What Course Information Needed for Future Transcript?

[wendyroo]

My oldest is finishing up Algebra 1, his first official high school course.  Since he is only in 5th grade, I will not be writing his transcript and course descriptions for a good many years, and I want to record all the information I will need now while it is fresh in my brain.

What will I need?  What might I need?  What might I want to make my life easier down the road?

I know I need a course title.  I think Honors Algebra 1 is the most applicable because I estimate he has put in 180-200 hours using AOPS Algebra which I deem an Honors text.

I know I should record resources used.  Primarily he used AOPS Intro to Algebra.  Should I also note what supplementary materials he used, or is that just clutter?

I'm not sure what dates or timing are important.  He started at the beginning of 2019, mid-4th grade.  He is finishing now at the end of 5th grade.

I know he needs a grade.  He has solidly earned an A: lots of hard work, mastery of concepts, good retention of information and skills.

What else?  I have seen suggestions such as scope and sequence, method of grading, and evaluation of credit.  I found a sentence describing the scope and sequence on the AOPS website.  But I don't have a clue what to write for/about method of grading or evaluation of credit.

Thanks.

[8filltheheart]

For courses completed prior to 9th, I just list as <9th, not individual yrs/grade levels. In terms of assigning grades, it can be as simple as based on graded assignments, completed to mastery, based on discussion/oral exams, based on essays, etc....however you determine progression.

[Lori D.]

While anything done before 9th grade can be handled as 8FillTheHeart suggests, you might want to start "practicing" record keeping now.

A transcript is very brief and for each course, you only include: Course Name, Grade Earned, Credit Earned, and either grade/year, or date of completion.

If you end up outsourcing courses, then you may want to also footnote your course providers on the transcript. Example:

HIGH SCHOOL COURSES COMPLETED BEFORE 9th GRADE
course . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . . . . .  grade
Algebra 1 . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . . . . . . X
Spanish 1 . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . . . . . . X
Spanish 2 . . . . . .  1.00 . . . . . . . . X
Biology . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . . . . . . X

MATH
course . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . . . . .  grade
Algebra 2¹ . . . . . . 1.00. . . . . . . . X
Geometry² . . . . . . 1.00. . . . . . . . X
Pre-Calculus³ . . . . 1.00. . . . . . . . X
Calculus⁴ . . . . . . .  1.00. . . . . . . . X
Statistics⁵ . . . . . . .  1.00. . . . . . . . X
total credits/GPA . . . 6.00 . . . . . . . grade

1 = home directed course
2 = outsourced provider: Art of Problem Solving Online Class
3 = outsourced provider: Derek Owens Online Class
4 = dual enrollment: XYZ Community College
5 = dual enrollment: ABC University

Where you would want that additional information that you are asking about is for a separate Course Description list. These are short 3-5 sentence paragraphs to flesh out each course. Info would include:
- if outsourced: teacher and course provider
- sentence describing the overall focus of the course, or a broad overview of the topics covered
- MAJOR text(s) and resource(s) or books read (not every single thing where an excerpt was used needs to be listed -- that can be grouped as: "Major resources used for this course include: X textbook, Y resource, and Z resource, as well as excerpts from a number of additional resources and supplements."
- optional: list how grade was arrived at (example: 50% = daily exercises; 30% = end-of-unit quizzes; 20% = semester-end exams) -- usually this is only needed for unusual courses or where atypical "output" was used to evaluate progress

If there is a short paragraph describing what the textbook covers, then copy-paste that and save yourself some effort. The main thing to remember is that you do not want to bludgeon the admissions officer who will be reading this material -- a short paragraph per course, a bit longer if it was a specially-designed and unique course, and extra-short if it is a standard/traditional course is all you need on the Course Description Document.

Just as a general practice for high school record keeping, I recommend updating records at the end of each semester, by updating the transcript, and including booklists and resources. It's also nice to have a file box to throw all of the certificates and proof of extracurriculars, log of community service hours, photos of special projects, programs from student performances/recitals, and a handful of samples of daily work, quizzes/tests, writing assignments, science lab reports, or other "output" for each course. 

If you need more info on Transcripts or Course Description documents, check out PAGE 1 of "High School Motherlode #2", the big pinned thread at the top of the high school board. Tons of links to informative past threads on a wide variety of topics -- that particular page of that "motherlode" thread has the past threads on transcripts and record keeping.

BEST of luck, as you begin the occasional wearing of your homeschool high school administrator hat! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Lori D.