Homeschool High School How To Prepare THE Transcript

When I started homeschooling I worried in Mr. Senior 2013’s kindergarten grade about THE home school high school transcript. That is crazy how we do that to ourselves as mom.

I think part of the stress comes from the mystery shrouding this simple, but direct tool. We end up kind of dreading the high school years as if we need to suffer in silence.

Homeschool High School Transcript

I have been wanting to share some more of my high school know how with you to remove some of that mystery. So when I got his question from Carol, I was excited.

Hi, had a quick question do you know of any place we as homeschool parent can purchase,blank transcripts with a guide to teach you how to  prepare them? Getting overwhelmed with our son now in high
school.Thanks again, your a God sent.

Sharing a few general tips to help you through the high school years and some specific tips for the transcript, I hope to guide you through some of this.

General High School Survival Tips

• Deciding which direction (college, vocational skill or missionary service)  is key to planning subjects and then that will reflect on the transcript. Plan first, transcript later.
• High school is more about following guidelines and becomes somewhat less subjective. Think about that for a minute. Prior to starting high school there are so many IF we do this here WHAT will happen there types of decisions to make. In high school, there is a  pointed direction and it requires simply knowing each step and doing them. Even if your teen does not know exactly what he is doing, prepare a well laid out high school course and he will still have doors of opportunity opened for him.
• Remember, you don’t produce a transcript immediately upon entering high school or even in 10th grade. I changed from how I thought I wanted it set up in 9th grade until his senior year. You have time to mull over what is needed for your child’s particular direction if you are in any grade other than a senior this year.

Basics of High School Transcripts are Basic

Transcripts, like birth certificates are official documents. That means there are some basic things to have on each one but each one will be different from area to area.

Transcripts reflect work and grades accomplished. As I mentioned earlier,  key to filling it out is charting your courses or subjects in high school and then filling out the transcript, not the other way around. Planning is one thing and is prior to preparing the transcript.

Look at my high school planning forms above that are on my blog. I have had them for years before I produced my transcript because that is the part of the phase that takes longer. Charting a course for 4 years is not easy, but then again it too doesn’t have to be done all at once either.

You can find those forms on Step 5a. Choose Unique Forms JUST for You.

I don’t want to get you too overwhelmed with planning details as I want to stay focused on preparing the high school transcript, but I will have more to say on another post for you too.

Looking at my transcript above, look at these things that I have on mine. I feel a transcript can be dissected down to three main parts.

Top Part – Personal Basic Information

• full student name
• full student address
• date of birth, sex and social security number
• date of graduation
• total number of credits completed

Middle Part – Information about Courses/Subjects.

• I used the Main categories of English, Math, Science,  Social Studies and Electives/Physical Education. I think this avoids confusion for names of courses because it helps you to see which general subjects that courses go under.
• Place to list honors like CLEP courses, honor classes and letters of recommendations your child may have received during his high school years or any other noteworthy achievement that makes him stand out.
• This is the part where personality enters your transcript. Some parents like to list by year and not have the general subjects as dividers.

Last Part – Grades/Making it Official

• Implementing a grade system is important and I added the one I used above.
• Signing it in your official capacity and dating it makes it official.

Planning Subjects or Courses Not so Basic

To be quite honest, transcripts are just very systematic in filling them out because they are a reflection of your course work in high school. It is very nuts and bolts.

The mystery is shrouded more in the planning and assigning credits as I mentioned earlier.

One more thing I need to mention about planning is to remember a rule of thumb, which is you still plan for the 3 R’s in high school. Depending on what your child is doing will determine which one you may spend more time in. I tried to stay balanced each year and cover 1 English, 1 Science, 1 Math and 1 History.  Oh for sure the courses have different names, but the courses all fall under one of the main categories above.

Another example for you is that we used Beautiful Feet one year. They have a page on how they suggest to assign credits and it was one American Literature Credit and one American History Credit. American Literature would be put under English and American History under Social Studies on the transcript.

Also, look at video on YouTube How to Easily Create the Homeschool High School Transcript.

 

That is how I did mine. Others like I mentioned may not have general categories and just do it by the year. Me? I like to see the main categories because I could use that like a check off list so to speak to be sure I had a course in each category each year.

There is a wealth of information on how to fill them out, but it all starts with you planning what your child will learn each year.

I like Donna Young’s advice of doing a google search about what your local school requires and start from there. I did have an idea of what my son was going to do, but that is a good place to start.

You know I love ya and want to make it easy on you to keep on homeschooling, so guess what I have for you? Yep, an editable high school transcript. I am not sure when it will go on my blog, but then again because you follow, you always get my forms anyway.

High school Homeschool Transcript @ Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Also, look at these posts for some detailed and practical help:

• Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 1
• Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 2
• Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School?
• Homeschool High School Readiness?
• Should I Let My Homeschooled Teen Graduate Early?
• 9th Grade Homeschool High School – Avoid the Sock It to Them Attitude
• How to Expose Homeschooled Teens to a Variety of Fine Arts (and Get High School Credit)
• How Does my High School Homeschooled Kid Get a Diploma If I Do This Myself?
• When a Homeschooled Sophomore Struggles
• Homeschool High School Transcripts – Anything But Typical

You have some time to investigate and learn. Focus on keeping a well rounded out course in the 3 Rs and savor the treasured high school years.

Hugs and love ya,