You lick the top and seal the envelope. You drive to the post office and send’em off! Your child’s homeschool high school transcript is officially on its way to their dream college. You spent almost 12 years homeschooling your child. Every day doing the best you can to teach your child all the essentials. Better yet, you taught them to love learning as a whole. They’ve accomplished so much from the History trip to Greece to the amazing art project they completed on an online art platform. But somehow, you feel like the high school transcript you just sent off didn’t nearly capture the true greatness and accomplishments of your child.
When it comes time to send off your son or daughter’s homeschool high school transcript many parents find themselves holding their breath. But a lackluster transcript doesn’t mean a horrible parent that is sub-par at teaching. Bad transcripts are rarely a case of bad execution, but rather a bad effort to keep track of all the great things your homeschooled high school children accomplish. So if you want to knock the socks off the admissions staff at your child’s dream college, use these 6 Ways to the Best Homeschool High School Transcript.
6 Tips to Create the Best Homeschool High School Transcript
Tip #1: Maintain a Daily Planner
Students have daily planners in public schools, so your homeschooler should have a daily planner in your homeschool. Many public school students don’t use their daily planners, but your children should. It will help you keep track of your time and lessons on a daily basis. It also helps you and your child to feel more accountable for completing work on a daily basis, not by the end of the week.
Remember!
Have your student track their work every day in a student planner while you track it in a word document. Save it weekly and email it to yourself as a backup file.
Tip #2: Track Volunteer and Community Work
You and your child are pretty active at your local church. You guys spend time planning and volunteering with the monthly events. That’s community work. You should track that kind of stuff. Schools and even jobs don’t just want the smartest apple in the bunch. They want the smartest and most active apple in the bunch. Your child does their part with community and volunteer work. Do your part by simply keeping track of it.
Remember!
Community work on a transcript is a major plus! if you can’t find a document to track it, then create one. Include where, when, and what they did.
Tip #3: Take Photos and Videos
Have you ever heard the saying seeing is believing? Well, that saying has weight. If you take pictures and videos of the things your child does it can be put into a nice little portfolio. It doesn’t have to be every little assignment. Maybe just the fun art projects, and the impressive science experiments. Not many students, public or homeschool keep visual reference for the work they do. Send those photos in addition to your homeschool high school transcript and your child’s name will be sure to stand out in the admissions office!
Remember!
Photos and videos don’t go on transcripts but they can be used to prove your teen’s work. Whether they are learning coding online or learning how to draw on Sparketh, it helps!
Tip #4: Store Away Essays and Chapter Tests
Essays, tests, and exams are all very important files and documents. They can make or break your child’s admission to any college or program. So keeping track of the grading, and actual proof of these files is a huge advantage. It helps you, and your child to feel confident and accurate with the grades you share. The last thing you want is to be on the phone arguing with an admissions officer about the validity of your homeschooler’s high school transcript grades.
Remember!
Store essays and chapter tests away as proof of your teen mastering the subject material.
Tip #5: Save All Certificates of Completion
Similar to exams or community work, any certificates your child has achieved should be kept safely in nice folder. Certificates are at the utmost level of credibility. They always add oomph to homeschooler’s transcripts. It helps because now you have other credible sources, companies, and organizations vouching for your child’s completion of a program. If a circumstance ever arose, you want to be able to send out those certificates as proof.
Remember!
Sometimes classes like CPR and First Aid are required before college. Luckily, you can do a lot of science certificate programs that will count as school credit.
Tip #6: Keep All Receipts
Lastly, you should keep all your homeschool receipts. When photos, planners, and certificates fail (and they rarely do) receipts should help vouch for your child. Receipts show that you actually went out of your way to find and purchase an educational product. You wouldn’t waste your money every semester buying this or that lesson plan to just throw it in the basement. Your children are learning from that stuff. Keep the receipts.
Remember!
It is easy to prove some things your teen learned like computer software and online programs if you keep up with all of your receipts.
So no more worrying and no more dropping the ball. You have to take the simple steps now to ensure your child has a stellar academic future. Transcripts are an attempt to embody your child’s knowledge and effort into one simple document. It’s impossible. But you can help create a better picture by using these 6 ways to seriously create the best homeschool high school transcript for your child. Admissions counselors all over the U.S. will thank you for it! 🙂