Volunteer Hours

[MASHomeschooler]

My oldest will be going to a high school that doesn't require volunteer hours. Should she still track them? And if so, should she be having someone "sign off", or just track them herself? Basically, at some point will colleges (or some other entity) want to know exactly how much volunteering she has done, and will they want it verified, or will just listing it be fine? Also, are there any online site commonly used for tracking, or do you just track in something like Excel?

[Penguin]

My son is working on the Congressional Award, so he has to have his hours tracked and verified. I think it is highly unlikely that any college would ask for proof that an applicant volunteered somewhere, but stranger things have happened...

I think it could be useful to be able to say "Volunteered more than ___ hours at ____" if the number is substantial. Keeping track and creating a simple verification form is not too tedious unless she is planning a handful of hours at lots of different places. My son has two steady volunteer gigs and he just gets his hours signed off once a quarter or thereabouts. Between verifications, hours are tracked using a table in a shared One-Note page.

[Bambam]

Keep records. We tracked the teens volunteer hours. We never had any proof.  There is a spot on our state's college common app for volunteer hours - but it wants them in the form of organization - how many hours per week or per month. So, we ended up averaging over a period of a year. 

[mytwomonkeys]

My daughter will be a junior at our public high school. They do not require volunteer hours for graduation requirements, however, she does need the hours for the scholarship we plan to apply for. We have a form that requires filling out every time she does something & we get it signed by the person in charge. This is required for the path we are taking. I plan to do the same thing with my son entering high school, as the Bright Futures scholarship requires it from homeschoolers as well. 

I would probably err on the side of caution & keep up with everything in writing. It’s better to have it and not need it then vice versa.

[Angie in VA]

Echoing all the YES votes. 

Two Congressional Award gold medalists here. Keep those records!

[school17777]

She might need them for NHS

[MASHomeschooler]

Thanks, everyone! We will be sure to track them. 

And thanks to those that mentioned the Congressional Award; that looks like a great program, which I was not familiar with.

[Penguin]

10 hours ago, MASHomeschooler said:

Thanks, everyone! We will be sure to track them. 

And thanks to those that mentioned the Congressional Award; that looks like a great program, which I was not familiar with.

There is a good thread somewhere here about the Congressional Award. I'll see if I can find it.

[Penguin]

Found it:

https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/634455-congressional-award-discussion-questions-updates-etc/

 

[madteaparty]

I don’t want to start counting volunteering hours now in high school but I guess we need to?  I’m not sure how I feel about that.

[daijobu]

We aren't going for a Congressional award, so I'm not tracking hours.  You may be asked on college app's how much time per week she devotes to each volunteer gig.  I figure it won't be too hard to figure, since for example she goes in once a week to a local school to teach for about an hour.  If she's doing any prep work she may add that in as well.  A couple of years ago she volunteer coached a MathCounts team, again, one hour a week, not too hard to track.  

My own public high school did not have a volunteer requirement, so it was only when I needed to complete college apps that I needed to think back. 

My dd's homeschool graduation requirements (defined by me) also do not require volunteering for graduation, just because I'm somewhat philosophically opposed.  (But I don't feel strongly about it either, it just seems silly and outside of the scope of education per se.)  

[Kareni]

On 4/16/2018 at 8:47 AM, Margaret in CO said:

Definitely track them! Many colleges and many scholarships require that info. 

Yes, this was our experience, too.

Regards,
Kareni

[Lanny]

Based upon what we learned at the school fair we attended in Bogotá 3 nights ago (Duke, Georgetown, Harvard and Penn had Admissions people there) I would STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to do that and to document it.  They are VERY interested in who the student is outside of the classroom and outside of studying.

[RootAnn]

On 4/17/2018 at 12:41 PM, daijobu said:

My dd's homeschool graduation requirements (defined by me) also do not require volunteering for graduation, just because I'm somewhat philosophically opposed.  (But I don't feel strongly about it either, it just seems silly and outside of the scope of education per se.)  

The local schools require a certain number of hours of volunteer hours (which, since they require it, can't be called "volunteer" so they just call it "community service") each year and a total amount to graduate. They post these publicly and rank the kids based on how many hours they submit. 

I am all for kids volunteering - I am just against schools requiring it.

FWIW, we're not tracking hours. This likely means that we'll miss marking something down or not remember all the one-time situations but we'll remember the long-term, consistent activities -- which, ultimately, are the type of things the schools are looking for to see if the kid is involved & helpful to those around them. (Many kids around here, IMO, show up just because of the requirements but don't actually have any heart for the activity. I'd rather see 2-3 dedicated kids than 10 that goof off & detract from the cause.)