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Record keeping for transcripts/college? Advice please?


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My dd13, 7th grade, completed her Alegbra course today (wooohoo!! an A!!) and this is our first course that will someday "count" on a highschool transcript, so I now have to have a more formal record keeping plan (other than the box-per-kid where I toss the completed workbooks/etc).

 

I printed out all her grades (it was Thinkwell, so dated, scored, online records were available), and have all her exams and grades in a neat stack, along with a course grade calculation. I was thinking of putting all that in a pile. And, then what? Start a box? A written log? An excel spread sheet? What has worked well for y'all?

 

FWIW, I anticipate that this child will be applying to very competitive schools, and will be taking some college courses by 15/16 y.o.. . . So, I will need to track home-coursework, as well as college classes, as well as online, etc.

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I began a word document in 9th grade in which I listed text utilized, books read for coursework, Teaching Company courses, etc. Eventually I created an Excel spread sheet transcript using a model provided by Kareni here on the boards (Thanks again, Kareni!). This one page document listed courses taken, grades and assorted test scores.

 

If your daughter is applying to "very competitive" schools as you noted, you probably will not list this Algebra course on her high school transcript. Many college bound high school students taken Algebra in 7th or 8th, then go on to take four years of high school math courses which are indicated on the transcript. The implication is that if you have Geometry or Algebra II on the transcript, Algebra I had to have been taken at some point.

 

Bear in mind that some parents create transcripts in which courses are grouped by subject, not date. They may include Algebra or French I or other high school courses taken in middle school. But some colleges specifically state that a transcript should indicate only the last four years of work completed--not middle school coursework.

 

You are wise, though, to start something at this point. Memory of which translation of Oedipus Rex was read three or four years previously grows dim. Also, some schools like to see a portfolio of work produced by homeschoolers so having a file of papers, lab reports, etc. is not a bad idea (although no college to which my son applied asked for this).

 

Enjoy your high school journey!

 

Jane

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At the beginning of each kid's high school years I start a folder called "Joe (or some other name) -- high school" in my documents file. This then ends up with all kinds of subfolders and documents such as --

 

9th grade classes -- a list of all the classes taken and as much of a description as I can put together -- sometimes just cut-and-paste stuff from an online school, sometimes just my random thoughts on what I taught. I include the teacher, the organization (XXX College or YYY Online School or whatever), ALL the course texts and materials, types of assignments, and what type of materials were used to calculate grades. I include snippets of activities that MIGHT end up being part of a class and might not. The file ends up having all kinds of weird long documents in it that are intelligible to only me.

 

Same with 10th grade, etc.

 

Outside activities -- I keep a list of what kinds of activities my kid has done outside, including volunteer hours, awards, special training or opportunities, and typical things done as part of the activity.

 

Summer activities -- a lot of competitive colleges want to know EXACTLY what your child has done each summer, including hours per week of the activity! Keep track of that kind of stuff -- everything from sailing lessons to volunteer work to camps attended and hours worked.

 

By the end of a kid's junior year, my high school folder is a hedge podge of lots of stuff, but it has the information that I can draw on to create the high school transcript, course descriptions (ten pages of them!), and a high school profile.

 

The only things that we keep track of that are not stored in documents on the computer are volunteer hours and books read. I have trained my kids to enter all their volunteer hours on index cards in a small box. My kids also keep track of their books read on Facebook or Goodreads or on a piece of paper. I don't care how they keep track of what they read, but they must do it!

 

It sounds overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. All the colleges my kids applied to basically said, "You're homeschooled? Send us as much info as you can!" So do try to keep track of things!

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We bought Edu-Track when my dd was in 8th grade. It's wonderful. I can make lesson plans for the kids and then record grades in them. There is a place for listing books read as well as course descriptions and curriculum used. Some of the curriculum is already scheduled into the program (like Saxon). It made it very easy especially when it was time to do a transcript. All the information, grades, even the attendance (if I wanted it) was saved. I could print out a transcript in 2 different manners: by years or by course. The transcript is very professinal looking.

Some people like Homeschool Tracker. I've heard that some people have problems setting it up but once they do they love it. It has one advantage over Edu-Track and that is it will do weighted grades automatically if you set it that way whereas you have to manually do it for Edu-Trac. The adantage of Edu-Track over HT is that it is easier to set up and has a more professional looking transcript. You can get a free version of Homeschool Tracker and if you like it you can buy their expanded version. I think there is also a sample of Edu-Track available but I may be wrong about that.

Using a computer program has made my life so much easier. I would highly recommend investing in one.

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