When I reached my high school years in homeschooling, I was frequently told that now was the time when everything mattered. The grades and activities I had during the four years of high school would be what colleges used to decide if I would be admitted, if I earned scholarships, etc. Naturally, hearing something like that puts a bit of pressure on a student and their parent. One may begin to worry if their record-keeping is sufficient to fulfill requirements on college applications. If this describes you, don’t worry! We’ve compiled our tips on record-keeping for your homeschooled high schooler to help boost your confidence and put your mind at ease.
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This post is part of a 10-day “Tips for Homeschool Moms Series” we are doing in conjunction with several other homeschool bloggers. Our theme is “Preparing Your Homeschooled Teen for College”. To see links to all of our posts and the other blogs, you can view this post. Now, our info on record-keeping for your homeschooled high schooler
The Essentials
Of course, when thinking about record keeping, GPA likely comes to mind quickly. However, as a homeschool parent, you might be unsure of how to calculate GPA for your student. It is important you do this accurately, as nearly every college your student applies to will request this information. Thankfully, there are resources to help you. This free GPA calculator from Bryan college can help you figure out your child’s GPA on a standard 4.0 scale.
Additionally, you need to keep information on what classes your student took in each year of high school. You will need to include the curriculum or program you used for the class, how many credits the class counted for, and, of course, your student’s grade for the course. When students are homeschooled, some colleges ask for more detailed information on the curriculum and material covered in courses to ensure your student is up to speed on the subject. You can save yourself a lot of time during application season by collecting this information as you go!
For more information on essentials for record-keeping, you can visit this link.
Extracurriculars
In addition to keeping track of grades and academics, you need to keep a record of your student’s extracurricular activities. Sports, competitions, academic teams, etc. all fall into this category. When recording info about these events, there are a few key details to be sure you include. First, how many years your student has participated. Second, about how much time per week they spend on the activity. Third, any awards or leadership positions in the event. That info covers the major questions that college applications ask.
You should also keep track of your student’s volunteer and community service work in a similar fashion. The same information about the length of service, time spent per week, and leadership positions are relevant here. You should also make note of what tasks your child was doing at the place they volunteer. This will help them if they need to expand on their community service work to answer an essay prompt.
Extracurriculars are extremely important on your student’s transcript to help colleges see who your student is outside of the classroom. Stay tuned later this week, as we will be publishing a post on standing out as a homeschooled college applicant where we talk even more about the role of these activities!
Miscellaneous
While applying for colleges, there were some questions that surprised me as I didn’t realize I would need to keep track of such things. Thankfully, I recorded many of these activities on an activity tracker I received from the High School Challenge from FundaFunda in the summer before my freshman year. One of the benefits of signing your student up for this challenge is a detailed activity tracker they receive! This tracker helps get your students involved in the record-keeping process, and it contains tracking for many areas one might not initially think of. Here are a couple of things I’m glad I kept track of.
First, I had two applications ask me to list my top ten favorite books I have read and why. Thankfully, I read quite a bit, so this question wasn’t a struggle for me. So, if your student keeps track of books they read, which are their favorites, and why these books stood out to them, they will be well-prepared for this question!
Second, I had some applications ask me about what I did during the summers. Make sure your teen keeps track of any summer employment, camps, volunteering, summer classes, etc. Colleges like to see that a student did something productive or educational during the summer months!
Blog Post Series
We hope you enjoyed these tips about record-keeping for your homeschooled high schooler! This post is part of a 10-day “Tips for Homeschool Moms” series we are doing in conjunction with other homeschool blogs. Our theme is “Preparing Your Homeschooled Teen for College”. You can find all of our posts, as well as the other blogs and series topics linked in this post. Our partners have some excellent experiences and insight to share in their series, so please do check out their blogs!
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or other suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
