Transcripts for Accelerated Learner

[Rebecca122]

Good morning!  I'm hoping someone can help me with some questions I have regarding transcripts for accelerated learners.  My oldest son just completed algebra 1 in 6th grade this year; he will continue with algebra 2 in 7th, followed by geometry in 8th grade.  Since he will complete these subjects before beginning high school, do I just not put them on his high school transcript?  If I do put them on his transcript, how should I go about doing that, since they will be completed before high school?  He will also complete a couple AP courses (with the AP tests) prior to high school as well.  Do I add those to the transcript as well?  I would think this is a necessary, but how do I go about doing it?

 

Thank you!

 

Rebecca 

[8filltheheart]

This is not that unusual of a scenario.  I include them on mine.   This post includes a sample of a transcript that is easy to use for kids with pre-9th grade courses.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/627201-achievement-singular-on-transcript/?p=7254159

[regentrude]

I list those on the transcript. I use a similar transcript format as 8FillTheHeart, but without the columns "before 9th". I use italic print for courses taken before 9th grade and explain this in the "notes" section of teh transcript.

I have not counted those among the total number of credits or the GPA.

[quark]

Prepare/ organize the transcript by subject instead of by year. I have heard of people then inserting an asterisk or some other symbol to indicate the courses were pre-high school.

 

Mine graduated early and we ended up listing grade levels too but indicated that although the preHS courses were listed in the transcript, only the grade 9-12 courses were used to calculate gpa.

Edited May 30, 2017 by quark

[Rebecca122]

This is not that unusual of a scenario. I include them on mine. This post includes a sample of a transcript that is easy to use for kids with pre-9th grade courses.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/627201-achievement-singular-on-transcript/?p=7254159

Thank you all for your replies. It's helpful to know how others have tackled this as well. 8FillTheHeart, your sample transcript should work perfectly. ðŸ‘ðŸ»

[4KookieKids]

Mine graduated early and we ended up listing grade levels too but indicated that although the preHS courses were listed in the transcript, only the grade 9-12 courses were used to calculate gpa.

Tangent: How do you calculate grades/gpa? I find this concept very perplexing, because I feel like homeschooling affords us the opportunity to work on things until we learn them, and thus get A's all the time (excepting courses done elsewhere, like AP or a CC or something). But it seems to me that will just look like an inflated transcript.

[quark]

Tangent: How do you calculate grades/gpa? I find this concept very perplexing, because I feel like homeschooling affords us the opportunity to work on things until we learn them, and thus get A's all the time (excepting courses done elsewhere, like AP or a CC or something). But it seems to me that will just look like an inflated transcript.

 

I have the opposite problem. I think it's good to give A's when A's are due. I learned not to overthink it. My kid has many external grades and high test scores in 10th-12th that competely validate the homeschool grades I'd given in 9th and 10th. It all works out somehow. I would have been worried if *I* felt A's were necessary when a series of external providers gave, say B's or C's instead. That would have had me seriously assessing *my* priorities. I tend to veer towards knocking off points instead of inflating though so I actually had to work hard to give the kid the grades deserved instead of trying to justify reasons to give less points! I tend to forget how old this kid actually is too. 

 

If you mean the actual mechanics of calculating gpa, I will list a few links instead of reinventing the wheel!  :laugh:

http://www.thehomescholar.com/blog/how-to-calculate-homeschool-gpa/

https://thewritefoundation.org/articles/how-to-calculate-gpa/

https://everyday-education.com/free-gpa-calculator/

 

To be honest, I copped out and just gave the kid an unweighted GPA of 4.0 (there was nothing less than an A on kiddo's transcript and I simply noted in fine print that I considered A+ as A when calculating GPA). I am lazy that way. Many schools do recalculate gpa according to their own formulas. The schools mine applied to tend to do that -- you could check with adcoms at chosen schools to see if they do too.

Edited May 31, 2017 by quark

[regentrude]

Tangent: How do you calculate grades/gpa? I find this concept very perplexing, because I feel like homeschooling affords us the opportunity to work on things until we learn them, and thus get A's all the time (excepting courses done elsewhere, like AP or a CC or something). But it seems to me that will just look like an inflated transcript.

 

No. If you teach to mastery, an A is the result. It will only look inflated if it is completely out of synch with the standardized test scores.

For high school, you will want a few tests or outside classes that provide outside validation for a small subset of courses.

Nobody will question transcript A's for a kid who scores high on the tests or gets good grades in DE classes, in a few subject areas - you don't have to have substantuation across the board.

[4KookieKids]

I have the opposite problem. I think it's good to give A's when A's are due. I learned not to overthink it. My kid has many external grades and high test scores in 10th-12th that competely validate the homeschool grades I'd given in 9th and 10th. It all works out somehow. I would have been worried if *I* felt A's were necessary when a series of external providers gave, say B's or C's instead. That would have had me seriously assessing *my* priorities. I tend to veer towards knocking off points instead of inflating though so I actually had to work hard to give the kid the grades deserved instead of trying to justify reasons to give less points! I tend to forget how old this kid actually is too. 

 

If you mean the actual mechanics of calculating gpa, I will list a few links instead of reinventing the wheel!  :laugh:

http://www.thehomescholar.com/blog/how-to-calculate-homeschool-gpa/

https://thewritefoundation.org/articles/how-to-calculate-gpa/

https://everyday-education.com/free-gpa-calculator/

 

To be honest, I copped out and just gave the kid an unweighted GPA of 4.0 (there was nothing less than an A on kiddo's transcript and I simply noted in fine print that I considered A+ as A when calculating GPA). I am lazy that way. Many schools do recalculate gpa according to their own formulas. The schools mine applied to tend to do that -- you could check with adcoms at chosen schools to see if they do too.

 

 

No. If you teach to mastery, an A is the result. It will only look inflated if it is completely out of synch with the standardized test scores.

For high school, you will want a few tests or outside classes that provide outside validation for a small subset of courses.

Nobody will question transcript A's for a kid who scores high on the tests or gets good grades in DE classes, in a few subject areas - you don't have to have substantuation across the board.

 

 

Thanks! This was exactly what I was wondering. (And no, I didn't mean actually calculating gpa so much as giving grades.)

[Dmmetler]

Tangent...because we report grades to a cover School, and normally grades given before 8th grade do not count on the high school GPA, currently DD has a 5.0 GPA-because the only class that they figured info the calculations was the college one, and college classes are automatically weighted :).

[Julie of KY]

While many list courses before 9th grade somewhere on the transcript, I choose to simply leave them off. It's obvious if you are taking high math or further foreign language that you learned the prerequisites sometime.

 

I also teach to mastery and have no problem giving an A if the work is mastered. The main classes I'd have trouble giving an A in, I ended up outsourcing and my son received A's from outside teachers. If ACT/SAT scores are also high, noone is going to think twice about the grades.

[Mike in SA]

While many list courses before 9th grade somewhere on the transcript, I choose to simply leave them off. It's obvious if you are taking high math or further foreign language that you learned the prerequisites sometime.

 

I also teach to mastery and have no problem giving an A if the work is mastered. The main classes I'd have trouble giving an A in, I ended up outsourcing and my son received A's from outside teachers. If ACT/SAT scores are also high, noone is going to think twice about the grades.

While I really like this approach, we've found that it only works up to a certain degree of asynchronicity. You ultimately still need so many credits in each subject area, and may have to reach back to find them.

[quark]

While many list courses before 9th grade somewhere on the transcript, I choose to simply leave them off. It's obvious if you are taking high math or further foreign language that you learned the prerequisites sometime.

 

I agree but in our case I opted to not do this because most readers would assume my kid only completed the traditional math sequence while mine had actually done so much more than that. So I went ahead and listed the number theory, university logic, and group theory/ abstract algebra courses in addition to the traditional math courses. Each one was heavily proof-based too. Mine is also bent on applying as a math major and why I felt necessary to give the history/ spiky focus leading to that decision.