Many homeschool parents dread the high school years. They worry about tracking credits, making transcripts, and doing it well enough to ensure that their children will be be able to pursue their future goals. Everyday Education takes the fear out of record keeping and makes it easy on the parent with Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork. I received a digital version of this resource to use and review.
Janice Campbell from Everyday Education has graduated 4 boys and since 2011 has helped homeschoolers with a variety of resources, information, and curriculum. We have used and loved her literature series, Excellence in Literature and also used her Handbook for Writers and found it very helpful.
Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork came as a138 page PDF download ($19.95) It can also be purchased as a physical book for $24.95 or you can buy a combination of both. It is divided into 6 parts:
Part 1: Meet the Transcript- This section gives you all the basics of transcripts. You will find out what it is and what the different parts are, who needs one, and who sees one. You will get an overview of the transcript process and suggestions on where to start in the book depending on where you are in your transcript making journey.
Part 2: Plan with the End in Mind- This section talks about planning high school with your end goal in mind. It has suggested course schedules for college bound students, sample high school requirements (every state is different), skills and habits to cultivate in high school, 7 strategies for a successful 1st year of college, and alternatives to college. It also has a high school Q & A and 6 things your child can do while homeschooling high school.
Part 3: Keep Simple Records- This section talks about how to keep your high school records, gives suggestions on different ways to keep records (class profile worksheets, subject worksheets), and naming courses. It also has a section on Special Needs Transcripts and Special Needs Resources.
Part 4: Grades, Credit, and the GPA- This section is everything on grading: how to grant credit, grading written work, grading scale, how to calculate a GPA, granting credit for honors courses, or dual courses, grading for unschoolers. and more.
Part 5: Create the Transcript- Here you will information and samples on creating the actual transcript. It also talks about creating a high school diploma.
Part 6: References, Resources, and Reproducibles - Here you will find a glossary and your reproducible forms for record keeping and making transcripts. It also has a resources section.
This is the 4th Edition of Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork. In this edition Janice made changes based on the changes in the admissions process to college, added more information and transcript formats. The section on transcripts for students with special needs was updated, an all new section was added on what college freshman need to know to succeed the first year, and the information on college alternatives was added.
I have already had one child graduate and my next oldest will be as senior next year. I have written articles on this blog and other websites about tracking credits and making transcripts. I live in a state that has a group that works for homeschoolers and creates their transcripts for them when you provide the information. But, I still found Transcripts Made Easy to be very helpful to me.
One of the sections I found to be the most helpful was Part 3: Keep Simple Records. I learned the hard way with my oldest how important keeping records is. I had not done a very good job of it and when it came time to make her transcript I was searching through books and notebooks to find grades and class names and descriptions. It would have been much easier if I would've kept everything in one place. With Nick I have gotten better at keeping track year by year but I loved the suggestions in this book and the reproducible forms included. All you need to do is print them out, fill them out, put them in a binder for that student, and everything you need is in one spot.
Another thing I found VERY helpful was the discussion and the listed resource on naming classes. A friend and I were just talking about how hard it is to come up with course names sometimes. How many different ways can you say Home Ec or Ag? Well, the link provided will give you names and class descriptions for many different types of classes and may give you ideas for what types of classes your child will want to take based on their interests.
Even if you have a service that will make your transcript for you you still need to be knowledgeable about the process. You need to keep records and send them information. You need to look it over and make sure no mistakes were made ( we have had mistakes on ours before.) And honestly sometimes it is just easier to do it yourself. I have been in a position the last few weeks that I am waiting for an updated copy of Nick's transcript and found out just yesterday that they had held it and not even updated it yet. It would've been easier to do it myself instead of depending on someone else.
If you are at the end of your middle school journey or the beginning of your high school journey, Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork will be a resource you will want to have. But even if you have experience with grading the high school years and making a transcript you will still find very helpful information in this resource.
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