What you need to know
You made the decision to homeschool high school. One of the first steps before beginning your high school homeschool journey is to make sure that you START the high school years by documenting your child’s progress from the beginning. The way you do this is by preparing an official transcript for your child.
A Transcript is an official document detailing the accomplishments of your child’s course work throughout the four years of high school. Just about everything that your child does during his high school years, you document, and assign a grade. If they volunteer, that should also be listed on their official transcript. If your child has hobbies or extracurricular activities, like piano or drama, these should also be listed. You do not need to assign a grade to these activities, unless they were considered a class, i.e., drama class, music class.
Most colleges ask for this official document, and Your child will appreciate having it.
I suggest you create a transcript in real time, just like the public and private schools. Some people piece it together at the end of the four years. I found it easier to do it in real time. After the school year is complete, you will fill out the official form, documenting classes completed and recording the grades and credits earned.
I talk more in detail about how to determine which classes to take over the coming four years here: Homeschooling Highschool Children.
To calculate the credit hours needed for your child to graduate, you can contact your state for their official requirements, or take a hint from your local high schools as I did. Again, find out how I did that here: Homeschooling Highschool Children
In general, one credit hour is equal to 120 hours of classwork. If your child has algebra class once a day for an hour, five days a week, in order for your child to receive one credit hour for algebra, she will need to be in class for 6 months. (5 hours a week) x (4 weeks a month) x (6 months) = 120 hours. Again, 120 hours of classwork in any given subject = 1 credit. You will do this for each class. In order for your child to receive that credit, they will need to get a passing grade, typically A, B, C or D. The grades and credits combined determine the child’s GPA.
EXAMPLE:
Grade Values: A=4 PTS; B=3 PTS, C=2 PTS, D=1 PT, F=0 PTS
Sample 9th grade student:
Math A=1 credit earned, because she got an A she earned 4 points
English A=1 credit earned, because she got an A she earned 4 points
Science A=1 credit earned, because she got an A she earned 4 points
Spanish A=1 credit earned, because she got an A she earned 4 points
History A=1 credit earned, because she got an A she earned 4 points
Physical Ed A=1 credit earned, because she got an A she earned 4 points
TOTAL credits earned 6. Total points earned 24
TOTAL PTS 24 /NUMBER OF Credits 6 = 4.0GPA
This is the academic portion of the transcript that will be calculated for each year 9-12. If your state requires 24 credits hours to graduate, and this student performed like this for all four years then this student would have met the requirement to graduate.
So where can you get your hands on a transcript? You can make your own, like I did in Microsoft Word or Excel. Once the transcript is completed just have it notarized. You can also check out these websites to purchase them.
or purchase Transcripts Made Easy by Janice Campbell available on Amazon or check your local library.
I’m glad you decided to homeschool through high school. You can do it! Hope this helps.