Transcripts? Diplomas? How Do You Do Those?

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No matter how long we've been homeschooling, we are curious about how other homeschoolers do things. And homeschoolers who are newer to the game obviously have lots of questions! This series will try to answers some of the questions homeschoolers ask each other. Questions about how we handle some of the little details and about our opinions on different aspects of homeschooling. Questions that we all might answer differently because what works great in one family might not work at all in another. 

How do you make a transcript? Does your graduate get a diploma? 

You have a lot of options for making a transcript and it's not that hard. At its simplest, a transcript is a one-page overview of a student's academic record. A student's strengths and achievements and a summary of studies summarized for submission when applying to college, trade school, or the military. If you belong to a homeschool umbrella group that does oversight or any kind of record-keeping, there's a good chance they'll produce and send the transcript for you. That's the situation I am in, as my umbrella group does provide that transcript service. Of course, the transcript they will send (at my request) to the college my daughter will be attending is only as good as the information I provide to put on it, but that's a whole different discussion.

 Homeschoolers can produce their own transcript, and there are several different ways of doing it. To begin with, you'll need to know what information to include and how to present it. Submitting a transcript is part of the admissions process for colleges, trade schools, and the military; and it may be required when applying for scholarships or by employers. The basic information included is some personal information to identify the student, and the grading scale being used; and the major part of the transcript is the course titles with grades and credits earned. Check with the schools that your student will be applying to in order to know for sure what they expect to see, but it will be some version of those basics. To find out a lot of practical details about making your own transcript, you'll want to check out a book that the Homeschool Review Crew will be reviewing this week, Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High School Paperwork by Janice Campbell (Publisher: Everyday Education) In this book, you'll find all the information you need about what to put on the transcript and the nitty-gritty of how to create yourself. Stop by the Homeschool Review Crew blog starting on Wednesday, April 10th to find links to all the reviews, and stop by my blog again on Thursday when my review will be published.

Transcripts Made Easy - A Practical Guide for Homeschoolers

If you want an easy and quick option for inputting your student's information and printing a transcript, another option is to use Fast Transcripts, offered by Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) This takes the guesswork out of calculating the GPA, and it produces a professional looking document; and for a reasonable price. 

For more information, see my full review (from a couple of years ago): Fast Transcripts - A Homeschool Coffee Break Review

The homeschool record-keeping solution I use and recommend also produces professional transcripts, so if you are looking for a great way to keep all your records as well, check out Homeschool Tracker Online, which offers three different styles of transcripts, depending on your needs.

You can find out more about this powerful online record-keeping solution in my full review: Homeschool Tracker Online

What about diplomas? How is a diploma different from a transcript? A diploma is the certificate awarded that shows that the student has completed the course of study. Yes, it must be earned, but the diploma itself is sort of the framed display of the achievement recorded in the transcript. So if homeschoolers don't attend an educational institution, can they be awarded a diploma to display? They sure can! Once again, homeschool oversight groups often come through like ours and award a beautiful diploma certificate that a student could proudly display. If that's not an option for you, then the company Homeschool Diploma will be able to help you out! They specialize in diplomas and all kinds of graduate gifts and products to celebrate homeschool students' successes. We've twice been privileged to review their diplomas, and I've ordered grad announcements and gifts from them as well. 

To find out more, see my reviews: Homeschool Diploma - Celebrating Homeschool Graduations (2018 review) and Diplomas for Homeschool Grads (2016 review).

For more about making transcripts, see my related post: 

From the High School Lesson Book - Transcripts

Do you have a plan in place for transcripts and diplomas? How are you doing it? Leave a comment and let me know what works for you - or leave a homeschool question you're curious about.

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