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You are here: Home / Homeschool / Homeschool High School Credits

Homeschool High School Credits

This blog may contain affiliate links: disclosure. Please see my suggested resources.

March 24, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 11 Comments

How do you determine high school credits?

High school homeschool shouldn’t be scary or confusing.

Counting credits and completing transcripts is a daunting task for homeschool parents.

Here’s how we’re doing high school transcripts.

High School Credits and Transcripts

What’s a credit?

Generally, one credit equals one year or 36 weeks of 50 minutes per day per subject. This is a “Carnegie unit.”
It generally amounts to almost four hours per subject each week, or 150 hours per year.

18 weeks = 0.5 credit

36 weeks= 1 credit

150 hours of coursework = 1 credit

Check your state’s requirements for the amount of high school credits needed to graduate.

Suggested College Preparatory High School 4-Year Program:

English4 credits
Social Studies3-4 credits
Science3-4 credits
Math3-4 credits
Foreign Language2-4 credits
PE/Health1-2 credits
Fine Arts1-2 credits
Electives 2-4 credits

What’s a GPA?

A grade point average is “the average obtained by dividing the total number of grade points earned by the total number of credits attempted —called also quality point average.” {dictionary}

You as a homeschool parent get to determine your own policy on calculating grades.

I like the traditional scale of 90-100=A, 89-80=B, 79-70=C, etc. It’s not complicated. We don’t inflate. We don’t make things harder than they should be.

I’m tough when it comes to grading, when we even have grades. My kids know they won’t be “those homeschoolers” who are given high grades without properly earning it.

A GPA depends on three things:

  1. Your grading scale
  2. The letter grade earned for each course
  3. The credit earned for each course

Typically, A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0

The grade points are multiplied by the number of credits earned per course, resulting in “quality points.”

How to calculate a GPA:

  1. Assign each course a credit value.
  2. Assign each course a numerical grade.
  3. Multiply each course credit by it’s numerical grade. That gives you the grade point for that particular course.
  4. Add all the grade points for all the classes that are complete.
  5. Divide the total grade points by the number of credits completed.
  6. The answer is the current grade point average.

What about weighting grades?

Weighted grades are for honors classes, college courses, AP classes, etc.  Since these course are more rigorous, they have a greater GPA value than other high school courses, so receive a 1-point increase in their numeric value.  Use the higher value for that course and then calculate the GPA as usual.

Contact the college or university your child is planning to attend for their grading preferences. Always tailor the transcript to the college’s needs.

See detailed information about GPA calculations at Back to College.

So, how does a homeschool parent determine credits for all these courses?

The three easiest ways to determine course credits are by textbook completion, recording time, and mastery of subject.

Textbook

Most textbooks are meant to be used for a year-long course, so 1.0 credit is given. For example, Algebra I is a year-long course, even if a child takes longer than a year to complete it. Often, textbooks will list at the beginning or on their website how much credit should be given for the course.

Many homeschool curricula list recommended course credits for completion, even at different levels of study. For example, our main curriculum Tapestry of Grace offers a chart I can follow to determine how many credits my kids earn for the time she puts in for her work.

Time

What if there isn’t an actual curriculum? Or you’re an unschooler? Or your high schooler spends every Monday for over two years volunteering at the hospital?

For some activities or courses, you can log the hours spent. This is where it’s important to know how many hours equals 0.5 or 1.0 credit.

My daughter calculates her time spent volunteering at our local hospital laboratory as a Red Cross certified volunteer.

Mastery

Homeschoolers have so many of opportunities for non-traditional education.

Credit can and should be awarded for mastery of a subject.

Projects completed and entered into a contest or winning an award earn mastery credit. Apprenticeships are amazing opportunities.

My eldest was in Civil Air Patrol, and earned the rank of Captain.

She starred in the play Kindertransport and participated as an extra in Mary Poppins with our community theatre. She has learned so much about stage productions!

Transcript Planning

I start to keep records of courses my children complete beginning in the middle school years. It’s good practice for me and can come in handy if they’re already taking advanced classes.

My daughter completed her Latin language requirements before age 14. She’s now learning French.

She’s been in Civil Air Patrol since she was 12. This is a great elective, similar to ROTC.

I printed the course checklist for VideoText Algebra and recorded the assignments, quizzes, and tests.

Our main curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, has printable course descriptions and suggested credits for literature, writing, geography, fine arts, Bible/church history, government, and philosophy. I love that.

I created a sample transcript and list the courses already completed and the potential courses for each year.

My daughter completed economics earlier than I had planned. I jotted down in the top right corner a reminder to myself that we need to make sure she completes courses in art, music, and health/PE.

See how we homeschool high school.

I also include spaces for PSAT and SAT/ACT scores.

High School Transcript Planning

Don’t fall into these traps:

Don’t give credit unless the student has actually completed a course. We’ve known homeschoolers who “graduate” before actually having completed a high school course of study. What message does that send?

Don’t count electives as academic courses. Academics are core classes: math, science, social studies, and English. Many curricula list what kind of course it is. Look at high school or college syllabi to see where the course should be places on a transcript.

Don’t give credits for fluff. If you can honestly calculate hours for a credit in a subject, then list it. Otherwise, chalk it up to life experience or a hobby. There are places to explain those on college and scholarship applications.

Don’t inflate grades. You’re not doing your child any favors. If a high school student struggles with a course and earns a solid C, don’t feel guilty or whatever and inflate that grade to a B to make him look better. You’re not preparing him for success.

Graduating a homeschooler is an exciting time for a parent, successfully launching an adult into the world, after years of being so involved in the educational process.

I can’t wait to see what our four children grow up to be and do.

Extra Tips:

List curriculum titles, especially for lab sciences.

Make a space for volunteering on the transcript and log the hours.

Explain unique extracurricular activities.

List on-the-job training or part-time work.

We have so much freedom as homeschoolers to list all the fun learning opportunities!

Many homeschoolers are highly successful during and after high school – going on to do great things in the workforce, university, alternative education, and life.

Transcript Resources:

  • Fast Transcripts
  • Transcript from FiveJs
  • The Homeschool Mom
  • The Homeschool Source
  • Walking by the Way
  • Annie and Everything
  • Responsible Homeschooling
  • Homeschool Tracker
  • Pros and Cons of Homeschooling
  • Student Handouts
  • Oklahoma Homeschool
  • Homeschool Christian
  • Clep Prep
  • Regent University
  • Cedarville University

How do you record life skills in your homeschool transcript?

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Filed Under: Homeschool Tagged With: high school, homeschool

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Comments

  1. Patrick Weseman says

    March 29, 2016 at 1:15 am

    Interesting because school district I am awards high school credits at the rate of .5 of credit per class every eight school days. So six classes equals 3 credits every eight school days.

    Reply
    • Jennifer says

      March 29, 2016 at 9:44 am

      That seems rather inflated. I have heard of 3×5 being implemented in some parts of Cali and Oregon: with a five period trimester schedule, class periods are 70 minutes in length. The school year is divided into three trimesters of twelve weeks each. Each trimester course is worth .5 credits and the full year equivalent of an academic course would be worth 1.0 credit. In other words, a traditional year long course runs two trimesters. if a student takes five classes each trimester/term, he/she would have the possibility of earning 7.5 credits each year.

      Reply
  2. Michele Morin says

    March 31, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    Wow, lots of technical detail here. It does pay to prepare a good looking and thorough transcript. So far both of my graduates have had no trouble getting accepted at colleges using my records for them. Two more to go!

    Reply
  3. LuAnn says

    April 1, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    Visiting from Friendship Friday at Create With Joy.

    Great information for homeschoolers, Jennifer. I think good records can show future colleges and/or employers that homeschooled children have had a good education.

    Reply
  4. Lori says

    April 1, 2016 at 7:13 pm

    Transcripts scared me until after I read Lee Binz’s website. I’m amazed at how many families don’t see the need to be honest with their children’s school work . I have several nieces and nephews who are dealing with the mess of not having a “formal” home education along with transcripts and testing. None of them were able to even attend a Christian college because of the mess. That breaks my heart and causes me to work even harder to make sure my son’s paperwork is top notch. Thank you for sharing with Thankful Thursdays.

    Reply
  5. Nicole says

    April 2, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    Thanks for sharing ~have a great weekend!

    Reply
  6. Pam says

    August 9, 2016 at 4:20 pm

    Such great info. Both of my kids are now homeschool graduates (one is a college graduate now, and the other is in her senior year of college), and all of this info would have helped me a bunch as I was going through it! Grades…My son took a homeschool Chemistry class through a local homeschool organization. He worked hard, but Chemistry was really tough for him. His teacher gave him a B, but I believed he only earned a solid C. It was the only C on his transcript, and he was NOT happy with me. But, he knew it was the right grade. I’m enjoying your blog! (Loved the Statement of Faith!)

    Reply
    • Jennifer says

      August 10, 2016 at 8:06 am

      THANK YOU so much! xo

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. High School Health Credit says:
    April 28, 2016 at 12:57 pm

    […] 0.5 credit health course, while other states want a full 1.0 credit for graduation. What’s a credit? 18 weeks = 0.5 credit 36 weeks= 1 credit 135-150 hours of coursework = 1 […]

    Reply
  2. Civil Air Patrol as a High School Elective says:
    April 28, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    […] The time spent and learning achieved during monthly physical fitness training and testing combined with weekly drill along with personal fitness and health education can easily be translated into a PE credit on a high school transcript. […]

    Reply
  3. Five essential transcript credits every homeschooler needs (and how to calculate them) - Transcript Maker says:
    February 8, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    […] common recommendations for credits outside the basic core […]

    Reply

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