Suggestion for making courses/transcripts for nonconventional trajectories

[Reya]

Like many homeschoolers, we are "desynced" across subjects, and we also use different pacing for different subjects. We started Latin 1 four years ago, and it took 3 years to complete. Algebra I took a year, while Bio I will take a bit more than a semester. Contrast this to English I, which we won't even attempt for a while!

 

There are two basic teaching methods: the mastery/tutorial method, and the grading/paced method. In the first, a child's skill determines pacing, and everything is learned to an A level of understanding. In the second, the pacing is relatively fixed, and the child's understanding varies. We rely almost exclusively on the first method, though I do use testing to ensure mastery before moving on. In both, the content is critical to an understanding of what the grade means.

 

Since schools use the second method, their transcripts reflect this. But since we do not, we need a different method for recording coursework. So rather than having a transcript organized by year (which would be a bit confusing, anyway--Should we count the year in which we started or finished a subject? And what about the fact that there would be far more than 4 years of "high school"-level work?), I organize my son's transcript by subject, then list individual courses under than subject.

 

The college he will be going to (the only system in the state!) requires course descriptions for homeschooled students. I use this opportunity to explain the tutorial method of education, explaining why all his grades will almost all necessarily be As! And I have a chance to write a brief description as well as a list of materials used for each class, as well. This explains the depth to which various courses are taught--and they are not all the same.

 

The transcript is extremely easy to read this way, and it conveys the most information in the least confusing way.

[regentrude]

Yes, a transcript by subject would be a good solution for a case like this (and it is actually very common). However, many universities specifically require the transcript to contain only the coursework of the last four years of high school, even if it is organized by subject.

The topic which middle school courses that are "high school level" can and should be included frequently comes up in discussions here on this board.

Edited October 26, 2012 by regentrude

[Reya]

In that case, I would put the last four years of each subject, organized by subject. :-)

 

This is not very common--and it is very stupid! Texas (where I grew up) requires the opposite, that ALL credit be given for high school level, no matter when it was attempted, on public school transcripts. Whatever the university wants, if they are getting Texas transcripts, they will be getting tons of transcripts with math and foreign languages taken in the middle school years--like it or not!

[regentrude]

In that case, I would put the last four years of each subject, organized by subject. :-)

 

This is not very common--and it is very stupid! Texas (where I grew up) requires the opposite, that ALL credit be given for high school level, no matter when it was attempted, on public school transcripts. Whatever the university wants, if they are getting Texas transcripts, they will be getting tons of transcripts with math and foreign languages taken in the middle school years--like it or not!

 

Math is actually the exception; colleges want to see algebra 1 and geometry, even if the courses listed clearly show that those must have been taken at some point. Foreign languages is a bit of a grey area, because it is less clear cut what constitutes high school level. People who include those usually do so to demonstrate a particularly strong interest.

[Reya]

It's easy when you are using high school level books. Finish a high school level text, get high school credit. Since we do every single activity and worksheet, we end up doing way more than most high schoolers do. For Latin I, my son actually did FOUR Latin I level books: Cambridge I/part of II, Ecce Romani! I, Oxford Latin I, and part of Henle. (He prefers to do the same thing from multiple approaches rather than spend a long time on a single lesson.)

 

I mostly dislike most books meant for less than high school. I have found them to be at best, cute, and more often, useless.

[Nan in Mass]

Reya - My son is currently applying to colleges. Some colleges are much more flexible than others. Try to find out if that "last four years only" rule is going to apply to you. If so, because you will have lots of interesting things in the last four years, there won't be a problem EXCEPT in places where you want to finish with a high school subject before the end of high school. So, for example, if you had a child who hated foreign languages and didn't ever intend to use them again and finished his high school foreign language requirements very early, in a last-four-years transcript, there would not be enough foreign language to satisfy colleges. As long as you keep studying the five main subjects until your child starts college, you should be ok. Say his first "last four years" math class is topology or differential equations - you would make a note at the bottom of his transcript saying that algebra 1,2,geometry, pre-calc, and calc1-3 were completed prior to high school. The same with science - if he is taking some mysterious (to admissions people) sounding science classes, you make a note at the bottom of the transcript saying that these are advanced sciences and he completed high school bio, chem, and physics previously. The problems come when you "complete previously" and then stop studying the subject. If, as I suspect, you are thinking of having your son enter college very early, then that might be less of a problem than it seems. If you enter through the community college system, it may be that your son just has to take the compass or accuplacer exam, which assesses his math, reading, and writing ability to see if they are high enough for him to take college-level classes. If he is entering the state university, then it might be a very good idea to have him take the SAT2 subject tests in the subjects he finishes, just to have outside confirmation of his ability. You could contact Jenny in Florida. Her daughter went to college at age 12. I think she solved the "proof" problem by having her daughter take Florida's virtual academy classes. That way it wasn't just mum saying her daughter had done high school level work.

 

I have one son in a state college. We used a by-subject transcript for him. Most of the colleges my youngest is looking at will accept a by-subject transcript. Very few actually said "last four years" or "listed by date". When you send the application, you send the application, recommendations, test scores, a transcript (and any others like community college ones), a counselor recommendation (in this case mum's), and a school profile. The school profile is where you (the mum) talk about your homeschool. This is where you get to include the information about your grading policy and how you translated your son's non-traditional education to a traditional transcript. And then, if the university isn't totally overwhelmed with applications and requesting no additional information, you send a reading list and course descriptions.

 

I would seriously consider having your son take the SAT2 in bio when he finishes that bio book, as "proof", if I had one that was doing high school work that young. At the very least, you should keep work samples and his lab notebook. (Lab sciences are important to colleges.)

 

Nan

[Nscribe]

I tend to think of the transcript as a snapshot of how my DD spent her academic time during the high school years. One snapshot in an overall portforlio of the picture of her experience.

 

Noting pre-requisites were taken earlier (Ex: Alg. 1, Geometry, 1st year of Foreign Language) is one thing. IMHO, citing them as part of the 4 year experience skirts the line of implying a student tackled more work in a time period than he/she did.

 

Many traditionally schooled teens are on block schedules. We homeschool and have the ability to integrate content, be flexible, respond to opportunities when they arise and view our course of study as a whole (not distinct/time segregated parts). It is a distinct benefit and challenge of homeschooling to be able to do so and the snapshot hopefully will reflect it.

[Nan in Mass]

It's the misleading part that bothers me. Or the glossing over for the sake of simplicity so that a child who is really trying to figure out how whateveritis works can't. Beware high school biology books lol. And physics books.

Nan

[regentrude]

I

I mostly dislike most books meant for less than high school. I have found them to be at best, cute, and more often, useless.

 

I dislike most science books meant for high school. The quality is mostly abysmal. Go for intro college texts, they are MUCH better, and still an appropriate level.

[snowbeltmom]

...However, many universities specifically require the transcript to contain only the coursework of the last four years of high school, even if it is organized by subject.

.

 

I realize that there is never one right answer when it comes to college admissions, but does anyone have a list of the colleges that have stated that the transcript can only contain coursework for the last four years of high school?

 

I have seen this statement many times on these boards, but the statement contradicts what others who have already navigated the whole college admissions process have reported on other homeschooling lists.

 

All of the public schools in my area award high school credit for science, math and foreign language classes that are completed in middle school. The grades obtained in these classes are listed on the students' high school transcripts and are included in the high school gpa's. Based on what my friends in other states tell me, this practice also occurs in their children's public middle schools as well.

 

I just seems strange to me that if the vast majority of colleges only wanted the course work completed within the last 4 years listed on the high school transcript, the public schools would include course work completed in middle school on their kids' transcripts.

 

Now if a student only completed the bare minimum in order to satisfy the high school graduation requirements, and it took him more than four years to complete, I could understand where the college admissions would not look favorably upon that situation, but I don't think that is the situation referred to on these boards when this topic comes up.