Help | My Home School Grades

System Requirements

What are the system requirements for My Home School Grades?

My Home School Grades can be accessed by most internet enabled devices. We support Internet Explorer 11, Chrome, Firefox, Safari. iOS 7.1 or later is needed to use the site on iPad.

Do I have to download anything?

No. My Home School Grades is web based. All your data is safe and secure using industry standard encryption. All updates are provided automatically at no additional charge.

Pricing

My Home School Grades Pricing

My Home School Grades is a subscription based service. There are two subscription levels - monthly and annual. MHSG no longer offers the lifetime subscription option. The subscription is per family, with no limit on the number of kids in the family.

A monthly subscription is $5.99
A annual subscription is $49.99

Do you offer a free trial?

No, we don’t. What we have found works better is our 30-day money back guarantee. Try us out and we guarantee you will find My Home School Grades to be the easiest, simplest, and most robust system you’ve ever used or we’ll gladly refund your subscription within the first 30 days of purchase.

In order to request a refund, you must email us at one of the following email addresses - support@myhomeschoolgrades.com or billing@myhomeschoolgrades.com and include your name, email address, and reason for requesting a refund.

Refund requests after thirty days will not be honored.

Do you offer group discounts?

Yes we do! The discount level depends upon the size of the group and a few other factors. Please call 1-800-516-9872 and select option 1 to discuss group discount opportunities.

30 Day Money Back Guarantee

We are so confident that you will like My Home School Grades that we offer a 30-day money back guarantee. Try us out, we guarantee you will find My Home School Grades to be the easiest, simplest, and most robust system you’ve ever used or we’ll gladly refund your subscription within the first 30 days of purchase.

Refund requests after thirty days will not be honored.

How Do I…

Call or email you if I can’t find the answer to my question here?

Call us at 1-800-516-9872, 7 days a week, from 6 AM - 10 PM PST. If you get the voicemail, leave your name and number and we will call you back. You can email us at support@myhomeschoolgrades.com

Get Started With My Home School Grades?

We’re assuming you’ve created an account and have logged into the system. Here are the steps you need to take to get your account ready to go. The specific steps for numbers 1 and 3 can be found further down in this document. It is recommended that you do these steps in order so that you encounter a smooth setup.

Add a student by clicking the big button in the middle of the page.
Click the SETTINGS icon and fill in your information, then choose your grading and attendance options.
Add a class by clicking the CLASSES icon and then clicking the ADD CLASS button in the upper right hand corner of the page.

If you need to add more students, click the CLASSES icon, then click the down arrow in the student list, and click ADD STUDENT.

Add a Student?

To add students, click the CLASSES icon, then click the down arrow in the student list, and click ADD STUDENT. This will take you to the ADD STUDENT screen. Here you will fill out the information to create your student. Here’s what is included in the ADD STUDENT screen:

First name
Middle name (only if you want to)
Last name
Date of birth
Gender
Suffix
Student email address (this is included for future MHSG functionality)
You can also UPLOAD A PICTURE of your student by selecting the CHOOSE FILE button. If you choose not to do this, then MHSG will load a generic icon based upon your gender choice.

Click SAVE CHANGES and your student will be created!

Edit a Student?

To edit a student, click the CLASSES icon, then click the down arrow in the student list, then select the student you wish to edit. Then click the down arrow again and at the bottom select EDIT (student’s name will be here). This will take you to the EDIT STUDENT screen. Here you can edit your student’s information. Here’s what is included in the EDIT STUDENT screen:

First name
Middle name (only if you want to)
Last name
Date of birth
Gender
Suffix
Student email address (this is included for future MHSG functionality)
You can also REPLACE A PICTURE of your student by clicking REPLACE IMAGE.

Click SAVE CHANGES and your student’s information will be edited!

Add a Class?

Add a class by clicking the CLASSES icon and then clicking the ADD CLASS button in the upper right hand corner of the page. This will take you to the ADD CLASS screen. Here you will fill out the information to create a class. Here’s what is included in the ADD CLASS screen - along with an explanation of each item. Do these first!

Class title - This is the name of your class and is what is shown on the transcript/report card. This is a required field!
Below this will be a list of your students. Place one or more students in the class by checking the box to the left of their name.
When you check the box, the Grade Level dropdown will appear. Choose the appropriate level for this student for this class. THIS IS CLASS SPECIFIC to allow you to recreate prior years.
Next, choose the number of credits you are giving for this class.
Then choose the school year. MHSG allows you to recreate classes for prior years. You place the class in the correct year by using this dropdown list.
Your semester options are next. The default is a full year class. You also have the option of selecting an individual semester (spring, fall, summer), or you can go the quarter route.
The next option is to categorize the class by subject. Choose the appropriate subject from the dropdown list.
Below the subject dropdown are three checkboxes. They are AP/Honors, Pass/Fail, and College/Dual Enrollment.
To use AP/Honors, you must be teaching a curriculum that is AP/Honors - this is not a box to be checked lightly. Checking this box designates the class as AP/Honors and adds 1 point to the GPA calculation total. If you have questions about the use of this feature, please contact support@myhomeschoolgrades.com or call us at 1-800-516-9872
Pass/Fail is just that. You mark the class with a Pass or a Fail.
College/Dual Enrollment. Checking this box brings up a text box where you can place the name of the college where your student is taking classes. This information will be transferred onto the transcript.
Description. This box at the bottom of the ADD CLASS screen allows you to add information about the class.

Here’s the important part about the ADD CLASS screen - the LESSON PLAN. The lesson plan is one of the best features of My Home School Grades. There are four different options. Here’s how to use each one.

MAKE YOUR OWN - Use this option when you want to add in your own lesson plans, because either you create your own curriculum, you are using something from a co-op, or you are unable to find your curriculum in our list. When you choose this option and click SAVE CHANGES, you’ll be redirected to the class screen where you can add lessons to your heart’s content! See the help section below about the schedule, grade weighting, and other features of the actual class.
SINGLE GRADE - Use this option to easily recreate classes from prior years for your student. Once you click SAVE CHANGES, you’ll be redirected to the class where you can enter the final grade. One lesson, one grade. It’s that simple. Make sure you choose the right year when recreating prior year’s classes so they show up correctly on the transcript!
CHOOSE CURRICULUM - Use this option to take advantage of the pre-loaded lesson lists. Just choose the publisher and then choose the curriculum. When you click SAVE CHANGES, you’ll be redirected to the class where you can see the individual lessons. See the help section below about the schedule, grade weighting, and other features of the actual class.
COPY FROM EXISTING CLASS - Use this option when you want to use a lesson plan from a class that you’ve already created! This is especially helpful for the MAKE YOUR OWN classes that you have created. When you select this, you will be presented with a list of previous classes. Choose the class and click SAVE CHANGES. Then the lesson list from that previous class will be copied into the new class (be sure and select the correct student to copy the class to).

Edit a Class?

Edit a class by clicking the CLASSES icon and then select the appropriate student. Once that is done, select the class you want to edit. Once you are in the class, click the EDIT CLASS button in the upper right hand corner of the page. This will take you to the EDIT CLASS screen. Here you can edit the class information. WARNING - Changing curriculum will erase what is currently in the class.

Use the Schedule Feature in the Class Screen?

The schedule feature is accessible when you select a specific class. You can set the schedule for each class. Click the down arrow next to the word SCHEDULE in the class screen. The schedule feature allows you to tell the system what days you teach each class. If you home school 4 days per week and take Friday off, uncheck Friday. If you go to a co-op on Tuesday and don’t educate at home, leave Tuesday unchecked. This way that class will not show up in the lesson plans for that day of the week. You can override this by hard scheduling a date for a lesson. More on scheduling lessons below.

You can also set how many lessons per day the system puts in the lesson plan. Normally you would do one lesson per day, but you can use this feature to schedule more lessons per day of you wish. It’s up to you! The system will use this information to schedule out lessons. More on this below.

Weight Grades & Add Lesson Type?

You can weight the grades in an individual class by using the BREAKDOWN feature, located within each class. The breakdown feature is accessible when you select a specific class. You can set the grade weight for each class. Click the down arrow next to the word BREAKDOWN in the class screen. Make sure that the percentages you choose add up to 100% and that you have at least 1% chosen for each lesson type. You can add as many lesson types as you wish! Name them whatever you want. Click ADD LESSON TYPE to add one and then click SAVE CHANGES.

NEW FEATURE - Choose the NOT GRADED option to be able to mark a lesson as DONE, rather than having to assign a grade to every entry. This comes in handy with reading assignments or for classes for the little ones in your family where grades aren’t necessary but a list of items to accomplish is.

Change the Lesson Type?

To change lesson type, click into the class and scroll to the lesson. Click the down arrow next to the lesson type box and choose a different lesson type. NOTE: you will need to refresh your screen after this.

Mark a Lesson as Completed/Done - No Grade Given

This is a new feature. Choose the NOT GRADED option from the drop down lesson list. When the view is refreshed, you will have a check box that you can select to mark the lesson as done. NOTE: lesson is used in the generic sense here. When you check the box, it is automatically saved.

Add a Grade to a Lesson for an Individual Student?

To grade a lesson for an individual student, click the CLASSES icon and select the appropriate student from the dropdown list. Then click the appropriate class. You’ll then see the lesson list. You’ll see a box with the word GRADE in it. This is where you place the grade. You can enter a number, like 100 or 92, a letter, Like A, B, or C, or a Letter with a + or -, like A+ or B-, it’s your call. The system will convert whatever you put in the box to the grade format you chose in the SETTINGS icon. Once you have entered the grade, press enter on your keyboard. The grade will be automatically saved.

Add a Grade to a Lesson in a Multi-student Class?

To grade a lesson for a class with multiple students, click the CLASSES icon and select the all students from the dropdown list. Then click the appropriate class. You’ll then see the lesson list. You’ll see a down arrow next to the word GRADE. Click this arrow and the student grade boxes will open up beneath in a list. This is where you place the grade. You can enter a number, like 100 or 92, a letter, Like A, B, or C, or a Letter with a + or -, like A+ or B-, it’s your call. The system will convert whatever you put in the box to the grade format you chose in the SETTINGS icon. Once you have entered the grade, press enter on your keyboard. The grade will be automatically saved. Note that the view will refresh and close after every grade entry. You’ll need to click the arrow again to open the grade boxes back up. When you are done, click the up arrow next to the word GRADE.

Edit/Delete a Grade in a Lesson in a Class (Single & Multi-student)?

To edit or delete a grade in a lesson for a class with single or multiple students, go into the class and lesson you wish to edit. Click into the grade box (see above for multi-student classes) and delete the grade and either replace it with a new one or leave it blank. Press enter and the grade will be saved. If you enter a new grade, you are good to go. If you delete the grade and leave it blank, the system will erase the grade when you press enter and it will be like you haven’t graded the class. NOTE: When you choose this option, the scheduling system will integrate the lesson back into the lesson planning schedule. Be Aware! When you are done, click the up arrow next to the word GRADE.

Add a Lesson?

In each class, you have the option to add a lesson. Do this by scrolling to the bottom of the lesson list in a class, and then click ADD LESSONS. You’ll be presented with a box where you can insert the name of the new lesson. You can also add notes to the lesson at this point (more on this new feature below). Once you are finished, click DONE.

Edit a Lesson?

In each class, you have the option to edit each lesson. Do this by scrolling to the lesson you would like to edit, and then click the EDIT link at the right of the lesson. You’ll be presented with a box where you can edit the name of the lesson as well as edit the notes about that lesson. Once you are finished, click SAVE.

Delete a Lesson?

To delete a lesson, click into a specific class and click the EDIT link to the right of the LESSON. Then click DELETE LESSON and the lesson will be deleted.

Add a Note to a Lesson?

In each class, you have the option to add a note for each lesson. Do this by scrolling to the lesson you would like to add a note to, and then click EDIT. You’ll be presented with a box where you can add notes to the lesson. Once you are finished, click DONE.

Edit a Note in a Lesson?

In each class, you have the option to edit a note for each lesson. Do this by scrolling to the lesson you would like to add a note to, and then click EDIT. You’ll be presented with a box where you can edit the notes to the lesson. Once you are finished, click DONE.

Reorder a Lesson?

You can now reorder the lessons by using the numbered list feature. To utilize this, scroll to the bottom of the lesson list in a class and click REORDER LESSONS. Then you will see a box to the left of each lesson with a number in it. In order to move a lesson, choose the two lessons where you want to insert the new/existing lesson between. Then choose the smaller number and place that number in the box of the lesson you are moving, then click SAVE ORDER.

There are two scenarios with the reordering. Here they are.

You create a new lesson and you want to insert it higher in the list (not leaving it at the bottom).

Create the lesson and click DONE. Then click REORDER LESSONS. Then choose the two lessons where you want to insert the new lesson between. Look at the two numbers. Take the number of the top lesson, let’s say the lessons you want to insert a new lesson between are currently numbered 12 and 13. 12 is first and 13 is second. It will always be this way. Replace the number in the box of the lesson YOU WANT TO MOVE/INSERT with the first number of the pair. In this case, 12. Then click SAVE ORDER. You will see the new lesson properly inserted.
You want to move a currently existing lesson to a new place in the lesson list.

Click REORDER LESSONS. Then choose the two lessons where you want to insert/move the existing lesson between. Look at the two numbers. Take the number of the top lesson, let’s say the lessons you want to insert/move an existing lesson between are currently numbered 5 and 6. 5 is first and 6 is second. It will always be this way. Replace the number in the box of the lesson YOU WANT TO MOVE/INSERT with the first number of the pair. In this case, 5. Then click SAVE ORDER. You will see the lesson has been properly moved/inserted.

Add an Activity?

This section and functionality work much like the ADD CLASS section described above, we are just capturing extracurricular activities and not classes.

Add an activity by clicking the ACTIVITIES icon on the left of the screen and then clicking the ADD ACTIVITY button in the upper right hand corner of the page. This will take you to the ADD ACTIVITY screen. Here you will fill out the information to add an activity. Here’s what is included in the ADD ACTIVITY screen - along with an explanation of each item.

Activity title - This is the name of your activity and is what is shown on the activity report. This is a required field!
Below this will be a list of your students. Place one or more students in the class by checking the box to the left of their name.
Then choose the school year. MHSG allows you to recreate activities for prior years. You place the activity in the correct year by using this dropdown list.
Your semester options are next. The default is a full year activity. You also have the option of selecting an individual semester (spring, fall, summer), or you can go the quarter route.
The next option is to categorize the activity by kind. Choose the appropriate item from the dropdown list.
Below the activity kind dropdown is the activity type selection. Choose the appropriate type.
Description. This box at the bottom of the ADD ACTIVITY screen allows you to add general information about the activity.
Click SAVE CHANGES when you are finished inputting the information.

Add Adult References and Awards to an Activity?

The ACTIVITIES screen functions much like the CLASSES screen. In the ACTIVITIES screen, once you select a certain activity, you have the option of adding Adult References and Awards to each student in an activity. To do this, select the activity and then click the EDIT button at the right of the student row. This will bring up a dialog box in the Adult References section. You can add text to this box regarding input from adults that are involved in the activity. Click SAVE when you are done adding or editing the selection. Repeat the process for the Awards section. Click SAVE when you are done adding or editing the selection.

Use the Planner?

The planner functionality in MHSG is strong and intuitive. There are two parts to the planner. One is in the lesson plan of each class, and the other is in the actual planner view.

Here’s the way it works in the lesson plan (CLASSES view). When you create a class, the first lesson is automatically scheduled for the day you created it on. If that is the day you are starting to teach the class, great! If not, click the TODAY link in the first lesson and choose the correct starting date. You will notice that the system will automatically adjust the balance of the lesson plan based upon the choices you made in the SCHEDULE option at the top of each class. Changing these SCHEDULE options will change the dates assigned to the lessons.

NOTE: A date with an asterisk indicates that this is a best guess based upon the class schedule. When you select a date and then change it, the date becomes HARD ENTERED, which is signified by the date being in BOLD. This can be changed by going into the date and either clearing it or choosing another date. You will know it has returned to a soft scheduled date by the asterisk.

Here’s the way it works in the planner (PLANNER view). When you click the PLANNER icon, you are presented with a view of your students on the left, which shows their individual assignments by class for the day, and the day view of the calendar on the right.

In this view you can EDIT the lesson, GRADE the lesson, mark the lesson as DONE (if that is the option for the lesson - note that lesson is used in the generic sense here), or change the date of a lesson. To change the date, click the month and day and select the correct date. The system will automatically adjust to your input.

Scroll Between Days in the Planner?

You’ll notice near the top of the PLANNER view you have yesterday’s and tomorrow’s date, and right above the lesson list you have today’s date as well as the day of the week. To move forward or back to a particular day, simply click the date for tomorrow or yesterday. To go to a specific date, click MONTH at the top of the screen. This will bring up the current month’s calendar. To select a day in this month, click on the DAY NUMBER, and the view will revert back to the DAY view and the date you selected will be on the left of the screen. To select a different month, Click MONTH at the top of the screen and then click the appropriate month that you want to navigate to.

Take Attendance?

First, make sure you have selected either DAYS or HOURS in the ATTENDANCE section of the SETTINGS icon. Then in the DAY view of the PLANNER, you will see the word ATTENDANCE in the upper right hand corner. Click the down arrow and the attendance checkbox or hour entry boxes will appear (depending upon your settings selection). The easiest thing to do is to mark ALL ATTENDING. Of course if you have a student that is sick or not doing school work that day, then you must select each student individually. You can use the Scroll date feature in the DAY view to take attendance on other days if you wish.

You can also VIEW ATTENDANCE in the MONTH view of the planner. Simply click MONTH at the top of the screen and you will see that any attendance you have taken is noted by a colored dot on the specific day. This is a great way to see if you have accidentally missed taking attendance. There is a legend at the bottom of the calendar that shows the color of each student. These cannot be changed.

Add an Event?

You can add an event in either the DAY or MONTH view. To add an event, click the ADD EVENT button in either the DAY or MONTH view. This will bring up a screen much like the ADD CLASS and ADD ACTIVITY screens. Note that EVENTS are items like a doctor appointment or band rehearsal. Don’t confuse these with ACTIVTIES, which are much broader in scope. For example, you might list basketball as an ACTIVITY, but basketball practice would be an EVENT. Here’s the steps to adding an event:

Add the event title. This is required.
Next, choose the students that are participating in the event.
Add the location.
Then choose whether or not the event repeats and the start and end time.
You can also choose if it is an all day event.
You can then choose the color associated with the event (you can match these up to the attendance colors if you like).
You can also enter in a description of the event of you choose.
Then click SAVE CHANGES and the event will be added.

You can see the event in either the DAY or MONTH planner view. Clicking the event in either view will allow you to VIEW and EDIT the information in the event. You can also DELETE the event once you have clicked into it. Be sure and click SAVE CHANGES or CANCEL when you are done.

Print Reports and Transcripts?

Click the REPORTS icon on the left of the screen. The first thing you will notice is a simple description of your state’s home school laws. These are updated after each legislative session in each state to reflect the current law. The state that appears is based upon your state choice in the information tab of the SETTINGS icon. So if you are moving to another state, you can change your state choice for a day and see what the laws are in a particular state.

There are five reports currently available. More are planned for the near future. Watch your email or our Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts for more information on additional reports/documents to be added. Here are the five current reports and information about using them.

Academic Transcript - Clicking this option will allow you to choose a transcript for one of your students. Once you choose the student from the drop down box, you’ll see the transcript. You can choose to add the SSN and graduation date (these are not stored by MHSG - you must enter them every time) as well as to add additional grades to be reported on the transcript. The default is to the high school years. Click PRINT to print out a copy. If you want to save the transcript as a PDF, install a PDF printer (PDF 995 is a great free option) on a Windows machine or choose the Save as PDF option on a Mac.
Activity Report - Clicking this option will allow you to print an extracurricular activities report for the student you select. Once you choose the student from the drop down box, you’ll see the activity report. Click PRINT to print out a copy. If you want to save the activity report as a PDF, install a PDF printer (PDF 995 is a great free option) on a Windows machine or choose the Save as PDF option on a Mac.
Attendance Report - Clicking this option will allow you to print out an attendance report for the selected student. Once you choose the student from the drop down box, you’ll see the attendance report. Click CHANGE PERIOD in the upper right hand corner of the page and select the date range that you want to be reported. Click PRINT to print out a copy. If you want to save the attendance report as a PDF, install a PDF printer (PDF 995 is a great free option) on a Windows machine or choose the Save as PDF option on a Mac. The report will print both days and hours.
Daily Lesson Plan - Clicking this option will allow you to print out the daily lesson plan schedule for the selected student. Once you choose the student from the drop down box, you’ll see the daily lesson plan. The system defaults to TODAY. By clicking the dates in the upper right hand corner, you can move back and forth in time to a specific day. When you have the day you want, click PRINT to print out a copy. If you want to save the daily lesson plan as a PDF, install a PDF printer (PDF 995 is a great free option) on a Windows machine or choose the Save as PDF option on a Mac.
Immunization Record - Clicking this option will bring you to a fillable PDF that allows you to print out the immunization record for your student. When you click OPEN, the fillable PDF will open in a new tab in your browser. You can fill out the required information and save it as a PDF to your system.

Change my Account Settings and Information?

You can make changes to your account settings by clicking the SETTINGS icon on the left of the screen. When you click this, you will see 5 different selections. Here are the selections and some information about what they do:

Information - Here you can name your school (this goes on the transcript and certain reports) as well as update your address. Be sure to click SAVE CHANGES when you are done.
Grading - This allows you to choose whether to enter and see the grades as numbers, letters (A, B, C) or letters with a + or - (A+, B-, C+). All of these are stored as numbers, so you can switch back and forth at any time. Note that this choice is global and applies to all students in the account. Be sure to click SAVE CHANGES when you are done.
Attendance - If your state requires you to track attendance, here's where you set that up. You can choose from the following three options: None - which obviously doesn’t track anything; Days - which tracks each student by day (defaults to six hours per day if you switch to hours); Hours - this allows you to specify how many hours per day, per student, you have taught. Some states require hours and some states require days, and some states don’t require anything at all! Be sure to click SAVE CHANGES when you are done.
Change Password - If you need to change your password, you can do that here. Enter in your current password, then enter in the new password. Be sure to click SAVE CHANGES when you are done.
Billing - For billing and account inquiries, please call 1-800-516-9872 and press option 1.