High school graduation... what an accomplishment! How exciting!
Now, what about the diploma?
Diplomas In Kentucky
Here in Kentucky, according to The Kentucky Homeschool Information Packet found on the Kentucky Department of Education's Home School page, when a child graduates from a home school it is the responsibility of the home school to issue the diploma. Not in Kentucky? Check your state's requirements for high school graduation and for the issuing of a high school diploma.
Customized Diplomas
When our twin boys graduated from high school (after being homeschooled all 12 years), I decided to create personalized diplomas for them. After searching the internet and gathering ideas for various styles and wording, my diploma forms were edited and tweaked in Word until they were just right. Then they were printed out, signed by my husband and me, framed, presented to the boys, and put on display in their rooms.
Keepsake Documents
With their
framed diplomas proudly on display, I stepped back to
admire them. And then it hit me. A major milestone had been reached. Our long but rewarding
homeschooling journey had finally come to an end. Their high school diplomas are not just documents stating they have completed a particular course of study. They are precious reminders of the many memorable moments and accomplishments made during our family's unique educational journey.
Free Diploma Form
This same diploma form is available as a free, fully editable download (Word doc) to customize for your high school student along with a finished sample for reference.
- Edit the red text and any other text as desired.
- Change all text to black.
- Proofread. Double check all names and dates.
- Print two copies. One to file with permanent records and one to frame.
- Add signatures in ink.
- Frame. Display. Admire. Reflect.
Disclaimer
The use of this diploma form does not confirm the completion of any particular high school course of study or program.
Related Links
Donna Young
HSLDA
Let's Homeschool High School
Homeschool Diploma
Microsoft Office
The high school transcript is an official document detailing a student's academic record. The transcript includes a list of courses, grades, GPA, credits, and test scores, along with an overview of honors, awards, and extracurricular activities.
An Official Transcript Form
In order to prepare transcripts for our homeschool, the internet was searched extensively and all pertinent information was compiled and organized into a concise two-page document. This form was used successfully in the college admissions process. You are welcome to utilize these blank copies of the form that we used.
High School Transcript Form - pdf
High School Transcript Form - doc
The Transcript as a Planning Tool
A blank transcript form may be used as a handy high school planning tool. Pencil in your student's required and elective courses for each year. Be sure to check state homeschooling requirements and possible college admission requirements.
Maintaining a Transcript
- Maintaining a transcript can be accomplished easily by updating the document on a regular basis.
- At the end of each quarter or semester during high school, transfer grades from report cards to the transcript (or simply add the grades to the transcript if your homeschool does not use report cards) and assign credits earned.
- Several resume entries relating to a similar activity or topic may be condensed into a single line on the transcript. For example, if on the resume several entries relate to 4-H, they may be condensed into one line on the transcript, such as "2010-2014 4-H Club".
- Record the highest test score obtained for each type of test.
- A transcript should not exceed
two pages in length; therefore, adjust font sizes, page margins, and table settings as needed.
- Keep a transcript for each student with your homeschool's permanent records.
College and Scholarships
The student's high school transcript is typically required for college admissions and scholarship applications. When applying to some colleges and universities, the Common Application is used. Having an up-to-date transcript will make the task relatively easy to transfer the required information to the online forms.
You Can Do This!
Yes, you can compile an official high school transcript for your homeschooled student.
- Download and/or print out a blank transcript form.
- Begin editing text and filling it in.
- Update the transcript on a regular basis.
- Customize the transcript according to your needs and preferences.
Sample Transcripts
The Home Scholar
Mary Baldwin College
Home School Incorporated
Eclectic Homeschool Online
Related Links
HSLDA
Donna Young
Oklahoma Homeschool
7 Sisters
Examiner
Extra Tip
Compile an elementary and/or middle school transcript for a younger
student as a way to practice for preparing the high school transcript...
and to document your student's early academic years as well.
How to Build a Student Resume
It's never too early to begin building your student's resume. Collect information relating to the student's activities and accomplishments by searching through the following:
- calendars
- e-mail messages
- permanent records
- notebooks
- certificates
- trophies
- scrapbooks
- journals
- ticket stubs
- event programs
- photos
- websites
- newspaper clippings
The student resume may not be limited to the high school years. In fact, entries may be included from the elementary and middle school years, especially to document participation, achievement, and excellence at an early age. Soon after you begin compiling your student's resume you will be pleasantly surprised at how many educational opportunities your student has participated in during the homeschool years.
Blank Forms
Many high school student resume forms are available online. I developed the two forms listed below that you are welcome to use, too. Tips are included in italics.
High School Student Resume - pdf
High School Student Resume - doc
Section Tips
Underneath each section of the resume, list entries chronologically by year with the most recent entries listed first.
- Education
List the name of each school and the years attended. Specify homeschool, umbrella school, private school, public school, college or university, or online program.
- Honors and Awards
Include contests, competitions, winnings, special recognitions, trophies, and placing at qualifying events.
- Organizations
List local clubs and homeschool support groups, as well as local, state, regional, and national organizations. Include any leadership positions held.
- Extracurricular Activities
May include field trips, museum and art gallery tours, special events, recitals, competitions, fundraising, and independent projects.
- Employment, Internship, and Apprenticeship
Include part time jobs, summer jobs, and assisting parents with home based businesses.
- Certification and Training
List certification and training in areas such as CPR, first aid, and EMT training.
- Contacts
List teachers, instructors, tutors, mentors, professors, coaches, coordinators, and employers. These key individuals may be asked to write letters of recommendation for the student when needed.
Entry Wording Tips
Resume entries consist of short phrases rather than complete sentences. Begin entries with action words, concrete nouns, and positive modifiers to precisely describe your student's active involvement and achievements.
action words
accomplished, achieved, assisted, attended, coached, completed, conducted, contributed, coordinated, created, developed, demonstrated, designed, directed, discussed, established, evaluated, facilitated, generated, implemented, initiated, instructed, interpreted, improved, launched, led, maintained, managed, mastered, operated, organized, participated, performed, planned, presented, programmed, proposed, provided, scheduled, set up, solved, spoke, supervised, taught, trained, translated, utilized, and won.
concrete nouns and positive modifiers
ability, actively, capacity, competent, consistent, effective, pertinent, proficient, qualified, resourceful, rigorous, significant, substantially, technical, versatile, and vigorous.
Length
Typically a resume is only one page long, but for homeschooled students in the college and scholarship application process, the more detailed information that can be provided the better since the abundance of information helps to accurately describe, confirm, and validate the student's unique homeschool experiences to the reader.
Update
Update your student's resume on a regular basis. Make entries as soon as possible so they are not overlooked or forgotten later. Carefully proofread for typos and correct them. Double check all dates and other information for accuracy. When updating a resume file on a computer, save the current file as a new file with the current date. Be sure to back up important files often. Keep a printed copy of the resume with your homeschool's permanent records.
Final Copy
Print final copies to submit with applications on heavy resume paper. A professionally prepared document makes a good impression.
Helpful Links
How to Create Your Resume' by the College Board
Resume's for High School Students by Money-Zine
Student Resume' by My College Calendar
High School Resume' Examples - Job Searching, About.com
Resume' Tips for High School Students - About.com
Your High School Resume' by College Confidential
Top 12 Tips to Perfect your College Application Resume' by Accepted to College
High School Student Resume: Building a winning resume by StudyPoints
Examples of Resume's for High School Students at eHow
Extra Tip
When
people ask you about what your homeschooled student does, show them a
copy of the resume! They will be impressed, with both the student's
active involvement and with your detailed record keeping.
Why Should a Homeschooled Student Have a Resume?
Activities and Accomplishments
The student resume is a document listing all of a student's extracurricular activities and accomplishments. Detailed entries listed underneath the various sections provide an overview of who the student is by describing interests, talents, skills, involvement, leadership, special achievements, and demonstrated excellence. For the homeschool parent, the student resume may be seen as a detailed timeline of the student's growth and progress throughout the homeschooling years.
College, Scholarship, and Employment Applications
A student resume is often required when submitting applications for college, scholarships, and employment. This document introduces your student to college admissions officers, scholarship committees, and potential employers. In order to be competitive in the college and scholarship application process, everything a homeschooled student does is relevant and everything should be listed. The Common Application, an online form used by many colleges and universities for the admissions process, requests information that can be easily obtained by referring to the student's resume. By accurately listing every activity and accomplishment, the resume will put the spotlight on your individual student, helping to set him or her apart from the rest.
Transcript
The student resume, when regularly updated throughout the homeschooling years, is an extremely useful tool when gathering information to be recorded on the high school transcript. Several resume entries relating to a similar activity or topic may be condensed into a single line on the transcript.
Interviews
The resume is a handy reference for a student when preparing for interviews for college or employment since the various activities and experiences the student has had may be discussed.
Next: The Student Resume, Part 2... How to Build a Student Resume
Report Cards and Progress Reports
Report cards, sometimes referred to as progress reports, function as tools to monitor student academic progress and to document the subjects and courses taken by each student each school year. Initially used by school teachers to communicate a student's progress with his/her parents, report cards may appear to be redundant for homeschool teachers/parents to use, but the maintaining of report cards and/or progress reports are nonetheless required of homeschoolers in many states. Progress reports written in paragraph or journal form are an ideal way to record observations, progress, strengths, weaknesses, and interests of your student, which may be extremely interesting to read later as your child grows and matures. Regardless of the format, continuous updating of report cards and/or progress reports can work as a valuable tool in helping you to identify trends in your child's work, indicate areas where more work may be needed, and give insight to future educational plans. Be sure to check if report cards or progress reports are required by law in your state, and act accordingly. Keep report cards and progress reports with your homeschool's permanent records.
Our Homeschool's Grading System
In our homeschool, we adopted a simple grading system based on 10. My husband, having grown up in Italy, suggested that we use this scale based on the grading scale that he was familiar with that his school used. This scale easily converted to 9.0-10.0=A, 8.0-8.9=B, and 7.0-7.9=C. A grade of 10 was only given in our homeschool for exceptionally good work, and our boys understood that it was generally difficult to earn a 10. While they did not work just to get a "10", they did realize that if they saw a 10 at the top of the page they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had made a remarkable accomplishment. Being both homeschool teacher and mom, I did not want to fall into the trap of giving 10's for everything the boys did. I wanted to be as objective as possible in documenting the boys' work and progress. When grading papers, I used the Original E-Z Grader which has been an extremely useful tool throughout the years. The boys realized that I was not simply giving them a grade; the grade was earned based on their actual performance.
Grading Scales
Some schools use 94-100 for an A, while others use 90-100 for an A. Since grading is very subjective, there is no standard grading method, curriculum varies from school to school and from class to class, I suggest not losing much sleep over which grading scale you use. Simply be consistent with the grading system you choose, allow your children to be aware of it, and be diligent about maintaining any required documentation.
Report Card Forms
Listed below are blank report card forms you may download, personalize, and print out. You are welcome to use these forms as they are or copy and modify them in order to customize for your particular needs. Print report cards on card stock for durability. Fold them in half to keep them conveniently in a small manila envelope with your homeschool's permanent records.
Elementary Report Card Forms
Middle School Report Card Forms
Schedule school subjects and their corresponding resources by downloading and printing out the Individual Learning Plan (ILP) worksheets listed below. This convenient system will help you to successfully plan and customize your child's academic years, as well as to plan purchases of books and other materials.
Individual Learning Plan for Elementary doc
Individual Learning Plan for Elementary pdf
Individual Learning Plan for Middle School doc
Individual Learning Plan for Middle School pdf
Individual Learning Plan for High School doc
Individual Learning Plan for High School pdf
Assign Required Courses
Referring to your state's homeschooling and high school graduation requirements (see my previous post), assign required courses and electives to be taken each year on an ILP worksheet. Indicate which courses your student is to take each year and cross out any unused blocks. For example, a first-grade student might not take English, so the English block under the "1" would be crossed out.
For high school students, refer to the courses and credits needed to meet high school graduation requirements in your particular state or area, as well as any additional college admissions requirements, and assign each course to an ILP block. Minimum high school graduation requirements may not be sufficient to meet college admissions requirements, so be prepared for your student to take more than the minimum number of required high school courses if planning to attend college.
Scheduling high school courses takes a bit more thought since subjects may be taken all four years, a few years, only one year, one semester, or one quarter. For example, the high school science courses of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics could be taken in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, or with a break in between. Check for course pre-requisites and schedule them on the ILP accordingly. For example, completion of Algebra I may be a pre-requisite for a Chemistry course. When a subject is not taken every year, cross out any unused blocks. For example, Health and PE would probably not be taken all four years of high school, so the years that Health and PE are not taken would be crossed out.
Add Electives and Family Preferences
Add subjects to the ILP that your child and/or your family find interesting and important to learn about, such as Bible, Vegetable Gardening, Bicycle Maintenance, or Pet Care. In high school, elective courses may focus on college-prep and career-oriented subjects. The ILP worksheet will help you to evenly distribute and appropriately schedule all required and elective courses throughout the homeschooling years. As your student progresses, you will have the flexibility to make adjustments as needed.
Include Supplements
Think outside the books! Include an
interesting variety of educational games, kits, DVDs, CDs, field trips,
websites, projects, and activities to your child's ILP worksheet, too. When the blocks on the ILP worksheet get full, continue with notes on the back of the same page. If using the Word document on the computer, the table cells will expand as needed.
List Resources to Consider
Browsing homeschool catalogs? Shopping online? Going to homeschool conventions? Make a note of specific titles, publishers, item numbers, and prices of resources to consider purchasing for specific courses. Resources may include, but not be limited to, textbooks, workbooks, e-books, audiobooks, online courses, DVD courses, and dual-enrollment classes. Then, when the time comes, you will already have a collection of possible resources to choose from listed for each subject. This list will help to reduce impulse buying and over-spending! In the case that a particular resource doesn’t work out as expected, you will likely have other options already listed on the ILP worksheet.
You Can Do This!
This simple, thorough, and flexible planning system worked for us during our 12 years of homeschooling. Whether you use the ILP worksheets listed above, create your own, or plan by hand on notebook paper, the method you choose is not as important as the actual planning itself. The long term benefits of first getting the big picture, planning thoughtfully, and then focusing on the details will definitely be worth all your efforts.
Here's proof that top-ranked universities really do welcome homeschooled students. I explored the web to see what’s expected of homeschool students applying as first-year undergraduates, and what I found was both encouraging and informative. For high-achieving students, begin planning early for high school in order to meet admissions requirements for these elite schools.
Princeton University
Yale University
Columbia University
University of Chicago
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
Duke University
University of Pennsylvania
California Institute of Technology
Dartmouth College
Johns Hopkins University
Washington University in St. Louis
Brown University
Rice University
University of Notre Dame
Vanderbilt University
Emory University
Attending this type of university might not cost as much as you may think! Many of these schools are "need blind", meaning that acceptance to the school does not depend on the family's ability to pay. Basically, if a student is accepted to the university, the family would pay an amount corresponding to demonstrated financial needs; the rest is covered by grants, work-study, and scholarships, without taking out loans. For participating universities, a Net Price Calculator can be found on the College Board website. Check the Financial Aid sections of individual university websites for more information.
Many universities, both public and private, use The Common Application with the Home School Supplement to apply online for admissions. It's a good idea to print out these forms now and review them for future reference.
