Question about high school organization

[Karin]

I've been following a few threads here I haven't posted on because next year will be gr. 9/freshman year for my eldest.

So far we've been a do what comes next family and I haven't kept grades or detailed logs. I've kept all their work in the attic, etc, but have tossed old daily schedules etc.

However, since I have no idea where dd is going to end up going to university/college I think high school is high time (pun intended as it's late) to start keeping some detailed info so we can make up a great transcript, give other important information etc. What I'm looking for is some type of easy to use, fabulous resource where I can record all of the necessary stuff. With everything else going on I'd prefer not to design it myself. While price is important, feel free to suggest things even if they're expensive just so I know what's out there. I'd prefer something that doesn't have holes that rip as in 3 ring binder stuff, unless it's really strong.

I realize the transcript will have to look professional, but I'm not sure I want to record it all on the computer but on a hard copy, as long as typing up the transcript will be relatively easy when it comes time to do that.

While I can write with very tiny letters, my normal script is large and I now use reading glasses for small fonts (1.00, the weakest ones), so I have to be able to write large enough that I'll be able to read it in 5 years:ack2:

[Chris in VA]

I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you saying you want to organize a portfolio for college entrance? If so, I know there are great resources for that, but I'm just doing a transcript, so I can't give you them.
For a transcript, all you need to do is keep track on a year by year basis, of grades. You can either do percentages or actual ABC type grades. Decide on a scale. Then just write down on a sheet or two of paper what grades they make. Weight your grades as you wish. Apologia, for example, has suggestions as to what percentage of the course should count for how much (in other words, how much do tests count toward the final grade, how much does homework count, etc.) Then put info on a form. You can add as you go.
A transcript is not a detailed list of what happened in high school. It's just a simple list of final (or semester/quarter) grades, with titles for the courses, and extracurriculars. You can add a booklist or course descriptions if asked.
I'm just not entirely sure if you think you need more, or what. Doesn't cost a thing, really. I got my template free at the covenant college site.

[Ellie]

ITA with Chris. A transcript is only a one-page piece of paper with semester grades, either by year or by subject. Easy peasy. A bibliography of textbooks or other materials used may be necessary, depending on the college, but that is also easy.

[Peek a Boo]

I too will have a 9th grader next year! and he doesn't have any pie-in-the-sky plans. Except maybe culinary arts school. French pastries, lol.

i bought the Senior High Form-U-La book by Barb Shelton. It is packed w/ all kinds of forms to copy and use!

I checked out the book by Mike Farris about Homeschooling High School and liked some of the forms in there too. One kind was a two-page spread that might fit what you want. See if your library has either of these.

I've been training the kids to use a daily checklist/assignment sheet. I'd like to move oldest to his own assignment book for high school. If you can convince your dd to keep a daily "log" of the things she does [books she's reading, places she went, volunteer times, groups she visits, etc] just in a nice, easy narrative or list formula, that would be PERFECT for what you need, give her some ownership of her responsibility in her education, and take some of the weight off you.

i was actually JUST meandering over here to ask if anyone could share any printable forms on the internet --these books need to be cut to copy right!!

I plan to set up a little reference book for ds --things he needs to know about documenting his educational endeavors, things colleges will expect, timelines for tests and such, and maybe some easy forms to facilitate that.

let me know if you find anything that speaks to your style --sounds a bit like mine, lol.

good luck!

[Laurel-in-CA]

We're caught somewhere between do-what-comes-next and stay-organized. Here's what we do:
* Daily Planner - some weeks I write assignments, but some weeks I just have the kids record what they're doing in each subject area. The key is to get something down every day and check it every week or two to make sure there's adequate progress.
* Course Descriptions -- Do a paragraph or so on each course before the beginning of the year, recording topics, textbook or other study resources, methods, and expected output (study notes, homework, papers, etc.) I list novels/biographies/supplemental readings, field trips, etc. too. Keep these in a notebook. This is what will back up the transcript.
* Summary Table -- This is my 4-year plan for each kid, semester 1, semester 2, and summertime listing subjects. This is what will turn into a transcript.

I got Homeschool Tracker, but can't get it to work for me. I think I just have a hard time figuring all the ins and outs to produce a schedule. I did make up a weekly plan for history over the summer. For lit, I just go with what the publisher (Hewitt) sends out. For the other classes, I mostly just divide by 180 days. Well, except for art, which is where dd gets creative, LOL. That's a whole different post.

[Nan in Mass]

I bought one with a plastic cover at the beginning of high school and divided it into sections according to the courses I thought would be on my son's transcript in the end, leaving room for other courses as they occurred. So, I began with sections for biology, physics, chemistry, world history, US history, government and economics, math, great books, life skills, other (extra curricular), Latin, logic, PE, speech, writing, art, and music, and one for fun reading. As time went on, I added a few more, like scifi and peace studies. I broke the big subjects up into sections for reading, videos, and projects/explorations. For years now, whenever my son has done anything, from completing a textbook to walking through Japan for 3 months, I've entered it into the notebook under the right subject. I include the date, a description of what he did, and if it is a book, I have him write a sentence or two saying whether he liked it and why (just for fun). I don't grade, but if I did, I'd not the grade. That, along with notebooks of his work, are my record. The beauty of this system is that even if you don't do things all in a chunk, they get recorded in a way that makes it easy to write up course descriptions and a transcript in the end. You can see how much work you have done in each subject and decide how much credit to assign based on that. For instance, in the end I think we will have 2 credits worth of Latin, even though we've worked at it on and off for 4 years. Since my son is a junior this year, I've made a transcipt. I did that in word using the boxes feature after having looked at all the examples I could find, but there are several free blank transcripts out there that are available on the internet. Every spring I have to submit to the school department a plan for the new year (lists subjects and how we plan to cover them) and an assessment of the past year's work, so I have these as documentation, too. I write these up in word, usually by modifying last year's. I also have a daily schedule that we more or less try to keep to. It is more an order of subjects to cover and a starting and ending time, but if I ever have to account for time spent on particular subjects, I will use that. This is about as easy as you can get when it comes to recording high school, I think. I don't record every Latin or math assignment done, just the extra projects and when we began and finished each textbook, but you could do that if you wanted to. You might need a bigger noteook, in that case. It is fun and satisfying to look back and see how much we have done in each subject. Very reassuring.
HTH
-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

I think you might like to get
Homeschooler's Guide to Portfolios and Transcripts by Loretta Heuer

It is full of the sorts of forms you are talking about, and helps your child take ownership.

[Karin]

I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you saying you want to organize a portfolio for college entrance? If so, I know there are great resources for that, but I'm just doing a transcript, so I can't give you them.
.


Yes, rereading what I wrote I was as clear as mud!!!! What I really want is some "super book" where I can record grades, accomplishments, any awards, extra curricular activities, etc in one place. I'm sure I'll do a portfolio, too. I suspect the transcript is much simpler and easier to do than this.

On the one hand, I have trouble keeping everything tidy. On the other hand I need to do a lot of organization with things like dance recitals--I need the info way in advance so I can put it on my calendar and figure out when to do it all. I think to keep this stuff organized, I want some kind of super book. It
may not even exist. I am going to read all these posts.

If I'm still being too vague, feel free to ask again. For someone who writes so much, I don't do all of my thinking in words, only some of it, and there are times when I have a hard time translating what I'm thinking into words.

What Nan suggested just might be it, not sure, but it might be in my library.

[Karin]

Well, except for art, which is where dd gets creative, LOL. That's a whole different post.

Oh, I'd love to hear what you do for art, because this is one of my daughter's strengths. She's had a couple of art teachers (one in ps and one at a workshop) point out to me that I should really encourage her in art.

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

I don't think you need become obsessive about keeping their work just because they've entered the high school years. An artist or musician will need an extensive portfolio, but not your garden-variety high schooler. Save anything that is particularly good, particularly pieces of writing, but this should amount to no more than say 10 samples over the course of the four years.

I'll tell you what I did. Every time we began a course, I jotted down the names of the books we used. At the end of the course, I wrote a course description. That was so much easier than trying to reconstruct everything at the end. As it was, my daughter decided to apply just to our state school because it's 45 minutes away and they offered her a full ride for her NMS finalist status. She decided she didn't want to go all the way back East with so many younger siblings still at home, so she didn't even bother applying to her top choices. She said she didn't have to face the pain of turning them down :). So as it turned out, all I needed was a simple transcript list of courses and grades. But my time wasn't wasted. Now I have a plan for my younger kids that I will only need to tweak. There's something to be said for having to invent the wheel only once.

Barb

[Laurel-in-CA]

Well, dd goes to a class once/week at a place called The Art House, her 3rd year there. The owners are artists, the materials include learning about some famous artists in the younger grades, and imitating their style. The reason we chose this route is that I felt my dd needed to be encouraged to go beyond her favorite medium (pencil sketching) and explore color, multiple media, etc. It's been really good for her, as the older students also critique each others' work. Next year we will probably ask for help assembling a portfolio for college applications.

This year for high school we've added to that class some art history (Annotated Mona Lisa) and museum visits (quarterly, with a written review of the museum or work of art), as well as a graphic design workbook. And dd is pretty motivated this year to compete in art contests, as she wants $$ for a laptop.

[Anne/Ankara]

I don't know if this helps, but I can describe what I will do for next year-- ninth grade. Since we live in PA, we are obliged to keep yearly portfolios, so I will continue that exercise (a three ring binder, divided by subject, with samples and description in each area). We also keep a daily log and book list throughout year, which is included in the portfolio.

My evaluator likes to see a brief document, which I call a "Year-at-a-Glance," which I write up, that mentions key activities or accomplishments by the student in a given year.

So, for instance, in math, you could list the textbook, include the grade, mention any outside activities or test scores, for the entire year.

Now, I'm a record keeper by nature, so I love this kind of stuff (almost as much as the planning part of homeschooling!), so I also put together a powerpoint slide show of Yearbook activities (sports, extracurriular activities, travel and field trips, workshops) for each child. Also, I keep a separate "Achievement Report" so that I can list notable things that happened during the year for each child, so that we can keep motivated by past successes (sometimes you forget the good things that happened!).

Anyway, those are some of my ideas for high school recordkeeping...

[Jenn in CA]

I love my Excel workbook. I've got the whole year's assignments in it (a rough framework at the beginning, filled-in more as we go), along with attendance, holidays, # of school days completed to date, etc. I have a worksheet for each child.

The next worksheet is each child's grades. I only keep percentage-type grades on a daily basis for Math, Latin and Greek. But it calculates grades for each quarter, semester and the year.

I also have a worksheet for stuff we're supposed to all learn each year such as poetry and music selections, but haven't been consistent with it.

The boys keep their assignments on the computer (they print me a copy and I throw it away after I'm done with it), each subject in its own folder.

I started with Donna Young's gradebook and customized from there.

As for organizing recitals, etc. I use a Palm and that is my brain! I also have my Excel gradebook on the Palm for reference, but don't edit from the Palm, only from the desktop.

[nestof3]

I kept no grades until high school. I am using the following transcript for recording grades. I type in the number grade, and when I submit it (when he's all done), I'll substitute letter grades.

http://www.covenant.edu/admissions/trad/adm/home/hs_guidelines.php

I bought the following record keeping books at the local TAPS store for keeping track of subjects, assignments, and grades.

http://www.americanscholar.com/ProductProperty1.asp?l4bc=60050%20-%20Soft%20Cover%20-%208.25x10.75%20-%2024%20Sheets&id=263&tlc=HomeAndOffice&Identity=

I keep a list of literature read, resources used for each course, and a description of main resources.

I also have a folder for each student which houses their IOWA test results, and notice of intent paperwork from the city.

[Karin]

Thanks to all who have posted. Lots to think about and look at before I figure out which suggestion(s) are going to fit.:001_smile:

[Jenn in CA]

I really like this! So simple. I think the hard thing for me would be to remember to update it. But I could make that a "to-do" on my Palm...

[Fatcat]

I think maybe it's what you have in mind.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1200408998-865152&subject=&id=031494

[Hannah C.]

When I was applying to colleges and looking at websites, it looked like a lot of colleges wanted course descriptions from homeschoolers, curricula used, etc. So you probably want to keep track of all that.

I know some of the high school curricula (Apologia, Saxon) have some grading built in, so you could probably use that. My TX public school course grades came half from tests and half from everything else, except for AP classes where 75% of the grade came from tests.

[Laura in OH]

from her book Senior High Form+U+La here:
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/books_by_barb_shelton.cfm#141

Lots and Lots of forms there -- seems worth the $, especially since you can edit the forms too!

[Laurel-in-CA]

I forgot to add that we photograph all her art work and keep it by year. We started this in her 8th grade year using a digital camera. This will be the foundation of her portfolio.

[Karin]

Thanks for the additional links, and Laurel for the stuff about the art portfolio.

Tonight I read another chapter in the book Homeschooling Highschool (from the libarary) and I feel overwhelmed. It was about courses to cover, etc.