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A much better alternative to grading is to use portfolios. In its usual form, a homeschooling portfolio is just files and boxes which hold a student's schoolwork for one year. It can include such things as : homework exercises and tests, brief reports on books read and field trips taken, projects and papers completed, and anything else that helps to document how a student's education time was spent.

There are many benefits to using portfolios. One of the main benefits is that it allows students to learn at their own pace. They can spend more time with a lesson that really interests them or with a lesson that they find difficult to understand.

Students can take tests without the added pressure of possibly getting a bad grade. If a student gets a low score, s/he just studies some more in the lesson areas that were missed, and then takes another test. Then, when the student gets a 90 or 100 on the second test, s/he gets to experience the pride and sense of accomplishment that comes from mastering new areas of knowledge. In addition, the student moves on to the next lesson with a strong foundation to build on. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle of motivation,  improvement, and success.

Using portfolios also has valuable benefits for personal development and for success in college and careers. I will write about that in my next article.

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