High School Record Keeping
As my oldest child approached high school, I became nervous. I began reading everything I could find about high school record keeping, college preparation, “required” courses and more. The more I read, the more nervous I became. I even spent a $150 Christmas gift on a session with a college prep counselor who, as it turned out, had no experience with homeschoolers. I felt that I needed to tighten up the way I ran my ship, and I wondered how I would manage.
All three of my children were enrolled in Ocean Grove Charter School at the time. I considered keeping them enrolled throughout high school, but I really wanted to enroll them in our own private school as they reached 9th grade. I wanted the freedom to choose our own curriculum – sectarian, if I liked – and schedule by year. Also, I suspected that my children’s explorations might be difficult to translate into coursework. Ocean Grove and other charter schools can be wonderful for the high school years – don’t get me wrong. I might at some point re-enroll my children. I’ve just wanted more freedom than I felt charter schools could offer.
My biggest fears about high school centered on record keeping and college preparation. I worried that my children would be penalized by the colleges they approached, because I hadn’t prepared them well. So it was a relief to discover The HomeScholar, Lee Binz.
Lee homeschooled her two sons through high school, and she became a pro at transcripts and record keeping. Her records – and, of course, her boys’ academic achievements – secured full-ride scholarships for both boys at their first-choice universities! Hard to argue with that.
I purchased Lee’s book, Setting the Record Straight (see below), and have been using its strategies to prepare for college through the high school years. Lee provides action items for each year of high school, with college in mind. She explains, in depth, how to keep records and design effective transcripts. Her discovery that many colleges love homeschool transcripts was a breath of fresh air, as was her news that there’s no one right way to design a transcript. Especially reassuring was her statement that there was no need to change the way I ran my school. I could continue allowing my children to explore their interests. Lee could show me how to translate their school experiences into the “love language” of colleges, via personalized transcripts, accurate grades, and course descriptions. Lee also offers on-line training, consulting, a selection of informative freebies, and more.
Here’s Setting the Record Straight, the book that’s helping me through high school!
Check out Lee’s Total Transcript Solution!
