Okay, I have one more question {for now! } Have any of you generated your own transcripts/dipolomas? I had always planned on using an umbrella school for High School. But I'm not happy with their restrictions {what courses/curricula I'm allowed to use}. My concern is if my kids want to go to college, will a parent-issued diploma and transcripts carry enough/any weight? Thanks!!
Hmmm....that is a tricky question depending on where you live. For us, a parent diploma through the state approved home study option is the same as an umbrella school diploma. So I felt spending $$ on an umbrella school was wasting money. I would look in search of that answer in your state. If a parent issued diploma carries the same weight as an umbrella school diploma, then I wouldn't waste the money. I found that here they are more concerned about your ACT scores than anything else to get into college when you are homeschooled. That said, my dd has decided to pursue sports with a local private school and in order to participate we have to umbrella under them for PE at least. So I have to make transcripts yearly for them to report to the high school sporting authorities that dd is eligible to play academically. I started out using homeschool tracker plus, but switched to homeschool minder. I made her report cards for 8th grade on homeschool helper on my nook. I really liked homeschool helper on the tablet but it didn't have transcript capabilities. They basically want it to look professional. Here it looks better if you give your school a name and they don't recommend using your last name. It also looks better to create a school seal and have it notarized. So I would say look into your state laws b/c here it carries just as much weight to do it yourself registering with state approval as paying an umbrella school to keep your records.
Every state is different. In Texas, the parents issue the diploma. I think is some states, like PA, the state has to do it. I think I saw on the Duggar show where the state did it there too. I do not know what the laws are in Florida.
The big issue....is where your kids want to go to college. Community college...it won't matter at all. Public/Private Universities with average requirements....will probably worry more about the ACT score. AP/IB classes will help. Public/Private Ivies...more competitive colleges....will be looking for AP/IB courses because they have a set standard, and the university has a clearer knowledge of precisely what your child has studied. If I had home schooled through high school, I would have used an umbrella for AP courses, but written my own diploma/transcript. With good ACT scores...this should work well for even very competitive colleges. Best bet....ask your kids where they would like to apply, and contact the colleges directly. They're very willing to field these kinds of questions.
I just starting reading an ebook by Lee Binz (The Home Scholar) about doing homeschool transcripts for high school. You can read it for free on the kindle app preview feature. It is very informative and reassuring right away. It's called "Setting the Record Straight". It's worth a read. She has lots of small books that coincide with homeschooling high school.
We used homeschool tracker plus to create sd's transcript. She had no problem getting into college. All the homeschooled kids I know did not have any problems getting into college with transcripts written by their parents.
