The Top Tip for Planning Homeschool High School

Top Tip for Homeschooling High School

I did one thing before I started planning homeschool high school for my oldest son that helped me more than anything else. It watched Lee Binz The HomeScholar‘s free webinar “A Homeschool Parent’s Guide to High School Grades, Credits, and Transcripts!” I learned everything I needed to know in order to help my son through his high school years! I gained confidence and learned some important things I needed to know. Below are a few of the topics addressed in the webinar, as well as my answers to those questions.

What’s the Big Deal about Grades and Credits?

What’s the Big Deal about Grades and Credits? If you don’t give tests, how do you grade their work? How do you determine grades? Why do you need to give grades?

I loved her explanation about how to assign grades. One idea was “Does their end product frustrate you? Do you feel he could have done better?” I was even able to apply it this year for one of the classes my son took that didn’t include tests. Grades are important because they are necessary for a high school transcript. It’s one of the ways that a college can learn about your student and determine whether to accept him into their college (other ways may include an essay or interview, etc.) The transcript with grades will also be looked at by those determining whether to give your child a scholarship.

How to organize and well-document your high school work.

How to organize and well-document your high school work.

I learned that I not only need to keep track of hours (for classes that aren’t going through a textbook) and grades, but also his community service work, awards, competitions, etc. Here is a post where I explain how we are going to use a 4-year planner to keep track of everything. Also, here is a simple transcript program you can use to type everything into and print out to send with college applications.

How to make everything “official” so it can be sent to a college.

How to make everything “official” so it can be sent to a college.

This was a refreshing. It’s not as hard as it seems! You can just type it all out, or use a template like Lee Binz sells or Fast Transcripts.

What kinds of credits does my high schooler need?

What kinds of credits does my high schooler need? What’s the difference between 1/2 credit and 1 (or full) credit.

I also learned about how to determine whether a class should be considered 1/2 credit or full credit. Basically, it depends on how many hours the student is working on it. For example, my son practices violin about 30 minutes a day, plus a 45-minute lesson once a week. Doing that all school year provides him with 1/2 credit in violin. For band, however, he has longer rehearsals at school 4 days a week, practices at home 30 minutes a day, and has a 40-minute lesson once a week. That earned him a full credit in band. The webinar gives specific numbers of hours to help you determine between 1/2 credit and full credit.

You can give high school credit if they are doing high school work– at any age!

You can give high school credit if they are doing high school work– at any age!

I’m glad I learned about this before my son was in 8th grade, because he earned 5 credits during his 8th grade year!

Go here to see the webinar yourself–for FREE and learn about the above plus lots more–just about everything you need in order for planning homeschool high school.