Thinking About High School Already??

The best time to consider homeschooling high school is.... now! I love it when parents of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders tell me that they are beginning to learn about homeschooling high school. It's a great training time for parents! You can learn all of the issues around record keeping, academics, and encouraging specialization. At the same time, there is no pressure to "perform" or be perfect, since it's all just for practice.

When my oldest child began 7th grade, that's when I started reading about high school. By the time it was my turn, I felt like an "old pro"!

Blessings,

Lee

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Never Ending Record Keeping

Never ending record keeping

Are you writing your own comprehensive records for your student? Frustrating, isn't it! One thing to remember about the Comprehensive Records - you're never done until graduation. It's like homeschooling in that you never really "finish." You can add touches and change things.... At some point you have to add final grades and final graduation dates. So don't worry that it doesn't feel complete. You won't until your student is finally away to college. Even if your student takes community college classes, you'll still be adding things to the transcript. Try to relax and have fun with it as you constantly edit, review, and revise. And if you need some help with the process, I'm here for you!

Blessings,

Lee
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Homeschooling While Building a House

I've had friends who homeschooled while building a house. If you find yourself in that situation, remember that any construction experiences your high schoolers have can count as high school credit. Woodworking, carpentry, occupational credit, etc., might be good course titles to consider. Your kids are learning while you do these things, right? Let them live and learn.

Have you read Barb Shelton's Homeschool Form + U + La? That was what her life was like. She talks about how she incorporated home construction into her transcript. Here is her website:
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/

Also, the book Homeschooling For Excellence by the Colfax's might encourage you. Their family was also building a home all through high school, and both kids went on to Ivy League schools.
http://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-Excellence-David-Colfax/dp/0446389862

Blessings,
Lee
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When to Start Record Keeping - Part 2

>>>>More record keeping basics<<<<

Another thing that you can do is have a place where you keep all your records. That might include all their work, anything they have written, math tests, any workbooks, etc. Again, you really don't NEED to keep that stuff for 6th and 8th grades, but it will train you to keep those records when it DOES matter for next year. I kept a 3-ring binder, with dividers for each subject: math, science, writing, etc. Every time they produced a piece of paper, I punched holes in it, and put it into the notebook. I was very glad I started early, in Junior High, because it ended up that my youngest son graduated 2 years early. When we started, I had NO idea he would do that. I was glad I'd kept the records once I realized how much I needed them at the end of high school. All this to say, simply, keep stuff.

A final thing that you can do is to educate yourself while you are educating your children. Buy yourself some books on "how to homeschool high school" so that you will feel confident. My favorite book is Homeschoolers' College Admission Handbook by Cafi Cohen. Here is the link: http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1167759372-678323&id=029937
I've read a LOT of homeschooling high school books, and I thought this book really summarized all of them really well. It's a great overview, and a great way to start. When I was homeschooling, my goal was that every time I bought curriculum for the boys, I also bought a book for ME, about how to homeschool.

As far as contacting me for record keeping, you can do it whenever you would like. I have clients that call me in a panic and need a transcript within day because they are applying for college. I also have clients that want me to make a schedule for them, to keep their high schooler on task. I can consult with you about how to study for the SAT as well. Some people like to have a cumulative record with course descriptions and everything, and some people don't want or need that much. I have some clients that want course descriptions and records done BEFORE every year of school. I also have some clients that want it all done after they have finished their Junior year, when they start applying to colleges. It's whatever is easiest for you. My clients who want a cumulative record tend to like to do it every year, to spread the cost out over years, instead of paying for it all at once.

Blessings,
Lee
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The HomeScholar
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When to Start Record Keeping - Part 1

>>>>When is the best time to start keeping homeschool records?<<<<

When I was homeschooling 6th and 8th grades (my two boys are two years apart) I began by keeping a daily schedule of their lesson plans. You can see more about what I did here. You can open the sample schedule to see what I did. Anyway, having this check list for their lesson plans gave me a record of everything they did. I figured I was training myself for the next year - when it really mattered. So one thing that you can do now is keep some sort of records, and using a schedule can provide those records for you.

Another thing that you can do is have a place where you keep all your records. That might include all their work, anything they have written, math tests, any workbooks, etc. Again, you really don't NEED to keep that stuff for 6th and 8th grades, but it will train you to keep those records when it DOES matter for next year. Make sense? I kept a 3-ring binder, with dividers for each subject: math, science, writing, etc. Every time they produced a piece of paper, I punched holes in it, and put it into the notebook. I was very glad I started early, in Junior High, because it ended up that my youngest son graduated 2 years early. When we started, I had NO idea he would do that. I was glad I'd kept the records once I realized how much I needed them at the end of high school. All this to say, simply, keep stuff.

To be continued...

Blessings,
Lee
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Early High School Credits on a Transcript

>>>>How do you do transcripts to reflect early high school credits?<<<<

Here is what I did:

http://www.thehomescholar.com/pdfs/Sample_Transcript_by_Year.pdf

If it was a high school course, and it was on my transcript, and my transcript was by year rather than by subject, then I called those classes "Early high school credits." I felt that gave colleges the option of using those classes or not using those classes, because I've heard that some do and some don't.

We did have some 8th grade classes on our transcript; Latin, French, Algebra, and Geometry.

Transcripts are very much an art rather than a science. With few hard and fast "rules" you just have to do your best.

I hope that helps,

Blessings,
Lee
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Resources for Homeschool Records

>>>>Can you recommend a certain book or website that helped you with high school credits?<<<<

I bought myself one high school book a year, and considered it part of my curriculum expenditures. I started with Barb Shelton High School FormULA, and it was pretty good. She leans a lot on the unschooler approach - less structured approach, I should say. Lots on how to write up your high school experience after the fact, a lot about learning naturally in high school. She does seem to like forms, though. I always thought it was interesting that someone who was so into what appeared to be a go-with-the-flow style in curriculum would be so uptight about recordkeeping! She has tons of forms and stuff, lots of intricate stuff on how to make grades. I didn't use that stuff. But her overall theory of "write it after you do it" was helpful. She has a very VERY personal writing style - like she's just emailing you.

I also liked Mary Schofield's book The High School Handbook. She had some great course descriptions that I used a LOT in writing my own. It was a little less scary than Shelton's book, because there were fewer forms to fill out. She has quotes from a variety of homeschoolers using different techniques, but her advice is more concrete and straighforward, as if she's a textbook homeschooler. I got a lot out of her book.

Cathy Duffy's High School Curriculum Manual is good for choosing curriculum, and deciding what courses you should have. She doesn't go into the construction of a portfolio.

And I love Cafi Cohen's book on College Admission.

Blessings,
Lee
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What about "narrative" transcripts?

>>>>Catherine asks: How important is it to have a typical looking transcript with grades and a GPA vs a more narrative type of transcript or even one with courses listed but no grades, since our goal is mastery and so they'd all just be A's anyway?<<<<

Hi Catherine,
Maybe you could try to think about it a little differently. Think of yourself as a foreign language translator. Your job is to translate what you have done in your homeschool, into words and numbers that colleges understand. Your job isn't to change your homeschool - just do what works for you. You job is only to translate your experiences (whatever they are) into the "love language" of colleges.

I know that some colleges don't mind a narrative explanation of a homeschool. I went to a Christian college fair last Monday, and there were a handful of colleges where 15-20% of their student body had been homeschooled. Those admissions people talked about narrative records in a very warm and open way. This weekend I'm going to a Homeschool College Fair, and I'm sure it will be equally welcoming to all sorts of homeschool records (otherwise they probably wouldn't be at a fair just for homeschoolers, right?) But I think the majority of colleges may not understand anything other than a transcript because it will seem like a foreign language to them.

You might want to just group your student's learning experiences together into groups that are approximately 1 credit worth. Label it something that sounds like a class title. Once he has put in a year's worth of math work, for example, you could call it "discrete math" or "concepts in math" or something. You could look at CLEP exams, and see which ones look like academic content that your student has learned, and then list those subject names on your transcript. Have you looked at Barb Shelton's Homeschool Form-U-La book? Her book is not for everyone, but she does have a good explanation of how to take what you have done and explaining it in college-friendly language.

I hope that helps.
Blessings,
Lee

The best record keeping ever!

My client this week uses the best record keeping I've ever seen! She had her daughter keep a computer log of every moment she spent in every class. The excel spreadsheet for English has a line that says: 11/3/06 read "The Giver" 75 minutes, for example. Her "Voice" spreadsheet says how many minutes she spent each day practicing vocal techniques and taking lessons. She has spreadsheets for ever single course, and has the minutes spent on each one per day. This is incredible! Pages and pages of documentation! I've never seen anything so wonderful, and it was SO easy for me to write her Comprehensive Record using the 50 or more pages of data that she gave me. Oh my goodness!

I have to confess, though, that I could have NEVER talked my boys into doing that. I remember trying, but they would do it once and then "forget" from then on. Maybe this is just a strategy that works for just this client, but I have to say she wins the prize for the best kept records!

Whatever strategy WORKS for you, is the one that's best for you to use. Whatever works, do it! Just make sure to keep records SOMEHOW, so that you can create the documents you need when you are applying to colleges. Keep it all!

Blessings,
Lee

Transcript Tip

This is the time of year when parents put the finishing touches on their transcripts. Remember that colleges need to see a "Graduation Date" on your transcript. You also need to update their final grades and GPA. If the student has been admitted to college, you need to mail the final transcript after graduation.