Help! DD starts highschool next year...what do I do?

[Katiebug_1976]

I am completely lost as to how to keep records for highschool! Oklahoma doesn't require anything other than keeping track or you 180 "school days." Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Anywhere to start?

 

Thanks so much,

[AngieW in Texas]

Texas doesn't even require that much.

 

I keep a running list of every book used for school. I've been doing that for years, so it's not anything new. It has helped a lot when hitting a topic again for the next kid.

 

The only subjects that I actually "grade" as we go are math and science. My kids do their work in spirals, so I just use the inside front cover to record grades on homework and tests.

[choirfarm]

I have a 9th grader this year. I tried this out when he was in 8th grade and it helped me work out the bugs before it "counted" It was a wild year last year with my dad having health problems and school just stopping in the middle of May when he died. So I didn't make out a transcript, didn't finish some courses, but at least I had a game plan.

 

I listed the courses he would take. I got Home School Tracker and I'm REALLY glad that I had a year to play around and figure out how it would work. I weight grades, so I figured out for history there would be reading (10 percent) maps (10) timelines (10) discussion (10) tests (30) and questions/charts 30. I sketched out on a blank calendar when we would do week 1, week 2, vacation, week 3, week 4, etc. I tried to stay up on entering grades, but that first year I really did it each quarter. I've been better this year. This year I've played around with the transcript feature. I've also been typing up a course description. I started out the year with what I knew, but then add to it as it goes along. Here is an example:

 

 

 

19th Century World History

 

 

 

This world history course begins with U.S. President John Adams and continues through William McKinley, covering major events of the 1800’s. Students will follow developments in the United States, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, China, and Japan. Of particular focus are the Congress of Vienna, Victorian England, Manifest Destiny, Marx and Communism, the American Civil War, and European Imperialism. Students will earn one full credit uponcompletion of this course.

Books, Materials List, Resources: ( Entire resource used unless otherwise noted.)

The American Presidency Edited by Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer

Introduction through U.S.Grant

The Early American Republic 1789-1829 by Paul E Johnson

The Revolutionary Era 1789-1850 By Charles Breunig and Matthew Levinger

Antebellum America 1784-1850 Editor William Dudley

Simon Bolivar The Liberator by Guillermo A. Sherwell

The Age of Nationalism and Reform, 1850-1890 by Norman Rich

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage

The Morman Trail and Latter Day Saints by Carol Rust Nash

American History by Era: The Civil War 1850-1895 Book Editor Auriana Ojeda

Eyewitness to the Civil War by Hyslop and Kagan

The Gilded Age: A History in Documents Janette Thomas Greenwood ch 6-11, ch 7

Imperialism: A History in Documents pp. 6-39

Movies/Documentaries:

HBO’s John Adams

Wild South America- BBC 6 part series

Victoria and Albert

Slavery and the Making of America – 4 part series

Civil War Journal: 4 parts

Church History Component:

The Universe Next Door ch 1 & 2

Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce

William Carey: Obliged to Go

Adoniram Judson: Danger on the Streets of Gold

Modern Revivalsim ( ch 1-

The Tragic Tail of Narcissa Whitman by Cheryl Harness

Pigtail and Chopsticks Man by Jim Cromarty

The Civil War as Theological Crisis

William Booth: Soup and Salvation

Class description: The student will read the reading material above, complete maps from the time period, continue a timeline, answer questions, participate in weekly discussion, and take periodic exams on the material.

Grading Scale: A = 100-90%; B = 89-80%; C = 79-70%; D = 69-60%; F = below 60%

Weight: Exams: 50%; Assignments: 50%

 

 

 

I don't know that I have to have this, but it lets me know what he did and it is easier to do while he is doing it. I also typed up a syllabus for each quarter for history and literature. For math and science, I will just copy the table of contents. Here is one week:

Week 3

Early Industrial Revolution

The Revolutionary Era: 125-148, 162-165 (stop at Utopian Socialism)

The Early American Republic chapter3

The Victorian Internet- preface and chapter 1

2. Questions/charts

3. Timeline

4. Maps

 

 

I did a lot of this in the summer and it REALLY helped me to be more organized this year. I used the forms on Donna Young's site to get me started.

 

Christine

[Carmen_and_Company]

I have a 9th grader this year. I tried this out when he was in 8th grade and it helped me work out the bugs before it "counted" It was a wild year last year with my dad having health problems and school just stopping in the middle of May when he died. So I didn't make out a transcript, didn't finish some courses, but at least I had a game plan.

 

I listed the courses he would take. I got Home School Tracker and I'm REALLY glad that I had a year to play around and figure out how it would work. I weight grades, so I figured out for history there would be reading (10 percent) maps (10) timelines (10) discussion (10) tests (30) and questions/charts 30. I sketched out on a blank calendar when we would do week 1, week 2, vacation, week 3, week 4, etc. I tried to stay up on entering grades, but that first year I really did it each quarter. I've been better this year. This year I've played around with the transcript feature. I've also been typing up a course description. I started out the year with what I knew, but then add to it as it goes along. Here is an example:

 

 

 

19th Century World History

 

 

 

 

 

This world history course begins with U.S. President John Adams and continues through William McKinley, covering major events of the 1800’s. Students will follow developments in the United States, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, China, and Japan. Of particular focus are the Congress of Vienna, Victorian England, Manifest Destiny, Marx and Communism, the American Civil War, and European Imperialism. Students will earn one full credit uponcompletion of this course.

 

Books, Materials List, Resources: ( Entire resource used unless otherwise noted.)

The American Presidency Edited by Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer

Introduction through U.S.Grant

The Early American Republic 1789-1829 by Paul E Johnson

The Revolutionary Era 1789-1850 By Charles Breunig and Matthew Levinger

Antebellum America 1784-1850 Editor William Dudley

Simon Bolivar The Liberator by Guillermo A. Sherwell

The Age of Nationalism and Reform, 1850-1890 by Norman Rich

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage

The Morman Trail and Latter Day Saints by Carol Rust Nash

American History by Era: The Civil War 1850-1895 Book Editor Auriana Ojeda

Eyewitness to the Civil War by Hyslop and Kagan

The Gilded Age: A History in Documents Janette Thomas Greenwood ch 6-11, ch 7

Imperialism: A History in Documents pp. 6-39

 

 

Movies/Documentaries:

HBO’s John Adams

Wild South America- BBC 6 part series

Victoria and Albert

Slavery and the Making of America – 4 part series

Civil War Journal: 4 parts

 

Church History Component:

The Universe Next Door ch 1 & 2

Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce

William Carey: Obliged to Go

Adoniram Judson: Danger on the Streets of Gold

Modern Revivalsim ( ch 1-

The Tragic Tail of Narcissa Whitman by Cheryl Harness

Pigtail and Chopsticks Man by Jim Cromarty

The Civil War as Theological Crisis

William Booth: Soup and Salvation

 

Class description: The student will read the reading material above, complete maps from the time period, continue a timeline, answer questions, participate in weekly discussion, and take periodic exams on the material.

 

Grading Scale: A = 100-90%; B = 89-80%; C = 79-70%; D = 69-60%; F = below 60%

Weight: Exams: 50%; Assignments: 50%

 

 

 

I don't know that I have to have this, but it lets me know what he did and it is easier to do while he is doing it. I also typed up a syllabus for each quarter for history and literature. For math and science, I will just copy the table of contents. Here is one week:

Week 3

Early Industrial Revolution

The Revolutionary Era: 125-148, 162-165 (stop at Utopian Socialism)

The Early American Republic chapter3

The Victorian Internet- preface and chapter 1

 

2. Questions/charts

3. Timeline

4. Maps

 

 

I did a lot of this in the summer and it REALLY helped me to be more organized this year. I used the forms on Donna Young's site to get me started.

 

Christine

 

 

I pretty much did what Christine posted above, plus copied the title page & TOC, as that was needed in MN, "upon request".

[Brenda in MA]

I did something similar to what Carmen & Christine did, but with a bit less detail. I kept course descriptions for each course that consisted of 3-4 sentences about the course followed by a list of the books/materials we used. When it came time to apply to college, I attached these to my son's one page transcript and sent the whole thing in.

 

I also spent some time figuring out how I was going to have a "grade" for each course. Some courses were graded using tests that came with the program. Others were graded based on his grade on papers/projects/reports. For courses where I graded papers/projects/reports, I made a grading rubric for him to use when doing the assignment so he knew what to include.

 

I kept all the tests/graded papers for each year of high school in a separate expanding file. I tabulated the grades manually and made his transcript in MS Word.

 

As you start high school, it's also a good idea to have a very general map of the courses your dc will take the entire 4 years. You can change the plan as you go, but the research necessary to make the plan will make you aware of the basic requirements your student will need to meet if he/she is interested in applying to college. If he/she has no idea which college is of interest right now (and most don't), looking at the requirements for your state U would give you a good starting point.

 

HTH,

Brenda