How to Write Homeschool Transcripts – Review

With my Big Helper heading into high school next year, I’ve been worried about how to plan high school classes and write the dreaded transcript. That’s why I was so excited to receive a copy of
Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork by Everyday Education for review.

My Big Helper has big plans. She wants to do mission work in Haiti, compete in National History Day at the national level (again!), complete an internship, volunteer at Patrick Henry’s Red Hill, and more. Those are all great things, but it’s important to know how to schedule the classes she needs as well as find time to do all of those big and important but time-consuming things, too.

After reading Campbell’s book, I feel much better about the whole process. I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it, but I do feel that it’s very doable now. I have a plan for how to continue homeschooling in the project-based and unit study way that works for us and still be able to have a professional transcript ready when she wants to apply to college.

I love the sections that Campbell included in her book. It’s obvious from her stories that she’s needed a variety of transcripts for her own children, but also that she’s worked with people who required different types of transcripts, as well. There is information for unschoolers, people making portfolios, people who don’t give grades, and for how to describe these things on an official transcript.

There is a section for how to organize your class schedule and for approximately how long it should take a typical student to complete a class. I never would have imagined that there could be so many different ways to structure a school schedule, and I’m a professional teacher! A few of them really appealed to me, and I think I’m going to talk to the kids about changing to a new type of schedule for next year. I think this would fit my Big Helper’s competition schedule really well and still allow for her to do everything she wants to do.

The most fun section was the section on how to name classes. I’ve been thinking about that for a few months now, and I had a few ideas mapped out, but I love that there is so much information readily available about that! For those of us who don’t necessarily purchase pre-planned curriculum, everything we need to know is on that page.

Another recommendation Campbell made was for credibility clinchers. This is another thing I’ve been considering for a while, though I didn’t have such a snappy name for it: how does anyone in higher ed view homeschooled kids when their parents are their primary source of grades and information? I realize that the stereotypes against homeschoolers in higher ed is changing, but having taught in public school, I know how – and why – it begins. I love this plan to purposely include pieces of information that are not from you: test scores, competition results, college classes, etc. This gives enrollment center workers a way to verify that the student is really as great as Mommy says – because the information is being verified by someone outside the family with a standard much wider and bigger than any one kid.

Another super cool plus is that printables come with this book. There are lots of blank templates that you can use to record the information you need for a transcript until it’s time to type up your own. In most cases, Campbell even has options to make that easier, too. Knowing me, I won’t get a transcript formatted and ready when she starts high school next fall, but I will go ahead and print out some of those templates and fill them out as we go so it’s easier to complete the real thing when the time comes.

This doesn’t mean that I’m loving the idea of my firstborn trekking off to high school – even if that trek is only as far as her desk down the hallway. It no longer seems full of fuss and bothersome paperwork, though. It feels more like a manageable task that we can handle together, especially with time to think through these tips, with some organization, and with the handy-dandy printable templates from the back of the book.

Is the very idea of creating a transcript stressing you out?
Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork is a great resource – but don’t take my word for it. Click on the graphic below to read more reviews about this product.