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.
Sometimes transcript questions are very specific and complicated, but not really “Hard.” I love helping parents homeschool high school, and I would love to help you as well!
I’m going to ask a dumb question. I need to send the transcript to a college this week and this is my first time sending one. How do I list the classes which have not been completed and for which I’ve not yet calculated a grade? Some of them are required for admission but it’s too early for them to be officially recognized. Also, do I calculate the summary of credits and GPA according to what has already been accomplished? She graduates in May and hopes to start college this fall. We’re getting a late start with the admissions process. Our lives have been disrupted the last ten months with death and serious illness. The college which my daughter is interested in has been more than accommodating already, so I’m hesitant to ask them how they want to see the transcript.
~Melissa on Facebook
Hi Melissa,
You can put TBD – to be determined, or IP – in process, or something similar. In a public school they do list classes, but they do not give the final grade until the class is done. To calculate GPA, you calculate only the classes that are FINISHED. Some schools will also list “Credits attempted” to show how many more classes she has that aren’t done yet.
I hope that helps! Did you buy my book on transcripts? You can see examples on page 102 and 106.
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Thank you so much!! Yes, I did buy your your book, printed it all out and slipped it into a notebook.* I call it my Transcript Bible.* It’s been very helpful–for confirming what I thought and “holding my hand” throughout the process. The one thing I didn’t expect after doing the transcript was that feeling of gratification. My daughter and I wish, now, that I had even done report cards during the elementary years that looked much like a transcript. Just one more thing to tell others coming up behind us.
~Melissa on Facebook
Read to what others are saying about The HomeScholar Gold Care Club!
Homeschoolers should keep high school records. We know that. Still, for parents who have never kept records before, change is hard. How do you change your own behavior, and begin keeping good records? The secret is the same for ALL kinds of change.
Do one simple thing differently. Take just one thing and make a change, and slowly change behavior one task at a time. They say it takes 6 weeks to make a habit. Take one simple thing and do it differently. In 6 weeks, try changing another simple thing. A starting place may be to keep a tub for papers, and throw in some papers, tests, quizzes, or daily work each day.
As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Don’t do the same thing, and keep your sanity. Create an environment that will help you meet your goals. Put a tub for your records in a clearly visible place, as a reminder to put something in it. The first step of record keeping is simply KEEPING something from which you can make your records.
Instead of feeling discouraged about records, take one small step and do something different today.
We are weary, yet thrilled with how well our launch went yesterday. We are very grateful to be able to support the homeschool community this way. Thank you so much for participating in this exciting event. We are looking forward to getting to know many of you through the weekly consultations available through the Gold Care Club.
Here are the winners of the early responder bonuses from yesterday’s launch!
Noon (Pacific Time) is the official launch of our Total Transcript Solution. We will be having a free webinar this morning to celebrate. You can sign up for “Credits and Grades and Transcripts, Oh My!!” at this registration link. You are NOT going to want to miss this hour long content rich webinar.
I always think of the strangest metaphors, don’t I? And you can certainly tell I’m in the kitchen a lot these days! But think about it…..
For mashed potatoes, you don’t just throw a bag of potatoes into the water. Each potato has to be individually washed, peeled, and cut. You don’t just mash them, either. You add flavorings; milk, butter, sour cream or cream cheese. Presentation matters, too. You don’t just plop it on each plate when nobody is looking – especially at Thanksgiving, you make sure it’s in a serving bowl of some kind.
Course descriptions are also something you can’t just throw together. Each description has to be individually worked, written, and edited. Every parent has their own recipe, and their own ingredients for mashed potatoes and course descriptions – that’s fine! But they do need to be prepared one course, one potato at a time. And presentation matters.
Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good! Wishing you and your family a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!
All these years you have been happily homeschooling and then someone will throw a wrench in the system and ask you something crazy. For example, should you name your homeschool?
Unless it is required by state law, you don’t have to name your homeschool. I don’t even believe you “should” name your homeschool. It’s completely and totally 100% optional.
I chose not to name my homeschool. Our transcript was labeled “Official Homeschool Transcript” from “Homeschool High School.” I wanted colleges to know that my students were homeschooled. I was very proud of being a homeschooler (a little too proud, perhaps) and I really wanted the colleges to know that homeschool parents produce wonderfully educated kids. At college fairs I heard colleges talk about how few homeschoolers they saw… when I myself knew many of their applicants had been homeschool friends. I guess some of the kids had named their school, and the colleges didn’t even realize they were homeschooled.
It’s completely optional to name your homeschool. If you do name your school, I would encourage you to make it official, rather than a casual name. Some parents will simply use their last name, as in “Smith Homeschool” or “Smith High School.” Other families will name their school for a local landmark or street. Some will include a religious affiliation, like “Smith Christian School.”
The name of your homeschool is not significant. The quality of your homeschool is. As long as your child does their best, and learns an appropriate amount, you’ll do great!
Do you like getting this sort of help for homeschooling high school? Gold Care Club members get extended answers to their most challenging high school issues. You will love your free month of Gold Care when you get my Total Transcript Solution!
This must be the season for writing course descriptions. I’ve had a lot of how-to questions recently. The HomeScholar Gold Care Club can help you with the task of writing course descriptions. I’ve tried to provide course description help for visual learners, auditory learners, and those who learn best through relationship.
Each month, I feature a course description for a single class in the tools and templates section of the Gold Care Club. The “Course Description of the Month” will also include a few paragraphs about how I wrote it, and describe a concept that can be learned.
The featured course description changes on the 20th of each month. This month it is Geometry, and I talk about how my son didn’t finish the book in the usual time schedule. Next month the course description will be Occupational Education, and it demonstrates a class that was learned naturally.
I also have an entire book of all the course descriptions that I wrote for my son, so you can see the sum total of a single homeschool applicant packet. It’s called the Sample Comprehensive Record.
That book is $10 cheaper when you purchase it as a Gold Care Club member. Here is the member link for the special price. (requires membership)
Currently on the Gold Care Club there is a “how to training course” on writing course descriptions, called “Course Descriptions – Demystified! “ It’s an audio course, so you can listen to it in the car. I rotate the “how to training” classes each month, and this course will not be available after October 20th, until it is rotated onto the site again.
Some of my members work best in conversation with another mom. They use their weekly consultations to collaborate on writing their course descriptions. Each week they write one or more course descriptions and then email them to me. I then send them my comments and suggestions, or we can talk about it on the phone. By working together, some of my friends put together GREAT course descriptions. I’ve been extremely impressed!
I’m also working on an e-book with training, downloads and tools that will walk parents through the whole process, but I’m not quite done with that yet.
My e-book, “The Easy Truth About Homeschool Transcripts” comes with a free month on the Gold Care Club, as well as many other bonuses. It is a great way to make short work of both transcripts and course descriptions!
Hi Lee, I want to know since my daughter Kirstie is involved in photography and doing art show with me, couldn’t that be counted as communication/public speaking? Although my daughter is shy this is the only way I can get her to communicate with people while doing something she loves. Kirstie has made good progress while doing the shows with all of us artist with in the last year in a half. Thanks,
~Mary in Washington
If your daughter is in photography, that might be art or an occupational education credit. While it probably does include speaking and communication, I don’t think I would call it a communication or public speaking credit. That isn’t one of the required subjects in Washington State, you know – you don’t have to teach that subject, even though it’s important for her to be able to communicate with people. So I don’t think I would call it public speaking. Of course, you are the parent and you know more about the situation than I do, so you can make the final decision.
To provide a public speaking course, you might be able to convince her to TEACH photography to a small group. That’s how many shy kids will do their public speaking – they take what they love and talk about it while teaching a small group. Other options for public speaking would be a toastmasters or junior toastmasters course. They are offered all around the area. But again, public speaking is NOT one of the subject required by Washington State, or required by colleges. Here is the list of recommended classes for college bound teens.
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“What should I put on my homeschool transcript” is one of the questions I hear most. Usually there are a LOT of different ways to put something on a transcript, and lots of different “right ways” of doing it. It’s just a matter of brainstorming ideas together and see which one seems good to you.
We own a farm & garden supply store. My daughter works there every day. How do I keep up with this and what do I need to have her do to count this on her transcript. She is wanting to go to school for animal science. So I know It needs to be on the transcript.
~Tina in North Carolina
When a teenager has a job, then you can often claim those employed hours as “Occupational Education.” That’s the easiest route, because the employer has to count hours anyway, so you know exactly how many hours you should be counting. When you reach about 150 hours, presto! You’re done counting and you have the occupational education credit for the year. That’s often my default position, but it can depend on how many hours the student works.
Sometimes the kids will work far, FAR more than just one credit. You may want to call it an internship. Perhaps you can give it a first name and a second name: Retail Internship, Nursery Internship, that kind of thing. You may want to go the business route, and call it a Small Business Management class. Or you can divide it into the tasks she accomplishes, and label each task a different course – provided she has enough hours for each task. Following that example, if she spends 150 hours on Quickbooks and at the cash register, you might call that Business Math, and if she spends an ADDITIONAL 150 hours on something else, that would be another class.
You can see how there are a lot of choices. That’s something I love to talk to homeschoolers about on the phone. As a Gold Care Club member, we can talk for 20 minutes each week. 20 minutes is enough time to figure out what would work for your family.
Would you like getting this sort of help for homeschooling high school? Gold Care Club members get extended answers to their most challenging high school issues. You will love your free month of Gold Care when you get my transcript e-book!
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