How to categorize activities for a future transcript

[zaichiki]

Dd follows a lot of rabbit trails and is always very busy in her "free" time.  She reads a lot -- that's easy to track. She keeps a reading list.

 

But what about interests and activities related to history, science, and the arts?  How will we decide (in the future) how much of a certain activity, grouped together, can describe a "course" for a transcript? (Understandably, not every little thing she does will go on a transcript, but it can't hurt to keep track just in case certain interests, conveniently, work well together to  flesh out a course of study.)

 

Here's a brief example: dd has spent a lot of time folding intricate paper flowers recently (origami). Hypothetically, in the future, where could this fit?  Into a Japanese culture study?  As part of art coursework (paper as the medium)?  Help me wrap my brain around the possibilities, please.

 

I would love to read about your own examples!  What did your kids spend time doing during the high school years that you were able to group as a "course"? How many different activities worked together to create a course? Did you list resources? How did you describe the course of study for the transcript?

 

 

[Aludlam]

Following this.

[regentrude]

I would only do this for electives, and only if there is some instructional/ academic component to the subject. 

DD is a passionate cook and baker, and I counted her baking projects as part of a Culinary Chemistry half credit - but only because she also watched Great Courses lectures, online tutorials, and read a classic book on kitchen science, and because her academic transcript was so strong that the inclusion of this credit could not be construed as padding the transcript. I wrote a course description:

 

" This course is an introduction to the basic scientific principles behind cooking and food preparation with practical applications in the kitchen. The behavior of key ingredients in various cooking techniques is studied. The student created a wide variety of dishes and desserts, demonstrating different techniques and chemical principles " and listed book and lecture titles.

 

Our art and music credits incorporate a large number of museum visits and live performances, but again, augmented by background reading and GC lectures, and our PE credit in rock climbing/mountaineering is all hands on learning by direct instruction during the activities.

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2016 by regentrude

[zaichiki]

I would only do this for electives, and only if there is some instructional/ academic component to the subject. 

DD is a passionate cook and baker, and I counted her baking projects as part of a Culinary Chemistry half credit - but only because she also watched Great Courses lectures, online tutorials, and read a classic book on kitchen science, and because her academic transcript was so strong that the inclusion of this credit could not be construed as padding the transcript. I wrote a course description:

 

" This course is an introduction to the basic scientific principles behind cooking and food preparation with practical applications in the kitchen. The behavior of key ingredients in various cooking techniques is studied. The student created a wide variety of dishes and desserts, demonstrating different techniques and chemical principles " and listed book and lecture titles.

 

Our art and music credits incorporate a large number of museum visits and live performances, but again, augmented by background reading and GC lectures, and our PE credit in rock climbing/mountaineering is all hands on learning by direct instruction during the activities.

 

Oh... cooking!  Thanks for sharing! I hadn't thought to include that. Dd spends a lot of time baking.  She has watched many online tutorials and television shows on the subject and collects cookbooks... I will have to look for those Great Courses lectures.  I think she'd like that!  A classic kitchen science book?  That sounds interesting...

 

I'm not concerned about transcript padding.  Dd will have a strong enough transcript.  I am interested in keeping track, though, in order to honestly give credit where credit is due...  (She spends a lot of her time following her interests and I want to make sure that I, and others in her life, appreciate that the time spent is valuable.)  Plus it can't hurt to have these records "just in case" we want to put them into a college application transcript.  (As of right now she is certain she's conservatory-bound to a school/schools where the admission is by audition only.)

 

I'm also really interested in hearing about the various ways this has worked for people.

[Corraleno]

DS's Fine Arts credits were pieced together this way. Three Lukeion workshops (4 weeks each) on Greek architecture, sculpture, and vase painting + three Lukeion trips to classical archaeological sites + additional museum visits + part of a Coursera course on Roman Architecture + some additional reading became a half-credit in Classical Art & Architecture. His other arts credit is World Music, which included college lectures on iTunes U + reading the text that went with that + researching and teaching himself 7 different styles of throat singing as well as learning to play the digeridoo. He actually had more than enough hours to make both of those full credits, rather than half-credits, but he has plenty of credits and I felt that a full credit would have required more academic output. A solid research paper for each class could have bumped it to a full credit, but he didn't need the credits and didn't want to do the additional work.

[MerryAtHope]

You can keep lists for now, and then consider the possible groupings later. 

 

For example, my daughter started watching tutorials on painting and drawing techniques and painting murals in her bedroom. Then she enrolled in art classes last spring, and will again this fall. She practices drawing, painting, origami, and other various art forms frequently. When she has at least 60-90 hours, she'll get a half-credit for art (which she'll have this fall--she may even end up with enough for a full credit if she has 120-180 credits). 

 

My son took Japanese for foreign language, and his class included time spent learning about the culture and sometimes history. I didn't count that time separately, but it did give us the idea to do a "formal" half-credit class on Japanese history and culture (which I put together using various resources). 

 

My oldest also earned a half-credit in fine arts through volunteer theater work over a couple of summers. It was a good combination of instruction and hands-on experience.

 

Some things are worth listing under "activities" on the transcript, rather than for credit. (As an example, my dd spent a lot of time preparing for and participating in science fairs and has won awards; this info would be "lost" within a science credit, but is highlighted when listed under activities.) And, some things are "just for fun" and don't need to be listed anywhere--they just enrich the student and benefit the student without needing to be listed. 

 

If you are going to give credit, look for an instructional component as regentrude mentioned, and also for sufficient hours (60-90 for a half-credit, 120-180 for a full credit. I tend to go towards the higher range for academic classes, but will sometimes use the lower range for electives.)

 

Have fun!

Edited September 2, 2016 by MerryAtHope

[Dmmetler]

I would definitely save some activities as activities. I realized, while going though DD's application in how much I've listed activities as part of classes, and the result was that it really looks like she doesn't do much outside of school!

[Lori D.]

Agreeing with previous posters.

For example, from what you mentioned in your original post about the origami:

If the origami is just a hobby or a short-term personal interest (even though one has to "learn/study" how to do it), I would not include it as part of a credit. I would not even list it as an extracurricular activity, unless it has been a years-long/many hours a month hobby, or unless she "does" something with it other than enjoys it for personal pleasure/interest -- like: teaches origami to others, develops/innovates new origami creations or uses it in an innovative way to explore/understand science and math concepts, or writes her own book on origami, or creates a website based around the origami, etc. Then, definitely you want to highlight the origami as either an extracurricular, or personal achievement, or as part of a credit.

However, if it is just an enjoyable activity to make intricate paper flowers, at most, I would include it in a college admissions or scholarship essay or application to show who she is as a unique person. Example: "I have always had a great interest in the creative arts, and over the years, I have explored a wide variety of artistic activities and hobbies, such as origami, baking pastries and desserts, and ......." (knitting, jewelry-making, or whatever else). That allows those activities to be mentioned, and also allows them to best "shine" for DD, rather than hiding them away as part of a credit...

She sounds like a very active, busy, smart young lady. I'm sure that by the time you reach the end of your high school years, you'll have accumulated LOADS of very strong material to choose from for putting together rock-solid credits and an extracurriculars list, and it will be perfectly fine to let some things not be listed, or allow them to come up in an interview as an interesting extra or point of connection with the interviewer. Good luck in your record-keeping and administration hat-wearing for homeschooling high school!   :hat:  Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Lori D.

[PeterPan]

Jumping to the end here.  Lee Binz suggests writing all those things done on post-it notes and then re-arranging them later, after they've accumulated, to turn into things.  So the origami could go art, language, geography, lots of directions, depending on what it's paired with, and you won't know that till she does more things.  

 

So yeah, just post its and let it happen.  Let her do her stuff, and it will work out.  She'll need at art credit and you'll go oh that's art!  Then you'll realize you didn't do x and you'l take some more of those things and turn them into that.  

 

Right now my dd is studying a thick, 2 volume series on fashion history from japan.  It could really go a bunch of directions, depending on what we pair it with.  At this point she has so much going, I don't fret it.  I know the overall things we'll want (your typical, 4X4, etc.), so we flex and rearrange.

Edited September 4, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[PeterPan]

PS.  I've eval'd lots of high school transcripts, but when I need to get my butt in gear, I watch a Lee Binz workshop.  She has free sessions frequently if you get on her email list. She uses a lot of exclamation points and keeps it fun, and usually by the end, if I'm working while she's talking, I've got something typed up and almost done.  I did that when dd was in 8th, just to see where we were going, and again in 9th or 10th, I forget.  She's just fun.  It's sort of like having your girlfriends over and going ok, now we're really gonna do this!  :D

 

Fwiw, Lee Binz suggests doing it at the end of each year, which is really smart.  Like I don't think you necessarily HAVE to shove every single thing you did into courses, but take those spare things, put them on post-it notes to hold the thoughts, and go ahead and write up what you know you're good on.  That way you're not hanging later, going wow what did we do for that...

[quark]

I use an Excel spreadsheet version of post its. Depending on the interest, my sheet will have a column to track estimated (very rough idea) time spent on the activity. When it was time to pull things into courses vs extra curriculars for the transcript, the spreadsheets made it easier for me to decide. I also kept a blog up for a period of time and reading old posts and looking at photos reminded me of some of the high school level things done that would have definitely counted for a transcript. The blog posts also helped me craft course descriptions for those courses.

 

Although DS is learning Japanese language, arts and culture, I am leaving out origami as a part of it but I think DS will mention it briefly in an essay because he also mentors kids and the origami mentoring is a small part of his community service efforts. Depending on how things unfold (hee hee, small pun there), you could weave it into Japanese/ Fine Arts or DD could weave it into her essays.

[zaichiki]

I love the post-it idea... and taking pictures of things... to evaluate later.

 

I'm not planning to pad a transcript or force every little thing into a transcript listing... but thanks for the reminder, because one can easily get carried away and I wouldn't want to head in that direction.

 

Enjoying reading what your kids have done and how you've kept track/categorized!   :001_smile: