Let’s talk homeschool high school transcripts and keeping homeschool records. Just the thought of homeschooling high school can be a scary one for most parents. The good news is that in this age of digital technology we have so many wonderful resources to help us navigate homeschooling high school.
{I received free access to Homeschool Records and was compensated for my time in writing this review. All views are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. Please see our disclosure policy for more details.}
Keeping Homeschool Records
One of the things on my mind when facing homeschooling the high school years (especially in NYS where keeping records is helpful for fulfilling the NYS Homeschool Regulations), is keeping good records. I do this not only for high school purposes, but for the future. I homeschooled high school with college as the goal, not because I expected all my children to go to college, but because if they wanted to go, there are specific requirements to fulfill (like a certain number of years of foreign language).
What Kinds of Homeschool Records Should You Keep?
While you may not be huge on keeping formal homeschool records, it can become especially useful when homeschooling high school. You may want to keep track of things like:
- attendance
- hours of instruction
- books read
- courses taken
- grades received
- course descriptions
Information like this can be helpful in building a high school transcript. While I have only been asked once to procure one for my kids, it was met with a quick scramble to put one together using the records I had kept and the best my memory served in some cases!
For this reason alone I am super excited to share with you a product in which you can enter all your high school record information as you go, AND it will produce a high school transcript for you with the data you have provided it! So much easier than scrambling to gather information together to create a transcript!
Creating a High School Transcript with Homeschool Records
Homeschool Records is a website designed by a retired homeschool mom, specifically for homeschool moms. It’s meant to make keeping homeschool high school records an easy process for homeschool parents.
One important feature of Homeschool Records is their partnership with Parchment, a service that securely sends official homeschool transcripts to colleges your student is applying to. This creates a streamlined college application process by directly delivery your child’s transcript to the colleges of their choosing.
Whether your child is beginning their homeschool high school journey, or they are now looking to prepare college applications, Homeschool Records is an affordable, easy solution.
What Can You Do With a Homeschool Records Subscription
Transcripts (Subject, Semester, Year/Subject, Year/Semester)
Once you have added in relevant information such as your students courses, credit hours, and grades, Homeschool Records can create an Official High School Transcript for you. It shows credit hours per course, cumulative credit hours, grades based on how you chose them to be weighted when you inputted the course description information, cumulative GPA and more!
Student Resume
Boy do I wish I had something like this when my kids were middle school age! This is a great place to keep track of any volunteer hours as well work experience, awards, competitions, workshops, etc. All this information becomes useful as your kids grow into high school and beyond. Being able to keep it all broken down by category, in one place, and in a program that can create professional reports from the information is SO handy!
Attendance & Hours of Instruction
Here in New York State one of the things we are required to keep is an attendance log. Not only can you log Attendance Days in Homeschool Records, but you can also log Hours of Instruction. This is helpful when you are required to reach a certain number of hours of instruction each year (as is the case in New York State).
Course Descriptions
Course Descriptions are just one piece under the Hours of Instruction tab.
Here you can add things like:
- Course Category (math, science, English, elective, etc.)
- Course Semester
- Grade Level
- Course Type (Standard, Honors, AP, Duel Enrollment, and International Baccalaureate)
- Grade
- Material Used
- Types of Assessments
- Course Description
I know that coming up with Course Descriptions can be hard for some people.
Here is my advice: If you are using a specific curriculum, take a look at where you bought it to see their description of the course. You can also come up with wording using the table of contents. For outside courses you can usually find a description on the website or brochure where you register for the course. You can also Google course descriptions for the course you are trying to write one for.
Volunteer/Community Service
Not only do many colleges want to see volunteer/community service work, but these types of hours could also become related experience on job applications for future jobs. For instance, our son volunteered at the library as a Teen Tech Tutor, helping people navigate their phones, computers, applications like Word and Excel. We included these hours on his resume when he applied for his first computer related tech job.
Reading Log
With the Reading Log feature you can add every book your child read during their high school years. I love that you can input the exact version they read with the ISBN Number, as well as how many pages it was and the date completed. It calculates the total number of pages read for you.
Sign Up for a FREE Trial!
Interested in taking a closer look at Homeschool Records to see if it might be a good fit for you? Then sign up for a FREE 7 Day Trial to check it our for yourself!
More Help for Homeschooling High School
The Ultimate Guide to High School Homeschool Curriculum Options – Welcome to our HUGE LIST of High School Homeschool Curriculum Options! While every possible option for high school is not listed here, I have strived to include a wide variety of styles, prices ranges, etc. so you have a solid place to start.
Homeschooling High School in 3 Years! – Homeschooling High School in 3 Years is easier than you think! Even if you live in a more regulated state like New York! How do I know? Because I did it! Let me tell you why, and how I did it.
Online High School Fine Arts Program – Adding an engaging art study to your high school curriculum doesn’t have to be difficult!
Nature Study and High School Science: A Complete Guide – Nature study in high school is one of the most perfect ‘labs’ available for experiencing and understanding high school science concepts so I urge to to dive deeper into your nature studies rather than dropping them out of your homeschools. You do not have to stop nature study lessons and your outdoor hour time just because you have hit high school! You just need to change the delivery.
Leave a Reply