “Day 5” of each week contained in our online platform. (BTW, because this is a self-paced course, our “weeks” are not a precise unit of measurement, but a term to give students tracks to run on.)  We feel that these quizzes and semester tests, which will automatically be graded and posted, offer concrete, non-negotiable data to help determine how well students are retaining information found in lessons and lectures. (These are not the exact same quizzes and semester tests found in The Mystery of History Companion Guide, but they are similar.)

The best part? Parents and students don’t have to grade these quizzes or semester tests! Our system does it for you. You can find the automated quiz scores (with a record of attempts, etc) in the Gradebook provided on the Courses home page. (You won’t see the Gradebook until you begin taking quizzes!) You get three attempts on each quiz, with our system keeping the best score of the three.

Of course, we also believe that quiz grades and test grades are not an end-all to education and don’t always reflect true learning. Some learning occurs in the heart and can’t be put on paper; some students simply don’t have good test taking skills!  So, we have another tool to help manage student grades and, if desired, help parents and students count our course as a high school credit.  

Tool #2—Weekly Work Points

We created a Weekly Work Points system to track and reward the time and effort students will put into this online course. By offering points for completed assignments, students can contribute to their final grade through a strong work ethic.  (We like the sound of that!)

To keep it simple, we suggest students earn 20 points for every day of completed work assigned through The Mystery of History Online Academy. At five days of assignments per week, students can earn up to 100 points a week for their time and effort.  If you miss a couple of days, perhaps you only earn 80 points for the week. That’s reality! But through extra credit, students can make up! (More on that below.) Students may show parents their daily work to record; or students may self-grade and record their own points. Either works because we provide a place for documentation!  See our next tool. 

Tool #3—Weekly Grade Record

For easy documentation, we provide a template for a Weekly Grade Record that both student and parent/teachers can initial for accountability.  (You’ll find the printable Weekly Grade Record template in the “Exercise Files” folder at the top of this page.) Once Weekly Work Points are earned and recorded, they can easily be averaged with a weekly quiz or semester test to give a weekly grade that reflects understanding and diligence. (To convert a numerical grade from 1 to 100 to a letter grade, or a 4.0 grade point,  see our Grading Scale, also located in the “Exercise Files” folder at the top of this page.) 

How-to Use the Tools Together

Here’s a how-to list for using all three tools together:

1. Print 28 copies of the Weekly Grade Record template we provided. (See the Exercise files folder at the top of this page.)

• • Using one page for each week of the course, label them Weeks 1-28 in the space provided at the upper right hand corner of each page.
  • For convenience, you can three-hole punch these pages and store them in a student notebook or planner.

2. Start the course!
3. As you go through Weeks 1, 2, 3, etc., record points for completed daily work on the Weekly Grade Record you labeled for Weeks 1, 2, 3, etc.
4. After you’ve completed Day 5 (Part 1) of each week (your weekly mapping exercise), add up the points you earned for the week and record it in the space provided (“Weekly Work Points earned.”)
5. After you’ve completed Day 5 (Part 2) of each week (your weekly quiz or semester test), record your final percentile score in the space provided (“Weekly Quiz/test”). 
6. Add that percentile to the weekly work points earned and write it down in the space provided (“Weekly work points + Quiz/test grade.)
7. Divide that number by two.
8. That should give you a weekly grade to write down in the space provided (“Equals Weekly Grade.”)
9. To calculate a Running Grade Average (and get a final grade at the end of the course), add up all Weekly Grades and divide by the number of weeks completed. (There will be 28 weeks to average at the end of the course.) To translate that number into a letter grade, or convert it to a 4.0 grading scale, see our Grading Scale in the “Exercise Files” folder.
10. At first glance, this may sound tedious! But once students and parents print the Weekly Grade Record, and start filling it in with points and quiz grades, you’ll find a seamless way to manage student quiz grades and account for the time and effort put into the course. (Just keep in mind that the Gradebook provided on the website stores only the automated quizzes and semester tests. The Gradebook does not calculate the Weekly Work Points. That is for parent/teachers and students to track.)

Of course, you can use more than 28 weeks to complete this course because: 1) it is self-paced and 2) we give you an 18-month membership to accommodate unusual schedules, travel, emergencies, or illness. We also realize that students may or may not be working five “days” over the span of 28 weeks, but these units of time are available for convenience and give students manageable blocks of time to account for.  Feel free to spread out the days and weeks as you need to fit your family’s schedule.

Are you counting this course for a high school credit?

If a student is using one of our self-paced courses to count for a high school credit, we highly encourage the grading system we’ve described here. Our Weekly Work Points—averaged with our quizzes and tests—is a great way to help students track and earn a high school credit, which by definition is 135-180 hours a school year. Our system converts probable minutes spent on assignments, quizzes, etc., into 140 hours (That’s about 5 hours per week for 28 weeks.)

Earning Extra Credit

But wait, there’s more!  Some students will be interested in earning extra credit points because they’re industrious; they missed some assignments; or they scored poorly on a quiz. We have two great ways to earn extra credit points.

1. Literature: If a student reads outside literature from our suggested list (ie. historical fiction, a biography, or time period classic) he or she can earn 20 bonus points during the week it was completed. We encourage students to read 1 or 2 pieces of literature per quarter for enrichment. See our list. (It’s posted under our Home Page tab and on every Around the World Quarter page.)
2. Worksheets: There are four quarterly worksheets in your Companion Guide. These are essentially “open book tests” designed for review at the end of each 7-week quarter. (They also make great study guides!)  Here’s how to use them:

• Print from the Companion Guide Worksheets 1 and 3. Complete them and self-grade them (using the Answer Key in the back of the Companion Guide.) Use them to replace a weekly quiz on Weeks 7 and 21. (We dropped the quizzes on those weeks to allow students more time for the worksheets. Earn 100% for completion. It’s open book and therefore can be self-graded!)
• Print from the Companion Guide Worksheets 2 and 4 for extra work on Weeks 14 and 28. (They’re extra because those weeks contain the Semester Tests!)  Complete them; self-grade them using the Answer Key; and count them as extra credit by giving 20 extra work points on the the week they’re completed. 

Thank you again for joining us at The Mystery of History Online Academy. Please use these tools as you desire and above all, enjoy the content of the lessons and lectures!