Transcripts/planning high school

[jclinton]

I've been following the planning for high school post very carefully and love Lori's advice. However my palms get sweaty and I have a near anxiety attack thinking about options/transcripts etc. Could someone share with me their thoughts/resources for transcripts. I'm wondering where to start and the best way to organize this.

DD had seen some material for College Plus and was excited to do this program but I'm not sure it's for us. I have some time to review everything as she is in 7th chronologically but could eassily skip 8th grade and go straight to high school work. However, Mom might have a heart attack if that were the case.

Thanks for the help,

JoAnne

[regentrude]

The actual transcript is the last thing you need to worry about - you won't need that until college applications. If you search here for "transcript", several threads should come up, as this is frequently discussed. The two basic ways are to either list courses by year, or by subject (math, science, english, social sciences...).

Right now, I would focus on the series of coursework you want your DD to take and make a lose plan. You also do not need to make a big decision about skipping 8th grade - just have her work at her level;' you can later decide whether the work she did that year is high school level and either do nothing, or relabel that year as 9th grade. You can wait with this decision until it is time for the PSAT in Junior year.

My DD was working on high school level in some subjects in 7th grade. We had not thought about a formal grade skip and just had her continue working at her pace. It was only after she took her first two college courses in 8th grade and finished on top of her class that we decided to call this 9th and consider 8th as skipped. Had she not been as mature as she is, we would not have made this decision at that point, but had waited two more years before making it final.

[JanetC]

Downloading a random transcript template provides a good framework towards thinking about what boxes need to be filled in... I started the transcript the summer after 8th grade. Of course, many of the "classes" (for all but 9th) just said-- "Some English", "Some Science", etc. You don't have to decide all four years, just give yourself a template to follow. I did put in plans for the typical graduation requirements for my state, such as Health, US Government, etc. to make sure they wouldn't be forgotten.

 

Also, grade "eight-and-a-half" is an option. Your transcript needs to include at least four years, but you can have a section for "credits earned before 9th grade" if some 8th grade work ends up counting as high school but other parts don't.

 

--Janet

[G5052]

Don't sweat the transcript too much. I used a template, and then have just a basic Word file behind it where I wrote a 2-3 sentence summary and listed the books used. Most schools don't want to see the detailed part, but I wanted to have that to jog my memory. I also have it completely filled out even for the years ahead so that I can use it as a sort of planning document as well. A friend of mine used the same template and basically generated her kid's in an afternoon so that he could graduate a year early and start at the community college. They barely looked at it.

 

And every kid is different. I have one that I thought we'd advance, but it turns out that they are happier just broadening and deepening the work without graduating early. And yes, they have some "pre-9th" credits.

 

Now is the time to record, and then you can put it into final form at the end.

[Chris in VA]

I used the sample template from Covenant College, and included a booklist (since we did Great Books). (The transcript samples are about halfway down the page.)

Keeping grades was easy, and that's really what a transcript is--a list of grades and course names, with a little extra info.

I believe it should usually be a one-page, easily-read document. You can always add to it, but the transcript itself is pretty easy and should be highly accessible to the admissions folks.

[Lori D.]

Welcome to high school prep! :)

 

Just adding my encouragement to you, and agreeing with the previous posters. A transcript is merely a list of what classes your student has completed in high school, along with the grades for each, plus the GPA for all the classes.

 

 

There are lots of ways to take the fear out of transcripts. :)

 

Can you talk with some local homeschoolers who have taken their students through high school, graduation, and into college? Look for a homeschool group in your area that has high school families, and some moms who can walk & talk you through what they did.

 

Doing a little reading/research can help alleviate fears. Here are two free web resources to get you started:

- HSLDA website: transcript article and links

- Donna Young website: transcript info and samples

 

 

More options for materials that "teach you how" to do transcripts -- and other high school topics -- include:

- Setting the Record Straight: How to Craft Homeschool Transcripts... by Lee Binz

- Homeschoolers' College Admissions Handbook... by Cafi Cohen

- Homeschooling High School: Planning Ahead... by Jeanne Gowen Dennis

- College Prep Homeschooling by David & Chandra Byers

- Lee Binz, the Home Scholar - video tutorials, articles, and other materials on transcripts, record keeping, and other high school topics.

- Inge Cannon, TranscriptPro - video tutorials, articles, and other materials on transcripts & record keeping

- Transcript Boot Camp DVD, Transcript Pro software, by Inge Cannon

 

 

Another option is to pay someone else to do it for you! There are many "cover" or "umbrella" schools that will do that. If that is too expensive or restrictive, then there are online transcript services, such as this one or this one, and/or record keeping services, such as this one.

 

 

And finally, a great way to combat that fear is by advance research and practice! Look at some transcript samples; read (see above resources) about what goes into a transcript and how to calculate GPA, etc. Then practice with your 7th and 8th grade semesters! By high school, you'll be a pro. ;)

 

 

BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

[Lori D.]

PS -- In case you'd like more info on College Plus, my understanding is that the minimum age is junior and senior years of high school, so you're still 3.5 years away from having to decide. Here and here (links to 3 past threads in the second link here) are past threads on College Plus.

 

Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Candid]

The only thing I would encourage you to do is to write your course descriptions either the summer before or the summer after you do them. Waiting until the summer after junior year is just asking for a horrible summer.

[Janice in NJ]

Good Morning JoAnne,

 

The Four-Year Plan with the Movable Tiles found here is a nice planning tool. Read about hsing high school to get some ideas. Think about your kids, their personalities, their goals, and your family's resources. Then use the Four-Year Plan with the Tiles to daydream and try out a couple of scenarios. Once you have a plan that you feel comfortable with, then you can locate materials to carry it out. (There will be lots of changes. That's good.) Then you make the transcript to report your progress.

 

The process seems daunting, especially if you are trying to understand it completely before you start. The understanding comes with the doing on this one. Do the research to get a general understanding of what's best for your gang. Work with the planning tools. Things will start to sharpen into focus.

 

Peace,

Janice

 

http://debrabell.com/homeschool-tools/high-school-home/

[elegantlion]

We're at the beginning of the process and have basically followed the advice of the wonderful people on this board. A few things I did was:

• don't worry about the actual transcript yet, as much about what will go on it
  
• check the local school graduation requirements to see who my son may be competing with for college admission
  
• check the state public school requirements (which in our case were slightly different than our local school - state requires minimum 24 credits to graduate, our local school does 28)
  
• check admission to state schools (which may be more or less than local school)
  
• Formulate a 4 year rough plan ( 4 years each of English, sci, math, history, etc.)
  
• Take my son's personal abilities and interests into mind. (he wants 4 years of Japanese, he's into philosophy and physics)
  
• Along the way I'm keeping Lori D.'s testing dates in mind (I honestly haven't worried about them this year because he's an average student - next year I'll start looking into test prep stuff)
  
• Discuss a lot with ds. I give him options for electives and language.
  
• Know your limits. Are you willing to plan classes? Do you want a schedule all laid out? Do you need to follow any state requirements for testing etc?
  
• What skills will they learn through each subject? Often I think about the skill I want him to learn via this coverage. The real learning is the skill, not necessarily memorizing all the material (for instance using a textbook and taking notes from a lecture)
  
• What subject do I need to shore up so he can advance? (writing skills and math are his areas)
  
• What subjects may get less than rigorous coverage so he can go more in depth in another subject? (Some of this you may not see until your student gets into it, or doesn't. My son is not a huge fan of history. I could study history and art history all day. I've had to adjust my history expectations to allow more time for science.)
  
• What level of outside activities can I handle? How many days/hours away from the academic work can we do and still keep up academics? Prioritizing?
  
• 9th graders are not 12th graders. This advice really helped a lot. We've finished 18 weeks of freshman year and we've progressed, but some of it seems to have gone by so fast. His abilities have increased even in this 18 weeks.
  
• My personal advice is this is not the time to give them a list and ship them off alone to do their work. My son is 15, he's fascinating. We have some of the best discussions stemming from many subjects. We have much better interaction now than 2 years ago. Use this time to find out who you student is as a person. Allow for humor and some antics, allow for them to stretch their wings a bit in discussion. It's become more about two people talking than a mother/son, teacher/student discussion.
  
• DON'T PANIC - best advice ever.