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| Date: From: Subject: | 11/10/2005 4:36:49 PM Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA's Homeschooling Thru High School Newsletter -- November 2005 |
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#=====---------------------------------------------------------------- HSLDA's Homeschooling Thru High School Newsletter -- November 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, Welcome to another edition of HSLDA's Homeschooling Thru High School newsletter. We trust your year has started off well, and you are comfortably settled into your school routine. After all, it's already November and you're probably thinking about Thanksgiving, with the family recounting the Lord's goodness, turkey and all of the trimmings, tasty pumpkin pies, and... transcripts, right? Well, maybe not. But colleges, trade schools, employers, the military, and others will likely request a high school transcript from your student in the near future. When they do, you'll want to be prepared! Here are some general guidelines to follow when creating a transcript. A transcript is simply a concise and accurate record of your child's academic courses taken during the high school years. The easiest way to create one is to begin compiling the information when your child is in 9th grade and add to it each year thereafter. But if your child is already a senior, no need to despair! Just take some time to gather the information that's needed, and you'll know that the transcript is complete, ready, and waiting to be sent out whenever it is requested. Transcripts are usually one page long and include the following information: > Child's name, address, phone, birth date, and social security number > Parents' names > Current school year > Child's grade level > Courses taken, credit awarded and final grade for each course > Grading scale * > Grade point average (GPA) for each school year > Cumulative GPA > Date of graduation *(Note: If your child is taking courses from a variety of sources, such as parent-taught classes, online classes, and community college, then it may not be possible to provide a uniform grading scale.) The transcript should be signed and dated by the parent as the person who supervised and evaluated the homeschool high school program. Extracurricular activities, job employment, awards, and honors can be described on an additional sheet, but be sure to keep this brief. Keep in mind that the transcript is your child's introduction to an educational institution or prospective employer. The transcript should be typed, polished, and professional looking. Make sure the information is shown in a clear and straightforward manner. Each transcript should be an original and signed individually--this is no time for quick, blurred copies from a copier. Use good-quality paper and have someone else look over the transcript to correct spelling errors and check GPA calculations. Sound confusing? Don't panic. We've put together a sample transcript that includes GPA calculations. Sample Transcript with GPA Calculations http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2665 [PDF File] You'll find more helpful guidelines at the following links: HSLDA's Homeschooling Thru High School website http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2666 Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+u+la by Barbara Edtl Shelton http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2667 Homeschooling High School-Planning Ahead for College Admission by Jeanne Gowan Dennis; forward by Michael Farris http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2668 Now that you have an idea of the content of a transcript, let's discuss how to evaluate credits and calculate GPAs. There are several ways to evaluate credits. If your child completes a high school-level text by a reputable publisher in an academic course (math, science, English, foreign language, or history), consider the material covered to be one credit. Covering the material in a textbook does not necessarily mean doing every problem, answering every question, or reading the book from cover to cover, but you should diligently cover the material presented. Some authors calculate teaching 75% of a textbook to equal one credit, but the bottom line is, don't shortchange your child. As an example, you may not spend as much time nor go into as much detail on the Vietnam War as you do on World War II, but you would still want to be certain that your child has an understanding of the main points regarding the Vietnam War. Let integrity be your guide. (California residents may want to see the California supplement in the following book that explains credits in their state: The High School Handbook-Junior and Senior High School at Home by Mary Schofield, http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2669 .) For courses that do not use a standard high school-level textbook-perhaps you are putting together your own unit study, or you are using an integrated curriculum-log the hours that your child spends completing the course work. One credit is approximately 120-180 hours of work. Don't become legalistic in keeping track of each minute, but generally, when evaluating credit for an academic course, a good rule of thumb is 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 36 weeks, for a one-credit course. Logging hours is also a good method of determining credit for elective courses such as art, music, sewing, carpentry, web page design, etc. For a half-credit elective, log approximately 75 hours; for a quarter-credit elective, log approximately 38 hours. Since a transcript includes final grades for each course, you will need to determine how you will evaluate your child's work. Be as objective as you can--don't simply give your child an A for every course unless he does superior work consistently. College admissions officers will look at the correlation between transcript grades and scores on college admission exams; therefore, be careful of grade inflation. Grades serve as important feedback for your child. Since grading can be a somewhat intimidating topic for homeschoolers, we've come up with some tips and guidelines that we hope will be of service to you. Grading Guidelines for High School Credit http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2670 Once you have listed your child's courses, credits, and grades on the transcript, you are ready to compute his grade point average, or GPA. If you can do basic math (and we know you can!), then calculating a GPA is simple. Each letter grade is first translated into points. In the most basic system, an A is worth 4 points, a B is 3 points, a C is 2 points, a D is 1 point, and an F is 0 points. Take the final letter grade for each course and convert it into points. Then multiply this number by the credit for that course. Once this is done for each course, add up the total number of quality points and divide by the total number of credits to arrive at the GPA. Sample Transcript with GPA Calculations http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2665 [PDF File] For further information regarding transcripts, credits, grades, and more, see the following article. Even if your child is not planning to attend college, you will find the details it contains invaluable for planning out a high school program and preparing a transcript: Preparing for College http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2671 Next month's newsletter will explain the documentation and recordkeeping that are necessary as you homeschool during the high school years. As always, we consider it a joy and a blessing to come alongside each of you as you homeschool through high school. We pray for you as you teach your children. Walk in grace, and give thanks for those precious children. Joy to you, Becky and Diane HSLDA High School Coordinators #=====---------- What's new on the Homeschooling Thru High School website? Resources for Resumes and Interviewing Tips http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2672 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Are you "organizationally challenged"? Finding the time to organize your home, your schedule, and your silverware drawer is difficult enough. We have something that will take the pressure off as you organize your homeschool. Home School Minder will help with your schedule, lesson plans, grades, transcripts, and much more . . . everything except those missing socks. Free to families who join HSLDA for two years. 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