Lee, do you have any advice for a public-schooled high school junior considering homeschooling for her senior year? She lacks only 3 classes and doesn’t want to waste a year on busywork classes.
~ Mary Jo
My best advice is this; “Know your child and trust yourself.” If you know that homeschooling is the best for your child, then trust yourself and do it. Don’t avoid homeschooling because of fear.
To homeschool high school for only senior year, record keeping is very important. Make a homeschool transcript that will reflect all classes from 9th through 12th grades, both at home and at school. Write course descriptions of all courses taught at home, so colleges are convinced there was no couch-potato academy. They are aware that seniors tend to slack off some, so you want to avoid the appearance of senioritis.
In the application to colleges, the parent may want to write a homeschool statement that explains why they made the decision to homeschool, and describe the positive results. Finally, when communicating with colleges, be very clear about your intent to homeschool and explain your reasons in a positive light.
I hope that helps!
The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need tohomeschool high school.
When homeschooling high school, should you give semester grades or yearly grades?
I so enjoy reading your blog and have learned so much. I have researched the archives but am not finding an answer to a question. I was planning on just recording a final grade for each subject. However, in reading some material from Jay Wile he suggests recording a grade per semester. That really doesn’t work as well for us as our schooling is lighter in the fall semester than the winter. That binds us to a typical public school semester. Do you have any words of wisdom regarding this?
Thank you,
~ Barbara in Arkansas
Hi Barbara,
My words of wisdom; do what seems right for you.
I did it exactly the way you suggested, and gave one grade for the whole year. Here is a sample of my transcript, so you can see what it looks like. Just click on “view transcript by subject or by year” and you’ll see it.
The final grade on the transcript was the sum of all the different ways I evaluated in the year; tests, quizzes, and lab work. But there was only one grade on the transcript, just at the end of the year.
In all my work with clients and colleges, I’ve only heard of ONE college that requested semester grades – but I think they ended up being flexible after all.
In my homeschool transcript solution, it comes with 10 transcript templates. I think perhaps three of them come with semester grades. Not everyone gives semester grades, and it’s not necessary. I agree with you, it does seem a little bit like Jay Wile is thinking like the “system” a little bit too much on this one.
Do it the way that works for you.
I hope that helps!
The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need tohomeschool high school.
We do Bible as a family everyday. I would guess we spend about 45 minutes a day. Sometimes we simply read the Word and discuss, other times we do a formal study. Plus there is the daily discipleship…Sunday’s at church, youth group studies, etc… May I give a Bible credit per year to my son, or must he have actually done a formal Bible study with documented work done in a portfolio? Any wisdom? Thanks for any help/thoughts. I’m beginning to feel as though I’m stumbling towards the finish line, rather than sprinting. It’s all about doubting myself at this point…
~Yvonne on Facebook
Hi Yvonne,
I gave my kids 1/2 credit per year. You can see how it looks on this link to my own transcript.
If it were me (hey, it WAS me!) I really WOULD put it on the transcript. Because of the amount of time, you could even say 1 credit per year.
You don’t have to use a textbook for Bible anymore than you would use a textbook for PE or a music class like piano. In this case, you just count hours, not textbooks. It’s still an accurate and legitimate way to calculate credit value.
Some colleges may like to see a course description of it, but it depends on the college. Some secular colleges won’t consider a Bible class in their GPA, some Christian colleges will want to see Bible classes so they know kids are prepared.
Your job is to make a transcript that is honest and true. This Bible class was truly part of your homeschool, so I say give him the credit.
“Dear Lee,
This is where I need your insight. I know we talked much about how much time my daughter spent on different subjects to justify awarding a credit. If you could simply give me a yardstick of sorts. How much time would warrant a credit or a partial credit.”
To determine a high school credit by counting hours, most books recommend:
75-90 hours is 1/2 credit
120-180 hours is 1 credit
The hours are how many hours the student spends in total, including time spent reading and doing assignments. When I estimate high school credits, I usually just guess and estimate how much time the student spends. Add up all the experiences you are planning, and see if you have 75 hours or more. If you do, then call it 1/2 credit. If you don’t, then say it’s a supplement – they can add it to other music and art experiences to make up their own credit. If it is 120 hours or more, then you can call it a full credit. By the way, we LOVED the “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” course, by The Teaching Company, www.teach12.com. I know they have one on the Symphony as well, by the same teacher.
I hope that helps!
Do you have a homeschooling high school question? Send me anemail!
How much weight should you give to a homeschool test? As much as you like!
I really learned tons from your seminar. I especially used your “example” transcript – that was valuable for reasons I wouldn’t of thought of until I was in the middle of creating one for our oldest. Is 25% of the grade weighted to tests (math, science) appropriate?
~ Carla in Washington
I think weighting 25% is fine. Homeschoolers have a LOT of flexibility. I decided to weight mine in thirds for most subject; 1/3 what I made them do, 1/3 what they did, and 1/3 tests. Truthfully, I think I did it that way because I only had room for three columns! For science, I weighted mine 50% test and 50% labs. I did it that way because we used Apologia, and there were SO many labs and SO many tests that it seemed like plenty of evaluation to me.
Lots of teachers will have very complicated grading criteria with formulas, points, and scales of all different sorts. When I talk to homeschoolers, I’m struck by one thing. A homeschooler’s gut instinct about the grade for their child is always right on, no matter how complicated their grading process. For that reason, I’m a big fan of simplifying. So yes, demonstrating how you arrived at a grade can be very helpful, but I don’t think you have to be overly complicated.
Learn a LOT more about how to translate all those great homeschool high school classes into the words and numbers that colleges will understand – The HomeScholar Total Transcript Solution.
Please join us for a very special webinar this Thursday! This free webinar will take the mystery out of determining high school credits and assigning homeschool grades. Also, learn an easy-to-implement option for creating an amazing homeschool transcript. Find out how to make a transcript that will save you loads of time, money and frustration – AND impress the colleges!
Title: “Credits and Grades and Transcripts! Oh, My!!”
Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
This webinar is going to deliver some amazing content. People who watch for the full hour will get valuable insider tips on how to win Early Responder Bonuses when we launch the Total Transcript Solution on Thursday, December 3 at Noon Pacific Time!
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How do you weigh assignments and tests when you are doing an honors course in your homeschool high school?
Hi Lee! I have a question or you, but first I want to say thank you for all the wonderful information you provide. I have learned quite a bit about transcripts and many other topics from you and the resources you provide. So, Thank you! On to my question….. My son is doing Math-U-See for Algebra 1 this year and it includes an honors option. My question is…How do I weight his regular assignments, honors assignments, and tests? What have you found to be the best way to assign percentages to these and calculate a final grade? Thanks,
~ Heather in Texas
The easy answer: any way you want to!
Look at this college website. It clearly states that no matter what you do or think about weighting of classes, they will re-work your transcript according to what they view as important. Here is the paragraph I’m referring to:
Calculation of High School Academic GPA
The Office of Admissions recalculates all grade point averages – we do not use the GPAs listed on your high school transcript or report card. Only academic subjects will be used in the recalculation. Grades of C- or better in dual enrollment, AICE, AP, and IB coursework will receive 1 full bonus point in the calculation; grades of C- or better in honors, pre-AICE, pre-AP, and pre-IB will receive 1/2 bonus point. For repeated courses, we will only forgive a low grade if the exact course has been repeated (i.e. Algebra I will not replace an Algebra I honors grade – both courses will be used in the recalculation).
So you can give weighted credits and lower grades for honors courses, or you can give regular credits and regular grades, and it will all come out in the wash.
This provides you with a huge amount of freedom. You need to recognize that public and private high schools all have a different way of providing grades and credits. Teachers within a single school may have their own unique way of determining grades and credits. Trust yourself! You can do it in any way that makes sense to you and your family. For my family, I decided to go with the mastery approach. When they mastered the material with a 90% or greater, I gave them an A. You get to decide what works for your family. You can’t mess up, because colleges will recalculate your grade point average to make sure that it’s a fair comparison with children from other schools.
Be forewarned, though, because I don’t give a lot of hard-and-fast rules. Instead, I emphasize that there are a wide variety of right ways to providing grades and credits. I also have a video course on “Grades and Credits” that is regularly shown on my Gold Care Club. When you purchase my book, you get a free month on my Gold Care Club. If you are a member, just request that course and I can provide it to you.
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There is a lot of details about grading in my book, “Sample Comprehensive Record.“ You can see for yourself how a real homeschooler provided course grades without tests.
I used tests for math, science, and foreign language – because I used curriculum that provided tests for those subjects, not because those subjects require tests. Most of the other classes listed in the Sample Comprehensive Record describe how I evaluated without testing. If you are having trouble getting your head around this issue, the book can be a real eye-opener!
If you haven’t tested prior to high school, there is no reason to change. If there is a subject you are studying, and you don’t want to test but you don’t know what else to do, I encourage you to think outside the box.
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When thinking about putting boy scouts on your transcript, it helps to think about the millions of hours you spend doing those activities. If you consider that PE only requires roughly 150 hours of his boy scouts experience, and the usual boy scout may spend over 300 hours….. you have PLENTY of hours to call some of them PE and other hours extra curricular without double dipping.
But look at it from another perspective. I took choir in high school. Choir was on my transcript and I got a credit for it, but Choir was also listed in my activities list. My friends in Yearbook were the same way – it was a journalism credit AND a yearbook activity. The football team members got a PE credit AND they had varsity football on their activities. It’s OK to put things as both an activity and a subject if it’s really both. It’s important not to do double-dipping for credits, but listing them as a credit and an activity is fine. Boy scouts is a wonderful experience to put on your transcript for a class and an activity!
Check out some of my new buttons on the right sidebar of this blog! I would REALLY appreciate it if you would grab the code and put one on your blog. Help me spread the good news about homeschooling high school! Thank you!
My Facebook friend Christy asked me the age-old question, “How much record keeping should a high school student do for himself? I’m thinking reading list, volunteer hours…”
Here is the easy answer. As much as you can talk them into doing – but the buck stops with the parent. In other words, if the kids won’t do it, someone still has to make sure it gets done. My kids are wonderful, compliant, and on facebook, but I simply couldn’t talk them into doing any record keeping. As much as I think kids *should* do the reading list and volunteer hours, I know that reality can look different.
You may want to read my article about homeschool record keeping, playfully subtitled “How to Forget 4 Years of Latin.”
Are you ready to get serious about homeschooling high school? Send me anemailand let’s talk!
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