Academic Expectations and Grading

For ALL students in grades 2-12:

• We have a lot of fun at HSA, but our classes are academic in nature, and they do require various levels of homework. It is our expectation that students will complete all assignments and return as per the teacher's request. This will require parents to encourage, support, and oversee their children through completing their assignments. The older the student gets, the higher the expectations at HSA become. Second graders will have very little homework in their week, but a sixth grader will have approximately 4 hours of homework for a full day of classes (depending on their personal abilities), and a high school student may have up to 4 hours of work associated with a given class. It is important to look at a class’s description and expectations before signing up. Students who are primarily looking for a social outlet (past the youngest classes) should look for other opportunities elsewhere because students who are not serious about their academics and consistently do not do their assignments cause frustration to the teachers serving them and can create friction in the classroom.

• At HSA, our goal is to support your home schooling endeavors by supplementing in areas that are difficult to accomplish at home. You, the parents, are still your children's main teachers, and you are responsible to God and the school district for their education. We see our role as partnering with you for your student's education, so we need to work together. When you support what the teachers at HSA are doing and work to keep your student on track, they will be able to teach more effectively and consequently support you better.

• We do understand family emergencies happen. If your family experiences difficult circumstances and you decide that your child can not complete an assignment, please notify the teacher yourself (not through your child), and the student will be excused from the assignment. If you tell the teacher that you want your student excused from turning in an assignment late, the teacher will honor that request. Please understand this should only be an occasional occurrence and not be a request for every assignment.

• Students are responsible to keep track of their assignments and homework. Parents, please encourage your children to grow in this area, but you should also keep a "watch" on them by checking their class syllabus, class folders, and handouts in their backpacks or on their class pages on the website. (Each teacher communicates in his/her favorite way.)

• The only excuses accepted for work that is late or not turned in will be from the parents. Unexcused late assignments will automatically be lowered one letter grade for each week late.

• All assignments should be turned in at class. Emailing assignments should be a rarity reserved for crises only (unless directed by the teacher). Though we can also print assignments on HSA printers with a flash drive, this should only be used in a crisis situation and documents should be saved as PDFs. Please do what you can to have a working printer at home!

• Plagiarism on an assignment will result in an automatic zero on the assignment and at least one letter grade lower in the class. Two offenses of plagiarism will be an automatic expulsion from the class.

• All written assignments for any class must be proof read and edited by a parent. HSA does not teach spelling or grammar. These subjects are to be taught at home and papers should be corrected by the parent before handing in to the teacher. Can yu imagin hving two correcting a bunch o papers befour the’ve bene edited?. it is a ton of xtra wrk.!! Espceclly if they happen to bee ritten by hand insted of typed.

• Teachers will give you quarterly grade reports for their HSA work and participation. The grades may be detailed or very simple, depending on the class expectations and teacher. Very few of our classes cover everything your student will need for any one subject, so you will have to incorporate our information and grades into your own. See section on “IHIPs and Quarterly Reports” for ideas of how to do that.

• Some (but not all) of our classes are supplemental to a certain curriculum, so you will need to use that curriculum at home. For example, most 4th-12th grade science labs are simply the labs that go along with a full science course that you complete at home. Please see individual offerings for details.

• Students (7th-12th grade) who are in study halls must bring work to do.  They can not use the wifi internet.  They can not study with others.  Ear buds with music or white noise are recommended as the foyer is loud.  They may not share earbuds.