I fretted so much about how I was going to create a high school transcript for my homeschooler.
What a ridiculous thing to worry about. It was actually the EASIEST part of the entire homeschool to college process.
Remember, we are unaccredited homeschoolers and we are thinking OUTSIDE of the traditional box.
Making a high school transcript has been simple - so put that worry out of your mind!
You have done a great job of homeschooling high school and now is the time to put that on paper and SMILE.
Remember, I’m not official college entrance expert. I am a parent (just like you) who has a child that desires to go to college. I like to keep things simple and paint the picture of why my homeschooler is a good fit for the college she is applying to.
We aren’t going for social status, prestige, or bragging rights. We desire a solid, affordable education at an institution that will value my child’s unique contribution and nurture her passions and desires.
(I LOVED the book Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania - please read this book before you start the college process with your child! It will open your eyes to the whole college GAME that is happening in our country right now.)
If you are met with roadblocks at a college or university because your child is homeschooled, then might I suggest that probably isn’t the place for your child?
Making the Homeschool High School Transcript
In the first post in this series we talked about high school credits - what the requirements are, how to assign them, and how to plan out the credits your child will need for graduation.
Now, let’s talk about how to document those credits in the high school transcript.
You can read a lot of articles online about what a transcript is and what admissions officers look for in a transcript.
If you are with an accredited homeschool group or have an accreditation person who works to help you transcript, then you don’t have any transcript woes - other than keeping accurate records.
If you are like us, however, you are unaccredited and decided to create your own transcript.
Enter Annie & Everything and her amazing fillable PDF transcript!
If you read through Annie’s post about the transcript you will see her form is very easy fill in. The only thing I will add is this: I added a note after each course to show where it was taken. I felt that this added legitimacy and the sense of a varied educational experience we were trying to convey through the transcript.
You can also look for examples of transcripts online and easily create your own. I just liked that Annie had done it for me for $3.99.
I printed the transcript on heavy paper and keep several of them on hand to send when I need them.
That’s it. Easy and Done.
Explanation of Homeschool
One of the colleges my daughter applied to requested an “Explanation of Homeschool” letter from me because we are unaccredited.
I could do that easily.
I simply outlined what our homeschool had looked like from the beginning, and then went into detail about how we maintained the integrity of a Classical education through our participation in Classical Conversations, online courses, and a local Classical school.
This letter actually was then sent along with Anna’s applications to any other schools, because I felt like it provided an accurate and beautiful picture of her education.
Even as I write this post I think I must be missing something - that surely all of this was supposed to be a bit harder.
Your child had a unique education to this point - they will have a unique path to college and a unique college experience. You homeschooled them because you didn’t want to be like everyone else, right? There is a place prepared JUST for them, so sit back and marvel at how it all unfolds. That’s what I’m doing!