When you begin to Homeschool you may find it difficult translate to Educationese, if your state requires you to keep daily records of what your child has learned. And if you have decided unschooling is the right path for your family, you may find things even more difficult. However, using the key elements of learning – interest + practice = better understanding – it can become easy. Relax: knowledge is power.

Teachers in public schools are taught a method in college education courses: they take an ordinary activity and turn it in to a something that sounds impressive. Educationalese is a language that educators understand. Everything is learning, so surprisingly, you can call most of your ordinary activites “school.” Educationalese is also useful to answer that typical question, “What DO your kids do all day?”

Examples of Daily Activities Translated into Educationese

HOMESCHOOL ACTIVITY – TRANSLATED INTO EDUCATIONALESE

4-H Activities – Social Studies, Science, Language Arts

Arts & Crafts in relation to any subject – Manipulative Construction relating to ____ (name of subject)

Attending a homeschool conference – Academic conference to help develop strategies for learning success

Bicycling – PE

Child Learning to be Brave – Quantitive, Contributive Sociological Development

Chores along with the family – Manual Arts; Home Economics; Time-on-Task development; Values Education

Collecting lots of novels – Core literature selection.

Dentist Visit – Health, Occupational Education

Doing any learning activity at home using hands – Hands-on problem solving

Doing anything above their years – Participating in a GATE (Gifted and Talented) Program.

Doing anything educational at home – Homework

Doing anything with a sibling – Multi-age classroom.

Drawing – Art

Gardening – Botanical Science

Hanging out with other homeschool parents at a Park Day, Workshop or Conference – Staff Development Day

Having a family meeting about homeschooling activities – Doing site-based decision making

Homeschool Support Group Meeting – Socialization Development

Interesting Family Outing [even if it’s on the weekend, call it a school day] – Educational Field Trip; Resource Field Trip in conjunction with _____(name of subject)

Kicking Around a Soccer Ball – PE, Angles, Critical Thinking, Large Motor Skills

Leaving homeschool plans with another responsible adult – Filing an Independent Study Form

Legos, K’nex or Blocks building – Building Critical Thinking; Small Motor Skills; Design

Nature Walk and collecting things along the way, identifying them from a book – PE, Reading, Research, and Science

On computing devices a lot – Working on mastery of technology-enhanced manipulative

Playing Monopoly – Math, Economics

Playing Outside – Low-Organized Physical Education

Reading the Daily Paper – Social Studies, Current Events

Shopping[depending on grocery, building supply, etc.] – Consumer Math; Health and Hygiene Instruction, Geography, Consumer Education, Time and Money

Spending time in a room designed for a specific task: i.e. the laundry room, kitchen – Doing an activity in a learning center to build independence.

Spending time in their bedroom alone – Doing an activity in a quiet center to build independence.

Talking with Grandma About Her Life and Experiences – History

Talking with your spouse about homeschooling – Chatting with the Principal

Talking to yourself about homeschooling – A parent-teacher conference

Trip to the Library – Research Instruction; Silent, Sustained Reading; Resource Identification

TV Documentaries, Movies, TLC, History Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet, PBS, Health Channel, etc. – History, Geography, Science, Social Sciences

Using whatever works – Balanced Curriculum Approach

Working intently on some project for days or weeks – Thematic teaching: tapping into all learning modalities of the student

Zoo Field Trip – Reading maps; PE – walking; reading and narrating (read and observe-tell about what you saw and read about); art (draw animals)

Doing better now being homeschooled – Now capable of hitting the developmentally appropriate targets.

More Resources for Educators’ Vocabulary

Teacher Dictionary
Teach-nology.com is constantly striving to make sure that we’re one of the top teacher resources on the Internet. We provide high quality and informative educational materials that help both teachers and students excel in their academic ventures. Included in this material is the Ultimate Teacher Dictionary that will help teachers learn the vocabulary that is associated with education.

The post Educationese for Homeschool Reports appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.

Homeschooling a High School Student: I’m a bit confused with how to keep track of attendance and figure credits for a high school transcript?

I don’t see too many questions regarding homeschooling high schoolers. I’m a bit confused with how to keep track of attendance and figure credits. We do not do conventional school hours. Sometimes we put in weekends or longer days. If I feel my daughter has mastered a subject I may move on a bit early. Because of this her grade level this past year was 10/11 and we took two weeks off in the summer and picked right up again with 11/12. She will end up graduating early. I have all the mandatory courses that are required by the state. I live in a pretty lenient state. We really only have to report attendance but I’m concerned for college. Can I figure a “credit” to be when I feel she has mastered the subject or do I need to figure out the exact number of hours and make sure she puts them in? I don’t want it to seem like we are skimming through because we will be finishing up early; quite the contrary – she puts in long days and weekends to meet these goals.

Most colleges and universities understand that homeschoolers spend their months differently than those in a school. They will not be expecting exact hours spent in each subject area. If your teen spent about 18 hours a month for 10 months doing something, anything in a typical course, then that would be 1 unit for the year. Give them 1/2 unit for anything they did for about half that time. If something was just dabbled at, try to include it in a larger subject area’s time.

Shirley Minster wrote an excellent article for me called Course Numbers and Transcript Details. In it she explains what college admissions officers expect to read, and the vocabulary they understand. For example, if your teen was into reading Shakespeare, you would call the course “English,” not “Shakespeare” on the transcript. If the college wanted to see a portfolio, and your teen had done a whole lot more with Shakespeare, such as performing in plays, you would go into detail there.

If your daughter is working at the college level, you might call a course an “AP course”. Lab work, if done, should be listed along with the science class name, for example: Biology with Labs.

Colleges are greatly impressed if a teen shows focus on some subject, even if not traditional. I learned of a girl who studied everything Norwegian: the culture and the language. She even spent a year in Norway. While she was away her home burned to the ground, along with all her homeschool records. She applied to a University with a “Scandinavian Studies” department. She wrote her college essay in Norwegian, explaining her story. They were thrilled to admit her.

Think of a college like an orchestra. They only need so many violinists. They need to have a complete complement of instrumentalists to fill each chair. Each department in a college must also fill its seats with the best applicants they can manage to attract. Your daughter might be wise to take a year and focus on what may become her major field of interest, and eventually a career. Somewhere there is a college department that is desperately looking for a student just like her. She may find a job opportunity by beginning college right away, or she might be better off working with a mentor for a year.

Sincerely,

Ann Zeise

The post How do I assign high school credits? appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.

Help interpreting your homeschoolhigh school-level work and using transcript templates for college applications.

Diploma, report card and certificate templates, too. Help and advice links from your homeschool guide.

• Advisors to Create Homeschool Transcripts
• Edu-speak – Teacher Lingo
• Sample Homeschool Transcripts
• Templates for Homeschool Transcripts

Advisors

Beach High School
This private alternative school was run by Wes Beach, offered a legal umbrella, guidance, documentation, college admission planning, and transcripts based on concise portfolios. He now has referred students to some other advisory services linked on this page.

Course Numbers and Transcript Details
There are some important pieces that should always be included when preparing a transcript for a college. By Shirley Minster.

Edu-speak

Elective Course Descriptions
To help you prepare your child’s high school transcript, here is a list of elective course descriptions used by a local public school. Generally, public schools and colleges will not accept these courses as meeting the requirements of high school math, science, history, and English but they can be used as credits for electives.

Sample Homeschool Transcripts

Cover Letter and Transcript for Army Enlistment
Each branch of the military has their own rules and requirements, but the Army appears to be the most homeschool-friendly branch.

High School Transcript
This sample includes courses in religious subjects.

High School Transcripts
Donna Young has several transcript templates in WORD format on her site.

Homeschool transcript with Blanks
Most of Houghton’s homeschooled applicants come from homes which utilize an eclectic approach, drawing curricular materials from a variety of sources. For these families we can, based on the experience of our admission committee, offer a template which you may find useful in preparing your records for college admission officers.

Transcripts
How to prepare a transcript. A couple of templates, and an explanation of credit hours and grading. From Oklahoma Homeschool.

Templates for Homeschool Transcripts

Basic High School Transcript
Donna Young’s page offers a simple transcript file to get you started. Some families have donated samples of more complicated transcripts.

Download: Homeschool High School Transcript Template
Download a copy of the Transcript Template in Microsoft Word format. (if you don’t have Microsoft Word, you may also choose to upload the file to Google Drive and convert to Google Docs format to edit for free) Courses grouped by subject area rather than by grade.

Homeschool High School Transcript Template
Courses by school year transcript. Use our homeschool transcript template to easily create your own professional transcripts for your high school students.

Home-school Transcripts-look under Homeschool Resources
Covenant College provides its applicants with templates in Word and Acrobat (pdf) formats.

The Homeschool Transcript
In general, here are some guidelines for preparing the homeschool transcript. There are many homeschool transcript templates available on-line as well as some very good record-keeping options that prepare transcripts for you for a small fee. Includes tips on how to send in a transcript.

High School Transcript
Bright Kids at Home – Shown in HTML format. Download transcript in pdf format. You will need an website software to add your teen’s information, or software that can turn pdf files into WORD files.

How to Create a Homeschool Transcript (FREE Editable Transcript)
With something as important and official as a high school transcript, it can feel overwhelming or intimidating to create your own, but it doesn’t have to be. If your child is nearing or entering high school, use this guide and download our free templates to create a transcript made to impress!

More on Academic Record Keeping

• Course Numbers and Transcript Details
• Diplomas – Make Your Own
• Records and Reports
• Templates for Homeschool Report Cards or Progress Reports

The post Homeschool Transcript Templates appeared first on A2Z Homeschool – THE A-to-Z of Homeschooling.