Transcript-- Do you include if classes were outsourced?

[ByGrace3]

Trying to decide if this information should be included-- in 9th and 10th grade dd has taken classes with Mr D math, College Prep Science, Berean Builders, and Schole Academy, and next year she will do DE at two different schools. I know I will need to include DE info, but what about the high school classes? Does this help? muddy up the transcript?

[kokotg]

I did; I added a key at the bottom that said which classes came from where. We didn't have that many different places, though...I think I'd still have included them, but I guess you could just talk about it elsewhere in the application (in your course descriptions) for non DE classes. But having it on the transcript makes it clear which grades are from you and which are from someone else. 

[teachermom2834]

I did not. I only listed course names for high school classes that were not de. Had I done course descriptions, which I did not, I would have included that info there. 

[lewelma]

I only indicated they were outsourced on the *transcript* if the school was accredited. I listed non-accredited homeschool programs in the resource list in my *course description*.

So my transcript had for outsourced: the university, the official NZ correspondence school, AoPS, and ABRSM (royal school of music UK). All accredited. 

The course descriptions included in the resource section: the homeschool chemistry labs class, OCW and EdX, and the homeschool technology course that my son took. 

[Farrar]

I would not emphasize it. I agree with Ruth that in the course descriptions is where this information really belongs. However, if you want to emphasize that your student had a lot of quality outside teachers, you could mark the courses that were "outside" courses or include a little key for them as suggested. Just don't make it a major emphasis of the transcript. I've now seen a lot that do this and I think it makes it look odd.

[ByGrace3]

Another question for you awesome ladies, do you fill out the same address for "Student information" and "school information"? It seems redundant but I don't know if I should put something else there or if "school info" is standard and expected at the top of the transcript? 

[Farrar]

I've never seen a homeschool transcript that had the address on there twice. That would look odd. I generally encourage parents to put a line on the transcript that it was a home based program or a home education program or something along those lines, just to clarify. You don't want to hide it, anyway.

[kokotg]

This is what it looked like on my oldest's transcript, btw:

 

[lewelma]

At the top:  on the left we put his name and address , on the right we put 'school: home educated', graduation date, and GPA

[ByGrace3]

One more! Did you all do weighted and unweighted GPA's?

[ByGrace3]

Ok, so maybe on the right top part where it has "school info," I should put "Homeschool information" and put parent/guardian info there with phone and email?

[Farrar]

I recommend doing both most of the time. Just be sure you say what you're weighting and include a grading scale. But it depends. It rarely matters that much as the majority of colleges reweight everything.

[kokotg]

I just put weighted, with a key at the bottom specifying grading scale and that I added .5 for honors and 1.0 for AP and DE (I tried to keep it the same as what our local public schools do)

Edited May 23, 2021 by kokotg

[ByGrace3]

You guys are awesome! Thank you! 

[ByGrace3]

Ok, I apologize but I have another question . . . This year dd took American Literature with Schole Academy and took 4- 8 week courses with Lantern English (which is a composition credit). Last year I designated Ancient World Literature and composition as 1 credit, but it wasn't as much writing as this year. Would you give 2 credits for this year or just one? I currently have it as American Literature -1 and Composition-1.

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, ByGrace3 said:

Ok, I apologize but I have another question . . . This year dd took American Literature with Schole Academy and took 4- 8 week courses with Lantern English (which is a composition credit). Last year I designated Ancient World Literature and composition as 1 credit, but it wasn't as much writing as this year. Would you give 2 credits for this year or just one? I currently have it as American Literature -1 and Composition-1.

English credits, especially for an older high school student, should be fairly meaty in rigor of content and volume of work. 😉 

So your Lantern English was 32 weeks (4x8 weeks), which is close to a full 36-week school year, but what was the workload like? How many hours/week would you estimate was spent on the writing assignments, or how many writing assignments were there and of what length? And -- did the Scole American Lit. class also have writing assignments, or a workload that was pretty full/heavy?

For example, for the homeschool high school English co-op classes I teach, the semesters are usually 15-16 weeks (so 30-32 week long year), and I tell families to plan on in addition to the 1.5 hour class meeting each at co-op, to schedule an average of about 5 hours of work at home -- usually about 1.5-2.5 hours/week on the Literature (reading the lit. and going through the accompanying lesson), plus an average of 2-3 hours/week on the Writing assignments. So, depending on the student, that's around 160-180 hours (class + at-home work) for 1.0 credit.

EACH semester, the writing assignments look like this (for a total of 14-15 writing assignments for the year):
- 2-3 short (1 paragraph / roughly 100-300 words)
- 2 medium (2-4 paragraphs / roughly 300-500 words)
- 2- medium-longer (5-8 paragraphs / roughly 600-900 words)
- 1 long (multi-page, 4-5+ pages / roughly 1000-1500 words)

All that to say, if your DD spent roughly an average of 4-5 hours/week on EACH class for a total of roughly 150-180 hours for EACH class, then I would have no problems awarding 2.0 credits (1.0 credit = Literature, 1.0 credit = Composition). If the total hours for EACH class was more like 120 hours for the year, that's more problematic for awarding credit -- I'd probably combine and award 1.0 credit = English (Lit. & Comp.) + 0.5 credit = one or the other (Lit. or Comp. -- whichever had more work attached to it).

JMO! BEST of luck as you wear your administrator hat for homeschooling.

 💂‍♀️

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Lori D.

[Farrar]

I think it's fine to give two credits. She took two English classes. But if you decide it wasn't rich enough, it's also okay to give just one and combine them. Or if the Lantern classes together aren't really rich enough for a full credit, that's okay as well. Ultimately, it's up to you.

[Dmmetler]

I included outside course providers in the course descriptions.  I'm honestly not sure if anyone read them. 

 

My kid usually ended up with 1 1/2 or two credits of English a year, because we usually did one college class, which was EITHER writing based or literature based in most cases (like the senior one was a Journalism course), and then I'd do my own course to add to it to supplement the writing or lit, whichever the college course was covering less of. I usually didn't decide until May whether it was worth 1/2 or 1 credit (and a DE 3-4 credit course was automatically a credit). I didn't have any colleges come back and complain about having too many credits in any subject area, so if you feel your child has done two pretty solid English credits this year, I'd go ahead and list them. 

[ByGrace3]

For English, American Lit seemed like a decent workload. I wasn't very involved. For composition, she wrote a 5ish page paper every 2 weeks, so about 20 or more pages every 8 week course...That seems like a lot of composition. I am inclined to give the full to credits if it won't be frowned upon. She won't ultimately need the English credit as she will be taking comp 1 and comp 2 at the  local CC.

Weighted GPA-- it appears a .5 credit course would bring a gpa down? am I doing something wrong? I must be, right? Anyone have an easy way to calculate weighted gpa? This is my last thing before I send it in. Almost! 

[Farrar]

1 minute ago, ByGrace3 said:

For English, American Lit seemed like a decent workload. I wasn't very involved. For composition, she wrote a 5ish page paper every 2 weeks, so about 20 or more pages every 8 week course...That seems like a lot of composition. I am inclined to give the full to credits if it won't be frowned upon. She won't ultimately need the English credit as she will be taking comp 1 and comp 2 at the  local CC.

Weighted GPA-- it appears a .5 credit course would bring a gpa down? am I doing something wrong? I must be, right? Anyone have an easy way to calculate weighted gpa? This is my last thing before I send it in. Almost! 

You can use a GPA calculator. I've found it easier to do it by hand than enter it all. But if you're not having it come out right, use a calculator. I know I'm doing it right, but I'm terrible at describing math.

If it was enough for two credits, give two credits. That's really okay.

[Clear Creek]

17 hours ago, ByGrace3 said:

Ok, I apologize but I have another question . . . This year dd took American Literature with Schole Academy and took 4- 8 week courses with Lantern English (which is a composition credit). Last year I designated Ancient World Literature and composition as 1 credit, but it wasn't as much writing as this year. Would you give 2 credits for this year or just one? I currently have it as American Literature -1 and Composition-1.

Lantern English does not consider four of their writing courses worthy of a high school credit according to their FAQ's. They state that a student would either have to take one of the full English courses that they offer or take a four each of their grammar, writing, and literature courses to earn one credit. I did not feel that their writing courses alone deserved a credit either and just considered them the composition portion of a high school English course.

[cintinative]

25 minutes ago, Clear Creek said:

Lantern English does not consider four of their writing courses worthy of a high school credit according to their FAQ's. They state that a student would either have to take one of the full English courses that they offer or take a four each of their grammar, writing, and literature courses to earn one credit. I did not feel that their writing courses alone deserved a credit either and just considered them the composition portion of a high school English course.

This was not with Lantern, but my son took a composition/grammar only course this year and it was listed as an English credit. (He took a separate lit class) I wonder if the issue with Lantern is a semantic one--that they think a high school English course should include all those elements for a credit, regardless of the hours spent. Since the OP is getting lit covered elsewhere, it is not as if she is counting this as just "English."  

ETA: Actually, it looks like they think four of their classes are not sufficient hours to justify a credit.  

1. Are your high-school classes equivalent to one high-school credit? No. When you are not using a standard curriculum, credits are generally counted by hours. Typically, one academic credit is made up of 150 hours of work; a half credit by 75 hours; a quarter credit by 37.5 hours. In order to achieve 37.5 hours in a single eight-week session, students would be working 4-5 hours per week, which is not likely in one class. Thus, even if your student takes four classes with us throughout a school year, a high-school credit would likely not be achieved. Generally, an English credit is comprised of studies in things such as grammar, vocabulary, writing, literature, speech, debate, creative journaling, etc. If your student is taking writing classes with us, please consider supplementing their work with other elements of English to meet the approximate number of hours needed for a complete credit.

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by cintinative

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, ByGrace3 said:

For English, American Lit seemed like a decent workload. I wasn't very involved. For composition, she wrote a 5ish page paper every 2 weeks, so about 20 or more pages every 8 week course...That seems like a lot of composition. I am inclined to give the full to credits if it won't be frowned upon. She won't ultimately need the English credit as she will be taking comp 1 and comp 2 at the  local CC.

Sounds good, esp. if she was also writing papers for the Scole American Lit. class.
 

2 hours ago, ByGrace3 said:

Weighted GPA-- it appears a .5 credit course would bring a gpa down? am I doing something wrong? I must be, right? Anyone have an easy way to calculate weighted gpa?

GPA Calculator
Weighted GPA Calculator

Are you accidentally comparing that weighted 0.5 credit to a weighted 1.0 credit? That looks like this:
1.00 credit = A -- weighted: AP/DE = 5.00 gpa
0.50 credit = A -- weighted: AP/DE  = 2.50 gpa

Half as much credit yields half as much GPA, because amount of credit is part of the GPA calculation (grade points divided by total credit = GPA).

So the comparison has to be between same amounts of credit -- so 0.5 credit WEIGHTED is MORE than 0.5 credit UNWEIGHTED. So:
0.5 credit = A -- weighted: AP/DE  = 2.50 gpa
0.5 credit = A -- weighted: honors = 2.25 gpa
0.5 credit = A -- unweighted . . . . . = 2.00 gpa

Weighted: AP/DE . . . Weighted: Honors . . . Unweighted -- grade point scales
A = 5.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . A = 4.5 . . . . . . . . . . . A = 4.0
B = 4.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . B = 3.5 . . . . . . . . . . . B = 3.0
C = 3.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . C = 2.5 . . . . . . . . . . . C = 2.0
D = 2.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . D = 1.5 . . . . . . . . . . .  D = 1.0

GPA = total GP (grade points) ÷ total credits
^^ gpa formula -- how to use the gpa formula:
1. Use the grade scale to convert each letter grade into grade points.
2. Total up all grade points (GP)
3. Total up all credits.
4. Divide total grade points (GP) by total # of credits
5. Resulting total = GPA (grade point average)


List of unweighted GPA and the 2 types of weighted grade GPA, showing how more credit = more GPA:

Unweighted 0.5 credit where an "A" was earned:
4.0 (GP) ÷ 1.00 (credit amt.) = 4.0 GPA --> because it is a full credit, it gets the full 4.0 amount
4.0 (GP) ÷ 0.50 (credit amt.) = 2.0 GPA --> because it is a HALF credit, it gets HALF of the 4.0 amount
4.0 (GP) ÷ 0.25 (credit amt.) = 1.00 GPA --> because it is a QUARTER credit, it gets a QUARTER of the 4.0 amount

Weighted (AP or DE) 0.5 credit where an "A" was earned:
5.0 (GP) ÷ 1.00 (credit amt.) = 5.00 GPA --> because it is a full credit, it gets the full 5.0 amount
5.0 (GP) ÷ 0.50 (credit amt.) = 2.50 GPA --> because it is a HALF credit, it gets HALF of the 5.0 amount
5.0 (GP) ÷ 0.25 (credit amt.) = 1.00 GPA --> because it is a QUARTER credit, it gets a QUARTER of the 5.0 amount

Weighted (Honors) 0.5 credit where an "A" was earned:
4.5 (GP) ÷ 1.00 (credit amt.) = 4.50 GPA --> because it is a full credit, it gets the full 4.50 amount
4.5 (GP) ÷ 0.50 (credit amt.) = 2.25 GPA --> because it is a HALF credit, it gets HALF of the 4.50 amount
4.5 (GP) ÷ 0.25 (credit amt.) = 1.125 GPA --> because it is a QUARTER credit, it gets a QUARTER of the 4.50 amount

Edited May 24, 2021 by Lori D.

[ByGrace3]

25 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Sounds good, esp. if she was also writing papers for the Scole American Lit. class.
 

GPA Calculator
Weighted GPA Calculator

Are you accidentally comparing that weighted 0.5 credit to a weighted 1.0 credit? That looks like this:
1.00 credit = A -- weighted: AP/DE = 5.00 gpa
0.50 credit = A -- weighted: AP/DE  = 2.50 gpa

Half as much credit yields half as much GPA, because amount of credit is part of the GPA calculation (grade points divided by total credit = GPA).

So the comparison has to be between same amounts of credit -- so 0.5 credit WEIGHTED is MORE than 0.5 credit UNWEIGHTED. So:
0.5 credit = A -- weighted: AP/DE  = 2.50 gpa
0.5 credit = A -- weighted: honors = 2.25 gpa
0.5 credit = A -- unweighted . . . . . = 2.00 gpa

Weighted: AP/DE . . . Weighted: Honors . . . Unweighted -- grade point scales
A = 5.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . A = 4.5 . . . . . . . . . . . A = 4.0
B = 4.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . B = 3.5 . . . . . . . . . . . B = 3.0
C = 3.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . C = 2.5 . . . . . . . . . . . C = 2.0
D = 2.0  . . . . . . . . . . . . D = 1.5 . . . . . . . . . . .  D = 1.0

GPA = total GP (grade points) ÷ total credits
^^ gpa formula -- how to use the gpa formula:
1. Use the grade scale to convert each letter grade into grade points.
2. Total up all grade points (GP)
3. Total up all credits.
4. Divide total grade points (GP) by total # of credits
5. Resulting total = GPA (grade point average)


List of unweighted GPA and the 2 types of weighted grade GPA, showing how more credit = more GPA:

Unweighted 0.5 credit where an "A" was earned:
4.0 (GP) ÷ 1.00 (credit amt.) = 4.0 GPA --> because it is a full credit, it gets the full 4.0 amount
4.0 (GP) ÷ 0.50 (credit amt.) = 2.0 GPA --> because it is a HALF credit, it gets HALF of the 4.0 amount
4.0 (GP) ÷ 0.25 (credit amt.) = 1.00 GPA --> because it is a QUARTER credit, it gets a QUARTER of the 4.0 amount

Weighted (AP or DE) 0.5 credit where an "A" was earned:
5.0 (GP) ÷ 1.00 (credit amt.) = 5.00 GPA --> because it is a full credit, it gets the full 5.0 amount
5.0 (GP) ÷ 0.50 (credit amt.) = 2.50 GPA --> because it is a HALF credit, it gets HALF of the 5.0 amount
5.0 (GP) ÷ 0.25 (credit amt.) = 1.00 GPA --> because it is a QUARTER credit, it gets a QUARTER of the 5.0 amount

Weighted (Honors) 0.5 credit where an "A" was earned:
4.5 (GP) ÷ 1.00 (credit amt.) = 4.50 GPA --> because it is a full credit, it gets the full 4.50 amount
4.5 (GP) ÷ 0.50 (credit amt.) = 2.25 GPA --> because it is a HALF credit, it gets HALF of the 4.50 amount
4.5 (GP) ÷ 0.25 (credit amt.) = 1.125 GPA --> because it is a QUARTER credit, it gets a QUARTER of the 4.50 amount

Thank you so much! That makes complete sense, I am not sure why I was overcomplicating it in my head. 

[Lori D.]

Just now, ByGrace3 said:

Thank you so much! That makes complete sense, I am not sure why I was overcomplicating it in my head. 

lol, I made every mistake possible with my oldest in trying to calculate GPA, and I'm not weak in math. 😉 

I think it's just because it is a lot of different moving parts to have to determine, and putting them into the equation, which is easy when it's a 1.0 credit class, but then I would get used to what that looked like and freak out about "what went wrong" when I did a 0.5 credit course. It helped when I finally "clicked" with the concept that PARTIAL CREDIT is going to yield PARTIAL GPA, when compared to a full credit course. 😉 

[ByGrace3]

Just now, Lori D. said:

lol, I made every mistake possible with my oldest in trying to calculate GPA, and I'm not weak in math. 😉 

I think it's just because it is a lot of different moving parts to have to determine, and putting them into the equation, which is easy when it's a 1.0 credit class, but then I would get used to what that looked like and freak out about "what went wrong" when I did a 0.5 credit course. It helped when I finally "clicked" with the concept that PARTIAL CREDIT is going to yield PARTIAL GPA, when compared to a full credit course. 😉 

I think I was looking at the idea of adding "2.0" for a 0.5 credit course and in my mind I was seeing C=2.0 and thinking I must be not understanding. lol

[ByGrace3]

1 hour ago, Clear Creek said:

Lantern English does not consider four of their writing courses worthy of a high school credit according to their FAQ's. They state that a student would either have to take one of the full English courses that they offer or take a four each of their grammar, writing, and literature courses to earn one credit. I did not feel that their writing courses alone deserved a credit either and just considered them the composition portion of a high school English course.

 

46 minutes ago, cintinative said:

This was not with Lantern, but my son took a composition/grammar only course this year and it was listed as an English credit. (He took a separate lit class) I wonder if the issue with Lantern is a semantic one--that they think a high school English course should include all those elements for a credit, regardless of the hours spent. Since the OP is getting lit covered elsewhere, it is not as if she is counting this as just "English."  

ETA: Actually, it looks like they think four of their classes are not sufficient hours to justify a credit.  

1. Are your high-school classes equivalent to one high-school credit? No. When you are not using a standard curriculum, credits are generally counted by hours. Typically, one academic credit is made up of 150 hours of work; a half credit by 75 hours; a quarter credit by 37.5 hours. In order to achieve 37.5 hours in a single eight-week session, students would be working 4-5 hours per week, which is not likely in one class. Thus, even if your student takes four classes with us throughout a school year, a high-school credit would likely not be achieved. Generally, an English credit is comprised of studies in things such as grammar, vocabulary, writing, literature, speech, debate, creative journaling, etc. If your student is taking writing classes with us, please consider supplementing their work with other elements of English to meet the approximate number of hours needed for a complete credit.

 

ok, this was helpful. I don't know why I thought their website said 4 courses was a credit . . . my dd did do grammar also . . . I am not sure what more a credit in "composition" would include, as I know that is a class offered for public schools. It was a lot writing. I guess I can put "American Literature and Composition" or just English 10, but I didn't do that for 9th-- we did Ancient World lit and composition (but the writing last year was  integrated into that class so it made sense). . . 

[Lori D.]

3 minutes ago, ByGrace3 said:

I think I was looking at the idea of adding "2.0" for a 0.5 credit course and in my mind I was seeing C=2.0 and thinking I must be not understanding. lol

Totally did the same thing with my first go-around of trying to figure it all out. "What?!? Wait! He didn't get a C! What happened here?!" 😉

[cintinative]

14 minutes ago, ByGrace3 said:

 

ok, this was helpful. I don't know why I thought their website said 4 courses was a credit . . . my dd did do grammar also . . . I am not sure what more a credit in "composition" would include, as I know that is a class offered for public schools. It was a lot writing. I guess I can put "American Literature and Composition" or just English 10, but I didn't do that for 9th-- we did Ancient World lit and composition (but the writing last year was  integrated into that class so it made sense). . . 

Did she do four writing classes plus the grammar? I would give a credit for that.