Anybody have Homeschoolers Guide to Portfolios and Transcripts? or....

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I found this and was wondering if anybody has used this. Or, is there something else that might be more highly recommended?

[Mouseketeer67]

I found this and was wondering if anybody has used this. Or, is there something else that might be more highly recommended?

 

I checked out a copy at my library. I thought it was helpful.

[angela in ohio]

The best advice on transcripts I've read has been in Setting the Record Straight. It is ten years newer, too, so it would be more up-to-date.

[snowbeltmom]

I found this and was wondering if anybody has used this. Or, is there something else that might be more highly recommended?

The yahoo group "hs2coll" has some samples of high school transcripts posted in its file section. I found them to be a great resource.

[Gwen in VA]

I own the book but have never found it particularly helpful. We did put together a portfolio of sorts for ds2 since his academic record barely scratches the surface of who he is and what he has done, but we didn't find the book useful at all.

 

1) Check out Lee Binz's site at thehomescholar.com and look under "freebies." She has lots of resources, articles, and webinars dealing with transcripts.

 

2) "A Is for Admissions" by Michele Hernandez has a great example of an activity sheet.

[Kareni]

I read it and found it worthwhile. I recall that Nan in Mass speaks highly of it.

 

I'd suggest borrowing it through inter-library loan if that is an option for you.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nan in Mass]

I can see why Gwen would not have found it helpful. Her students have a fairly standard record of APs and other test scores and external grades as well as some very interesting projects. She did not need help defining what high school was going to be. It was fairly easy for her to translate what her children did into a standard format so that colleges could compare her students to their other applicants. I, on the other hand, have students who did something much more unusual. It was harder to see whether or not what they were doing would indeed make them ready for college, and harder for me to translate what they did into a format that would make it easy for colleges to see that. I wish I had found the book at the beginning of middle school because it helped me to define my goals for high school and how I wanted to accomplish those goals. It depends what you need. If you are near the end of high school and did high school in an organized way and kept track of everything as you went along, then this book probably will not be useful. What you need is a transcript template, some examples of things like what people put in portfolios, and examples of course descriptions and the various bits of paperwork you submit to colleges with the application. Those can be found on-line. If you are at the beginning of high school and trying to decide what sort of approach you are going to take, what material you want to cover, how much non-standard learning is going to take place (travel, projects, etc.), and what you want your high school graduate to look like, then you might find the book useful. It also might be useful if you had done something not exactly standard and were now trying to figure out how to translate that into a standard transcript.

 

Nan

[AMJ]

Looks like I'm resurrecting an old thread.

 

Nan, thank you for your comments. Right now I am preparing to enter homeschool with kids going into 4th and 6th grades. I found The Homeschooler's Guide to Portfolios and Transcripts in my local library. Since I'm looking for spelled-out practices to follow that I can set up at the start this falls right into what I'm looking for.

 

However, I'm having a hard time finding a decent copy for sale. I want my own books for certain things, so I can feel free to mark them up,

 

Thanks to the others for mentioning other resources, too. Does anyone have any others to recommend? Perhaps recently updated versions of anything?

 

Thanks, everyone!

[Kareni]

nm