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How Do Homeschooled Students Get a Diploma If I Do This Myself

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I love your questions and just had to share this one with you. The question is how do homeschooled students get a diploma if I do this myself? Also, I have more tips on my page How to Homeschool High School.

Hi my name is Kimberly I have 4 kids ..I started homeschooling my oldest son about 4yrs ago but with a school online then my other two oldest wanted me to home school well its very expensive going through a school on the internet .. I have been reading your blog and talking to my husband about just doing it on my own cause we have one more child who will be starting kindergarten next year it will be way to much to stay in this online schooling, but anyways my question to you is if I do the whole homeschooling myself how would they get a high diploma ??? I live in Indiana thanks for your time

How Do Homeschooled Students Get a Diploma If I Do This Myself

It’s true.

Online public school is very expensive because not only are you paying for curriculum, but you are also paying for teacher advice and depending on the school you could pay for record keeping.

Time-Saving Tricks

Doing this by yourself is not as hard or as terrifying as many homeschoolers may think. It takes knowing a few time-saving tricks and I want to share them with you.

Look at these things that you want to resolve and plan for now that will save you tons of time and stress later.

How Do Homeschooled Students Get a Diploma

■Plan with the end in mind.

It sounds crazy, but what it means is to start your forward planning by deciding the end goals now and working toward meeting them.

You don’t want any surprises at the end of your son’s high school journey when it comes time for college or career.

How Does My High School Homeschooled Kid Get a Diploma If I Do this Myself @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus blog

Homeschool Diploma

Start planning by finding out first what the requirements are for either a college or career.

When you find out the requirements, then you are sure to include those subjects or skills in his high school course.

It will form the skeleton of his high school courses. By being sure you cover everything you are suppose to do to prepare him for the course he will take, you will not have any surprises.

■Consider your state laws, if any.

The next thing is to determine what your area requires, if anything when it comes to high school graduation. A lot of states, the parents determine what course and credits to do for high school.

Just be sure you are complying with the law. If there are no requirements, then move on to the next point. If there are requirements, include them in your skeleton courses.

■If you have a choice of courses, then you want to be familiar with what is the total number of credits most high schools require for graduation and then adjust your expectations accordingly.

To give you a rule of thumb, 19 credits is about minimum and up to about 24 credits earned through the four years is college bound.

Again, if your child is attending a college, you will have started with them first to find out which courses will help him get accepted into college and you will want to decide the number of credits.

Too, a simple google search of things like *high school courses and transcripts* will give you ample examples of how a balanced high school program may look.

From that, you can add and tweak credits and courses you want for your son.

Establish the total number of credits and make it clear to him and you so you both know what it takes to graduate.

Next, look at some of these books for homeschooling high school.

More Resources For How Do Homeschooled Students Get a Diploma

How to Homeschool High School Books & Resources

How to homeschool high school can be daunting at first. With a little help and these great resources, you’ll be a homeschool pro in no time.

Harness the Power of F-L-E-X-I-B-I-L-I-T- Y

Also, to further educate you, one (1) credit is usually earned for one course (normally). It can be a bit complicated, but not too bad.

For example, with art and p.e. you will probably want to assign them each 1/2 credit because they don’t have the same weight as say a rigorous math or language arts program.

So, some credits are weighted.

Don’t worry too much about that now.

Just try to understand the fact that 1 credit normally equals finishing one course or book.

Check out my useful tips on my article, Homeschool High School – How to Log Hours for High School?

Lastly, divide the number of credits by the years of homeschool.

For example, if you want high school for 4 years and want about 22 credits, then you see your child needs about 5 credits or so each year (equally to 20 credits), with one year having a heavier workload to add two more credits.

It is simple math after you determine what your son needs to graduate.

If your son wants to move through high school quicker, like three years, then divide the number of credits you determined he needs to get by the years.

That’s it. Eazy peazy.

When I started with my oldest son, I just typed in a Word document what our four year plan was and what subjects he would take each year.

As he completed them and graded them, I just added the grade to my Word and kept going.

What you don’t have to decide for ALL four years are the courses. Subjects yes, but courses no.

State Laws Dictate Preparation of Diploma

What I mean by this is say for example, you have down world studies as a credit one year.

Let your teen decide if he wants to cover them generally or if he wants to zero in on a particular civilization or culture.

This makes for a very unique high school diploma, because it reflects his personality and interests.

Some subjects may be must haves like four years of math, especially if he going to college. But, if he has covered some basic algebra in the junior high years, he can focus on more advanced courses.

Too, he may focus on book keeping or some other practical life skill during his high school years.

There is so much variety in courses, that you want to decide that each year because as you teen matures, he may change his likes, dislikes and even direction.

The best thing to do is plot your course loosely, but that allows breathing room for your son if he changes his mind.

Be sure also to read my articles for high school and schooling a teen for more useful insider’s secrets.

■ Simple record keeping. The next insider tip is that you want some way to track all of what he is doing each year.

Also, grab my homeschool high school planning forms at the bottom of Step 5a Choose Unique Forms for the 7 Step Homeschool Planner.

And just remember, thousands and thousands of homeschool moms like yourself have gone ahead and crossed this bridge successfully.

With a bit of research and reading, you too can do this!

And don’t forget more how do homeschooled students get a diploma tips:

How to Make An Edible Geography Model of Tidal Zones

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This edible geography to show sea levels is absolutely fun. Also, you’ll love my free Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook.Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

How to Make An Edible Geography Model of Tidal Zones

While Mr. Awesome was reading aloud to us about water bodies in our new North Star Geography, I wanted an activity that included both our Ocean Unit Study and to tie in with understanding about water bodies.

Edible Geography – Sea Levels

So I helped him create an edible model of the tidal zones and some of the creatures and plants that live in each zone. 

Too, back on Day 8 of 10 Days of Diving into Unit Studies, I shared part of my Ocean lesson plans with you which included this idea for an edible tidal zone as our unit study opener.

I have some more hands on things we have done too with our North Star Geography that I am going to show you soon too, but I wanted to share our project for edible tidal zones with you today because its something you can do with your younger kids.

Too, edible models are easy to do too because you have a head start on supplies in your house and it makes gathering the rest of them easy. 

And I am sure too we could have waited and bought perfect little molds of star fish instead of forming them by hand with peanut butter dough and freezing them. 

But then we would have almost perfect homeschooling and there is no such thing in this house.

Too, like I shared in the 10 Day of Diving into Unit Studies try to kick off  your unit study with a hands-on project.  It is not necessary that Tiny understands exactly about each zone and creature in the project.  It is all about whetting his appetite for learning.

Edible Geography Sea Levels

Okay, well maybe the candy helped too.  I picked up a tad more candy than we normally keep in the house, which wasn’t a problem for him.

Next, look at some of these books to bring learning to life.

I lean toward living books first then add reference books as we need them.

Books About the Ocean for Kids

16 Ocean Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Choose a few of these ocean themed books to go along with your study of the Oceans. Whether you're looking for a spine for a unit study or literature, you'll love this roundup.

Look at what we used:

edible ocean 2_edible ocean 3
  • Peanut butter dough formed our sand or shore.  He just formed it and made it pyramid shape to show the different zones.
Edible Geography – Sea Levels

Hands-on Geography – Sea Levels

  • He also formed starfish out of the peanut butter dough.   We found out that if we stuck the peanut butter dough in the freezer for a bit, they hardened and Tiny could paint them with food coloring.
  • Laffy taffy candy stretched pretty well to form the bladder and channeled wrack and the oar weed.  Peanut butter worked great for smearing on a bit more “ocean sand” and color.
  • We did have yogurt raisins in the house for the “mussels”.
  • Then of course white chocolate and dark chocolate chips make great shells and barnacles.  We always have those in the house.
  • We did pick up some German chocolate frosting when we went to the store because Tiny thought it looked like bits of small plants and animals in the lower shore, which is under the water about 90 percent of the time.
  • We could have easily made blue frosting, but since he wanted the German chocolate frosting, we picked up some sea blue frosting.
Edible Geography – Sea Levels

{Crazy kid. I love teaching him.}

I have several more ideas for hands on for this unit and will be using some of them off my Ocean Unit Study lesson plans. 

Too, I seem to create more ideas as I go along which is the fun part of unit studies.  You can skip ahead to other lesson ideas, leave out some or add other things that interest your children.

My peanut butter loving kid had no problem with our first day of our Ocean Unit Study.  I love it too when things unplanned like using our North Star Geography and our current Ocean Unit Study come together.

You’ll also love these other hands-on activities:

Beautiful and Colorful 2024 to 2025 Prim Two Page Monthly Calendar

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have the printable 2024 to 2025 prim color option two page monthly calendar. Grab other gorgeous planning pages on my Homeschool Planner page.

The two-page spread today is for keeping appointments for any of your family’s needs whether it’s personal or homeschool.

Also, this two-page spread can be used in a home management binder, blogging planner, financial planner, or fitness planner.

Beautiful and Colorful 2024 to 2025 Prim Two Page Monthly Calendar

In addition, the two-page monthly calendars were designed with larger boxes.

  • The two pages per month calendar color choice is a Prim Color option.
  • You get a full 12 months, and the calendars begin July, 2024 and go through June, 2025.
  • My copyright allows you to print it as many times as you need it for your needs.

About the Two Page Monthly Calendar

Because I create 3 different types of calendars each year, here are the differences in each type of calendar.

The two color choices I have today are your main calendars meaning ALL appointments are noted on this calendar.

Whether field trip, family time or personal time, you want to jot them all down on this calendar which has ample room for appointments.

This calendar is NOT for planning. (wink) I have the planning your schedule calendars for that. They are kept on Step 5a. Choose Unique forms JUST for You!

And I also have a 1 page per year calendar which is a quick view or glance, and they can be found on STEP 2. Choose Calendar/Appointment Keepers.

Whether I prepare academic or physical year calendars I always prepare 12 months in this download.

Additionally, because the academic calendars begin in July of one year and end in June of the next year, this allows you to begin your school at any time.

Also, whether you homeschool year-round or not, you have a full set of pages.

In addition, because all my premade planners are mix and match my calendars pair beautifully with all my planners.

For example, look at these other planners already put together for you.

  1. Unit Study Planner
  2. The Early Learner Planner
  3. Glam It Up Planner
  4. Undated Dynamic Daily Homeschool Planner
Beautiful and Colorful 2024 to 2025 Prim Two Page Monthly Calendar

Also, I think you’ll love these other products.

More Homeschool Planner Forms

Look at these other homeschool planner products that I know you’ll love!

Planning Forms

Moreover, here are more planner printables.

Look at the free forms for each STEP. Be sure to go to each link to get the free printables offered at each step.

How to Get the Two Page Monthly Calendar

TOU

Important: READ THIS FIRST.
Before you email me asking where your download link is or tell me that it is not working, read this to ensure that you get your pretties timely and that you don’t pay for something and not get it.

• All my products are digital. You will not receive a physical product for anything in my store. A digital physical year calendar does not mean a physical product or calendar.

.• Downloads are INSTANT. When you pay, you will receive an email with a download link INSTANTLY. Depending on your internet connection, the email could be just 30 seconds or so, or a bit longer. The point is it will be soon, not a week later,etc.
• The email with the download link will go to the email you used for paypal. If you used your husband’s paypal, your downloads will go to that email. Please check that email and your spam before emailing me telling me you can’t find it.
• Please put my email tina @ tinasdynamichomeschoolplus dot com (take out the space and substitute the right symbol for dot) in your address/contact list so that your product does not go to spam.

MY GUARANTEE: To treat you like I want to be treated which means I know at times technical problems may cause glitches, so I will do everything possible to make your experience here pleasant.

Beautiful and Colorful 2024 to 2025 Prim Two Page Monthly Calendar

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Here are 8 fun facts about harpy eagles, some resources, and a fun paper bag puppet to represent this giant rainforest dwelling raptor. Also, you love my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rainforest Activities for Kids, and Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon.

These majestic and angry looking birds can be found living and sitting proudly at the top of the food chain.

They are in the rainforests of southern México-Chiapas, Oaxaca and the Yucatán states. and south through Central America, into South America.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

If you have seen images of them, you know that their claws can be larger than a man’s hand.

And they seem to wear a perpetual scowl, quite imposing and they can prey on animals as large as sloths, monkeys, anteaters, and porcupines.

Our craft will give your child a wonderful chance to focus on the characteristics of the unusual bird like the colors, double crest, and powerful claws.

Books About Eagles for Kids

14 Fun Resources for Studying about Eagles

Add some of these fun activities, books and resources to learn about eagles.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles

  1. Harpy Eagles are named after a creature from Greek mythology that was a monster in the form of a bird with a human face.
  2. These big birds are the rainforest’s largest and most powerful raptor and one of the largest raptors in the world.
  3. Harpies build huge nests that are the size of a double bed and are made up of over 300 branches, hovering more than 100 feet off the ground.
  4. They can grow taller than 3’ and have a massive wingspan of 7 ½ feet, weighing in at 10-20 pounds.
  5. Their talons are about 4”-5”, roughly the size of a grizzly bear’s paw.
  6. The plumage coloration is 3 primary colors -black, gray, and white in various combinations of shades and gradients. Males and females have the same colors but younger harpy eagles are lighter.
  7. The presence of these birds indicates a healthy environment, it means that all species in the ecosystem are in total balance.
  8. The Harpy Eagle’s will lower and lift their facial disk feathers can be lowered or lifted at will much like an owl does. Doing this helps direct sound waves to their ears to sharpen their hearing ability.
8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

Resources for Your Harpy Eagle Study

How to Make a Harpy Eagle Puppet

You will need:

  • Paper bag
  • Black craft phone
  • Yellow craft phone
  • Gray construction paper
  • Black gray and white craft paint.
  • Two large googly eyes.
  • Black marker
8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

Flip your paper bag over so that the folded bottom is facing upward, paint this section gray.

Paint the entire rest of the bag white and allow it to dry.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

While you’re waiting for this paint to dry, trace your child’s three middle fingers and just a bit of the palm, and then trace another one with four fingers and the majority of the palm.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

Cut these handprints out and paint with variations of gray, black and white. Give it a little layering for dimension to make it look like feathers.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

Set these aside to dry as well and cut a pair of yellow talons and a large beak from the black craft foam.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

When the paint on the bag is dry, finish off by painting a black collar around the upper chest between the head and body, then down the side to create wings.

While you have the black paint handy, paint the google eyes black.

You could also just leave them as is or color these in.

But we wanted them to stand out off the puppet a little bit more.

And I think the final effect is more dramatic.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

Once all the glue is dry, attach the three-fingerprint tracing to the back of the head of the puppet.

Then attach the four fingers to the back on the bottom, hanging down for a tail.

Glue on the beak, talons, and the painted eyes. 

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

Use a black marker to add a little detail.

For example, stripe the eagle’s legs, some eyebrows to make him a little angry or looking.

Then add some feathers if you feel like they need a little more detail.

8 Fun Facts About Harpy Eagles | How to Make a Paper Bag Puppet

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

For this craft, we are going to learn how to make paper look old with a simple technique you can do at home for pennies. Also, look at my post Quick and Easy Ancient Chinese Paper making for Kids.

Aged paper can be used in a myriad of ways.

Also, include in your lesson what causes aging on paper and how scientists preserve historical documents.

Of course, I have a fun list of 20 different ways that you can use your paper once you age it.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

This craft is perfect just as a fun project on its own.

Also, use it when learning about pirates, historical documents like the Declaration of Independence or even as a science lesson on aging and deterioration.

You can make it with fresh sheets of cardstock or cut pages out of a book, sheet music, stationary, envelopes or other paper and use the same technique below.

How Important Documents Are Preserved

Let’s talk a little about what causes paper to break down and age over time naturally.

The rate that paper ages and breaks down depends on how it is stored. Other factors are the moisture it is exposed to, acids from the environment, temperatures, and the quality of the paper.

The oldest document we have in the United States is The Constitution.

It has been preserved and kept in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC..

In addition, the Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights are all in a special 50-ton steel and concrete vault.

Each morning the cases rise through the floor from the vault in which they are kept. They are put on special display and lowered each night.

The case is filled with helium, temperature and humidity controlled.

Additionally, it is protected from ultraviolet rays that could damage the documents.

To preserve historical documents historians encase them where the oxygen (which speeds up breakdown) has been removed, control the moisture, keep it out of harsh light, temperature, and they avoid handling it with bare hands if at all.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

Important documents like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are monitored.

They are monitored closely with sensors so the environment stays perfect.

20 Ways to Use Your Aged Paper

  1. Use it to make a pirate map.
  2. Print a paper about historical times or people on it.
  3. Roll it up and tie it with a ribbon to create a parchment scroll.
How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids
  1. Use it as a matte for old photos.
  2. Print sheet music on it.
  3. Paint a picture on it with acrylic paint.
  4. Apply the aging technique to book pages and create a bunting banner.
  5. Write an original poem on it.
  6. Practice your calligraphy.
  7. Practice handwriting or cursive by penning a letter to someone in the family.
How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids
  1. Use it as a drawer liner.
  2. Learn How to Make an Envelope with it.
  3. Cut it into strips and make a unique bookmark.
  4. Make an Ink pot & Quill Pen with Berry Ink to use along with it.
  5. Use it to make homemade gift tags.
  6. Create your own journals or notebooks for a history unit study.
  7. Make a get well, thank you, or just because card to mail out.
  8. Create a family newspaper using your aged sheets.
  9. Use them to create a “scrapbook” or timeline of historical events.
  10. Make 3D stars for a cool vintage decor piece.

Also, check out my Quick and Easy Ancient Chinese Paper making for Kids for another fun paper activity.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft

You will need:

  • Card stock
  • Instant coffee
  • old paint or makeup brush
  • Baking sheet
  • Pants hanger
How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

First you want to make a mixture of water and instant coffee.

You can always darken it, but it’s a little trickier to lighten it without dirtying up another bowl, so start light.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

Grab a paintbrush that has seen better days, the more rough and uneven the bristles are the better and you may not want to use it again.

Brush a little of the coffee mixture on your paper. Continue brushing all over the paper.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

Flip and brush the other side.

Add more instant coffee to the water to darken it and give a little extra attention to the edges and random spots around the page to create age marks.

 Don’t worry about making it even, the more uneven it is the more authentic an old it will look.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

To give it some aged spots, sprinkle a bit of the dry instant coffee around the paper and let it sit for a few minutes.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

Next, you can either hang your paper to dry on pants hangers with clips and hang it outside in the sun or move to a dry cookie sheet and place in a warm spot until thoroughly dry.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids

Once your pages are dry lay them under a few heavy books to help flatten them out for a day or two.

Finally, to age your pages further you can also tear the edges or corners or even burn some of the edges to further age your paper and give it a unique look.

How To Make Paper Look Old Craft With Kids