where is the "homeschool supplement" on the common app?

[AngieW in Texas]

My dd selected "I am homeschooled." I don't see the homeschool supplement that I've seen everybody talk about. 

 

I want to be able to see it to know whether or not it's worth it to do separate applications or just the common app.

 

I don't see anywhere to enter in  all the courses and course descriptions.

 

Also, in the education section when it asks for current or past year courses, do they want junior year that has been finished or senior year that hasn't started yet?

[mamato4]

Piggybacking onto this topic  (hope you don't mind, AngieW in Texas) as I am stumped with question: "Do you complete applicants' academic ratings on the Common Application School Report?"  

 

I'm not sure what this question is asking.

[regentrude]

I did Common Application last year, and the Homeschool Supplement no longer existed.

If you look at the "Sample School Profile" that was available on the CA website, you will see the following on the top of the 2nd page:

 

HOME SCHOOL SUPERVISORS SHOULD ATTACH AND EXPLAIN:
• Name of homeschooler’s association, if applicable: ___________________________________________
• Any information about the applicant’s home school experience and environment that you believe would be
helpful to the reader (e.g. educational philosophy, motivation for home schooling, instruction setting, etc.).
• Grading scale or other methods of evaluation.
• Any distance learning, traditional secondary school, or higher education coursework not included on the
transcript. List the course title and content, sponsoring institution, instruction setting and schedule, and
frequency of interactions with instructors and fellow students (once per day, week, etc.).
• Standardized testing beyond what is collected in the Common Application.
These questions replace the Home School Supplement.

[regentrude]

Piggybacking onto this topic  (hope you don't mind, AngieW in Texas) as I am stumped with question: "Do you complete applicants' academic ratings on the Common Application School Report?"  

 

I'm not sure what this question is asking.

 

The CA School report has ranking questions. If you are answering those - which you are,  because you are filling it out as the "school" -  the answer to above question is "yes".

 

You can always answer "no basis" for any ranking questions and state class rank as 1/1.

[Matryoshka]

When it says "attach" - do they mean upload doc or pdf files?

 

And does anyone know where you'd put in outside classes for a non-homeschooled kid (I have one of each)?  She did an eIMACS class online last year, and a lot of the Splash and HSSP classes at MIT - and she still did 2 years of German Sat. School during high school - are they considered 'extracurricular activities"?  And are jobs for pay also "extracurricular activities"? - dd says she doesn't see a separate place to put in employment.

 

 

 

 

[regentrude]

When it says "attach" - do they mean upload doc or pdf files?

 

yes

 

 

 

And does anyone know where you'd put in outside classes for a non-homeschooled kid (I have one of each)?  She did an eIMACS class online last year, and a lot of the Splash and HSSP classes at MIT - and she still did 2 years of German Sat. School during high school - are they considered 'extracurricular activities"? 

 

No idea.

 

 

 

 

And are jobs for pay also "extracurricular activities"? - dd says she doesn't see a separate place to put in employment.

 

Yes. If it is not for academic credit, it is extracurricular. Whether it is paid or volunteer would not chnage that.

[mamato4]

I did Common Application last year, and the Homeschool Supplement no longer existed.

If you look at the "Sample School Profile" that was available on the CA website, you will see the following on the top of the 2nd page:

 

OK. I've been trying to find this page and haven't had any luck with my searches. Can you give me the ink, Regentrude?  Thank you!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Had a little trouble finding how to indicate a student was homeschooled.

 

In the Education section.  

Under Current School click on Find a School

Go all the way to the bottom of the list.

 

There will be two options there.  

1) I am/was homeschooled

2) School not listed

 

Pick as appropriate.  That will open up a new set of fields to complete info on address etc.

[regentrude]

OK. I've been trying to find this page and haven't had any luck with my searches. Can you give me the ink, Regentrude?  Thank you!

 

https://recsupport.commonapp.org/link/portal/33011/33014/Article/794/Training-Resources-Library

 

Click on 2015-16 Sample Common Application (pdf)

 

Looks like they have changed the form from last year and have no specific request from homeschoolers. You would simply fill out the school report and attach additional documentation.

 

[angela in ohio]

You put in their senior year classes under Current or Most Recent Courses.

 

Employment goes under Activity, because one of the drop-down options is Work (Paid).

 

The homeschooled section is under the counselor part, not the student's application.  Under "Education" the student marks Home Schooled. Then they enter the parent's contact information as their counselor. The parent receives an email to set up a counselor account (a My Recommender Account), which is where the school profile and homeschool supplement are filled out. There are two relevant sections in the counselor account. Profile is where you fill out information about yourself and your "school." This is where you can upload a school profile you create, which can include the information regentrude pasted. However, the homeschool supplement does still exist under the Students section. When you click on the student's name, you will get a menu with the last option Homeschool. Here you answer several questions about your homeschool: three mandatory questions and one optional.

 

In the School Profile, I answer the mandatory questions. I answer "No basis" for all academic ratings, and "None" for how we report class rank (in my opinion, I don't have classes of one student, I have children who are educated in my home.) I report her GPA and leave "Highest GPA in class" blank.

 

If you don't mark that a student is homeschooled, you will not see the Homeschool supplement section.

 

Someone asked about a non-homeschooled kid. I think there are several good options. They could either list those courses as extracurriculars on their application, they could list them under "Other School" iin the Education section, or they could coordinate with their guidance counselor at school to get them listed on his or her end. I think "Other School" makes the most sense. There is also a section for Colleges/Universities, in case any of their courses were college classes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I did Common Application last year, and the Homeschool Supplement no longer existed.

If you look at the "Sample School Profile" that was available on the CA website, you will see the following on the top of the 2nd page:

 

So the items they listed in your quite were just worked into the "school profile"?

[mamato4]

The homeschooled section is under the counselor part, not the student's application.  There are two relevant sections in the counselor account. Profile is where you fill out information about yourself and your "school." This is where you can upload a school profile you create, which can include the information regentrude pasted. However, the homeschool supplement does still exist under the Students section. When you click on the student's name, you will get a menu with the last option Homeschool. Here you answer several questions about your homeschool: three mandatory questions and one optional.

 

In the School Profile, I answer the mandatory questions. I answer "No basis" for all academic ratings, and "None" for how we report class rank (in my opinion, I don't have classes of one student, I have children who are educated in my home.) I report her GPA and leave "Highest GPA in class" blank.

 

If you don't mark that a student is homeschooled, you will not see the Homeschool supplement section.

 

 

I created a school profile where I wrote out the philosophy of our homeschool.  I was going to upload that document on the "school profile" of the counselor profile section.

 

Now I see that under the student section, there is space to write about our homeschool philosophy, etc. My answers to those questions would be similar to the school profile document I had created. Should I redo my school profile or should I just repeat myself in the student section?

[angela in ohio]

I created a school profile where I wrote out the philosophy of our homeschool.  I was going to upload that document on the "school profile" of the counselor profile section.

 

Now I see that under the student section, there is space to write about our homeschool philosophy, etc. My answers to those questions would be similar to the school profile document I had created. Should I redo my school profile or should I just repeat myself in the student section?

 

I went back to see what I did with older dd's application. It looks like I uploaded the school profile with general info about our homeschool, and then I wrote more about the individual student's experience under the homeschool supplement questions in the student section.

 

My school profile had a statement of our homeschool philosophy, a list of grading methodology for each subject, and a rationale for how credits and quality points were awarded. It was two pages. I also included course descriptions in the same document uploaded under school profile. Those were another 8 pages.

[JanetC]

The CA School report has ranking questions. If you are answering those - which you are,  because you are filling it out as the "school" -  the answer to above question is "yes".

 

You can always answer "no basis" for any ranking questions and state class rank as 1/1.

 

Or, if you answer "no" the ranking questions become optional instead of required, and you can just skip them.

 

I was giving myself a headache trying to figure out what to say! For example, I have no idea what percentile my kid is in "extracurricular achievements" - she did do EC's, but not for competitive prizes upon which to rank her achievements. On the other hand, "no basis" sounds like I've never met my own kid. I was giving myself headaches! Much easier to leave the whole thing blank. Answering "no" gives you that option.

[Joules]

I created a school profile where I wrote out the philosophy of our homeschool.  I was going to upload that document on the "school profile" of the counselor profile section.

 

Now I see that under the student section, there is space to write about our homeschool philosophy, etc. My answers to those questions would be similar to the school profile document I had created. Should I redo my school profile or should I just repeat myself in the student section?

 

I'm a little late to the Common App, so sorry for resurrecting this thread.  My take on this was in the counselor part *I* am supposed to talk about our homeschool, but on the student part, ds is supposed to be discussing his take on it and his philosophy.  I was thinking we'd need to coordinate somewhat so they make sense together, but that his reasons for continuing to homeschool and his approach to it will likely be different from mine.

 

Is that what other people have done?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm a little late to the Common App, so sorry for resurrecting this thread. My take on this was in the counselor part *I* am supposed to talk about our homeschool, but on the student part, ds is supposed to be discussing his take on it and his philosophy. I was thinking we'd need to coordinate somewhat so they make sense together, but that his reasons for continuing to homeschool and his approach to it will likely be different from mine.

 

Is that what other people have done?

The counselor login has a section where you can address the homeschool. This is where I put our school profile. I can also add a counselor recommendation for each of my students. (If I had twins, the school profile would be the same but I would have different recommendations for each student.)

 

These are separate from what the student himself can submit within his login for example in the essay or writing supplement.

 

I feel that being specific in the counselor section lets the student spend their essay on topics that don't relate solely to their method of education. IOW he gets to talk about what is most significant to him about who he is rather than making his defining quality by homeschooling.

[Joules]

The counselor login has a section where you can address the homeschool. This is where I put our school profile. I can also add a counselor recommendation for each of my students. (If I had twins, the school profile would be the same but I would have different recommendations for each student.)

 

These are separate from what the student himself can submit within his login for example in the essay or writing supplement.

 

I feel that being specific in the counselor section lets the student spend their essay on topics that don't relate solely to their method of education. IOW he gets to talk about what is most significant to him about who he is rather than making his defining quality by homeschooling.

 

Oh, I was not thinking of the main common app essay.  I was thinking of ds explaining his education in the special circumstances section.  I think I read somewhere that I should do that?

[JanetC]

Oh, I was not thinking of the main common app essay. I was thinking of ds explaining his education in the special circumstances section. I think I read somewhere that I should do that?

Only if he feels there is something left out in the other parts of the application. It's not going to look bad to leave it blank.

[Joules]

Only if he feels there is something left out in the other parts of the application. It's not going to look bad to leave it blank.

 

Can he continue his main essay in that section? :laugh:  It turns out 650 words is not nearly enough for him. Earlier today I got the random comment "Spaces are so over-rated" as he contemplated just running the words together to make fewer words.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Oh, I was not thinking of the main common app essay.  I was thinking of ds explaining his education in the special circumstances section.  I think I read somewhere that I should do that?

 

What I've done is to separate in my head the factual details of the course of study from the practical implications and consequences of his educational experience.

 

Counselor side - School profile has details about what education at our homeschool looked like.  The counselor recommendation has comments specific to ds, like how he dealt with moving during high school.  The recommendation would not apply to other students, like his brother.

 

Student application side - main essay lets him address what he things makes him special or whatever other prompt he wants to take on.  The special circumstances lets him address homeschooling or moving or other issues that might contextualize his application, but may not be what he wants to have as the focus of the application.

 

I don't think that this is something that there is only one way to complete.  You could have a really specific school profile for each of your homeschool kids.  The counselor recommendation is optional, so there could be a number of students with very scant or no recommendation.

[quark]

Bumping for this year's applicants!

[Hilltopmom]

Aghhh, I have another year but feel like I should start writing my "homeschool philosophy" out now. I am not good with getting important thoughts like that eloquently on paper.

 

Any samples anywhere ?

[quark]

See JeanM's counselor letter thread!

 

There is also a sample or 2 on the hs2coll yahoo group's files!

 

Good luck!

[JanetC]

The Homeschool Supplement does not exist in the Common App anymore.

 

You may answer "no" to the "Do you provide academic rankings..."  This will change certain "rank the student" questions from required to optional.

 

If you find it pretentious to name your kid the valedictorian of a class of one and the top 1% of the kids you have taught over your career, you can say "no" and leave these questions blank.