All About High School Transcripts ~~ A New TOS Review!!!

When we first started homeschooling we (really I) had mapped out a 12 year plan. Yes, you read that correctly. All 12 years. Most of my friends and family thought I was crazy! But if we were going to do this I wanted to know the whole story from the beginning to end and know that we had the resources available. One thing I have not really thought about was the high school nitty-gritty. Not the subjects and material that needed to be covered, but how you would put it all together so that if my child wanted to attend university that they would have the paperwork necessary to accomplish that end goal.

Which brings me to my new favorite resource for when you homeschool high school -- Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High School Paperwork by Janice Campbell. In this wonderful 138 page resource gold, published by Everyday Education,  you will find EVERYTHING you need to create your very own high school transcript, customized to fit every detail for each student individually. My review of the fourth edition of this invaluable product has helped me have a lot less stress about starting to build our own transcript for my now 10th grader.

Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High School Paperwork is broken into 6 sections. I will tell you a little bit about each of these as well as what is new with this latest edition.

So you have Part 1 - Meet the Transcript. This is exactly what the title of the book leads you to think the entire book is about, the nitty-gritty of that teeny piece of paper that puts 4 years of work onto one sheet filled with numbers, grades, and other details to help your student stand out among thousands. This chaper is all about the what and who of transcripts and an overview.

Next is Part 2 - Plan with the End in Mind. This section tells you what your student should study in high school and even gives you a sample of high school requirements. Now, every state is different, but generally all students will have to complete a certain amount in the 'normal' subject areas. Mrs. Campbell even goes on to discuss standardized tests, skills and habits your high school student, how to be successful in college, and some things your teen can do while they are in high school like volunteering, dual-enrollment, or starting a micro-business. This section was chock full of great information, some of which I hadn't even thought about.

Now we move on to Part 3 - Keep Simple Records. This is the chapter with which I really needed some help. Thankfully in this section there were plenty of ideas on how to minimize what you keep while still having a full overview of 4 years of school. Since moving recently I had a rude awakening of just how much paperwork we still have. Now that my eldest in high school I'm not sure I need to keep 3 boxes of her school from her entire career! She also teaches us about class profile sheets and subject worksheets, as well as how to name your classes. There's even a special (new) section on special needs records, transcripts, as well as resource recommendations.

I printed out the subject worksheet for Fine Arts to keep track of her musical studies.

Part 4 - Grades, Credits, and the GPA is exactly what it sounds like. Tis was also quite a helpful section since my daughter has dual classe that get grades from a local community college, but then our "together" school as well as other subjects she does on her own, like French. It even had a section for those of us who are a more relaxed homeschool family and unschoolers. I was also thankful to see some information on HOW to grade, complete with a writing rubric. The grading scale, granting credit for honor classes, and how to compute the GPA are also included here.

Here's a class profile sheet that I used to write out her A&P class and lab she took at a local college back in SC. I also have her syllabus for the class and lab. I put them both on one sheet to streamline.

Another of the beauties of this book is that Campbell has truly thought of everything. In Part 5 - Create the Transcript she literally gives you the step by step instructions on how to create YOUR transcript! Like she tells you to open up your document go to file, then new, and so on telling you the exact measurements of the tables you will create so that you will get the format of transcript that you are wanting. She also includes several samples of each of the three types of high school transcripts - vertical, horizontal, and check-off formats. Mrs. Campbell even includes a section about Diplomas!

I used the blank transcript in the back of the book to start to write down all of what she's accomplished for high school. I also added what I think she will be doing in the near future so we have a quick overview of what is left.

At the end of the book Part 6 - References, Resources, and Reproducibles has a glossary, resources for planning and learning through the high school years including testing, and then forms which are both reproducible (like those for reading, as well as the class profile and subject worksheets I mentioned earlier.) There is even blank transcript forms that you can print out and then use to 'keep track' of what your student is doing/has done or you can type the information onto the form. However, I think that her step-by-step process of how to set up a transcript form on the computer was very easy to follow. I did print out one so I could wrap my head around which one would work best for us and I started to write in the subjects/classes my daughter has already completed in the past (almost) two years. Ack, just 2 years left!! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to review this book.

I know that I will be using it again and again. It is definitely a resource you will want to have in your aresnal. You will feel more at ease that you can conquer the high school paperwork with Janice Campbell's Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High School Paperwork. I urge you to read other Crew member's reviews by clicking the link below. You can also check out Everyday Education on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.