One of the most often used tools as a homeschooling mom is my red gel pen.  It is known around here as “The Pen of POWER” (that needs to be said with a fading echo on the word “power”).  With my trusted red gel pen I “X” out wrong math answers and missed spelling words.   With my red ink I circle, underline, and comment all over essays and reports.  I use this pen to record grades on their “PERMANENT RECORD”.

Sometimes I catch a look of dread as I am giving an assignment back to one of the kids as they notice the red all over.  They know they will have corrections to make. They are learning that it is better to do it right the first time.  Sometimes they may think that I’m being too critical with the grading.  But, I “X”, circle, underline and comment because I’m…