Do I need to drop our cover school, or can it wait?

[beaners]

We use an unaccredited cover school in order to meet our state laws for enrollment. The law has changed and does allow self reporting now, but we have kept reporting under the cover school. They are very hands off, and getting that stamp of approval makes all the medical professionals and social workers who come in contact with our family happy.

The downside is that they are not based within our county, so they do not have DE agreements with local colleges or universities. With the changes in the law, self reporting families are eligible for DE. You can start taking classes in 10th grade. I have a rising 7th grader who will have high school credits for math and foreign language earned before high school. 

If we did not need DE I would stay with the cover the whole way through and have them provide a transcript and diploma. We need DE. The material I teach is exactly identical regardless of whether we use the cover or not. I do everything and provide the cover with the transcript that they issue to others. (We have already done this for my current high schoolers, but they need the records for benefits and not college.)

Do I need to do anything differently on our transcript in the long run if we are enrolled in the cover school when these credits are earned? I want to make this as easy as possible later, but I'm not sure if I'm worrying about it too far ahead. On the other hand, this kid might end up finishing high school early (not my first choice) so the next couple years might be part of her last four years before graduation. 

 

TL;DR  Will credits earned while enrolled in a cover school change how I write a transcript after leaving the cover school?

 

[8filltheheart]

I lived in a state where the laws changed mid-stream.  I stayed with our cover simply bc it was the path of least resistance.  But, if I had dropped our cover, I would have totally done our entire transcript myself.  I did anyway, even with our cover.  I simply submitted it to them and had them put their seal on it.

I think it is completely bizarre how anyone believes a cover actually means anything other than paper pushing.  We have moved to a different state and have to use a cover.  Here I am calling myself "XXX Satellite School of _________" under ___code.  I am planning on simply submitting my transcript to them the same way we did in our last state.  (Though there are definitely homeschoolers in this state who believe that using cover X is vastly superior to cover y.  My thoughts on the matter are 😕 A cover has zero influence on what goes on in anyone's home, so how a "cover" label means anything is completely and totally bogus.).

[GoodGrief]

I don't think it will be a big deal, but some schools may want a transcript sent directly from the cover school for any high school years in which the student is enrolled. But you would still want to list courses taken while in the charter on your own final transcript.

[8filltheheart]

11 minutes ago, GoodGrief1 said:

I don't think it will be a big deal, but some schools may want a transcript sent directly from the cover school for any high school years in which the student is enrolled. But you would still want to list courses taken while in the charter on your own final transcript.

Our experience is that there is a huge difference between a cover and a charter. You pay the cover to report attendance to the appropriate school board. The cover keeps files on record of grade levels, attendance, and subjects being taught. Some may ask for more info, some less. Some may offer standardized tests to members, but not require it. Some may ask for it. But they are not teaching your child courses or providing you any materials (unless they happen to run a store, too, and you buy materials from their store.) You just tell them what you are doing, and they keep record of it.

Charters receive govt funding and in turn offer educational programs to their enrolled students. But, covers tend to function simply as homeschooling without reporting attendance to the state directly. 

At least that has been our experience in the 2 states we have lived in that have (or had) required homeschooling legally only through ccover schools. (I lived in a state that recently went to allowing direct reporting, so I wondered if the OP was from that state.)

However, if the cover was more than a paper pusher and an actual educational provider, then I agree that a transcript from them is probably going to be necessary.

[beaners]

Right, it is just a cover school that "supervises" what we do at home. They make no recommendations on materials or courses beyond requiring a certain number of credits in certain subjects for a diploma. Legally we are enrolled with them and have a slip filed at the Board of Education, and they issue transcripts for us when we supply them with grades and course descriptions. 

This particular cover is extremely relaxed and unschooling friendly, so I laugh that it makes other people happy that we are "accountable" to them compared to when we were doing regular homeschooling in our last state. We are doing the same exact thing we always do. 

[GoodGrief]

That sounds like the way the programs we worked with functioned, though one of ours was technically a “charter school.” I understood what you meant 🙂 It May still be true that a college would ask for a transcript directly from the program from the 9th grade year or whatever. We switched programs for one daughter after 9th grade, and a couple of places asked for a transcript directly from the program. Again, unlikely to be a big deal, and I think you are probably fine to stick with your program until you want to switch out for dual enrollment purposes.