A few weeks ago, I shared my son David’s high school transcript after he was admitted to college to show how a CLAA education can be translated to a modern high school transcript for college application purposes.
This evening, my wife and I completed the transcript for our 18 year-old daughter Mary (yes, Mary is 18!), as she’s about to apply to join her older siblings this coming fall. She’s our first child to not pursue a military career, so she’ll be applying directly to college as she completes high school.
A few things to note about Mary’s studies:
- Mary’s transcript differs significantly from David’s.
- Mary’s transcript is prepared in the name of our family homeschool, not the Classical Liberal Arts Academy.
- In assigning grades for courses, I consider both (a) actual grades from courses Mary has studied and (b) relative achievement based on what students her age are learning in modern schools. Teachers in modern schools “curve” grades for the same purpose, because school grades are not absolute, but relative. This is also why colleges ask about “class rank”, which does not apply to homeschool students.
- Mary’s transcript combines formal academic work (English, Latin, Mathematics, History, etc.) with skills and concepts she learned at home as a homeschool student (Home Economics, Typing, Drawing).
- While Mary did complete formal high school theology studies (Catechism, Scripture, etc.), I also consider sacramental preparation (Confirmation) and regular sacramental participation (Mass, Confession) as part of our “Theology” studies.
- Mary studied some subjects independently (Spanish I, Computer Programming, Microeconomics) using a number of different online programs, which are added to her transcript.
- Mary is still working on several courses, which she’ll be finishing up by the end of the school year.
Now, because of the COVID disruptions, Mary will not be required to take the SAT. This makes the quality of her high school studies and grad point average more influential than they normally would be. Nevertheless, Mary would be well-prepared to take the SAT if she needed to.
Also on Mary’s side is the fact that she’s applying to a college where two of her older brother Jonathan is a senior on the Dean’s List (3.4+ GPA), her older sister Elizabeth is a junior on the Chancellor’s List (3.8+ GPA), and her brother David was just admitted with a 3.5 transfer GPA. The quality of her preparation is trusted because we’ve already proven the quality of our family’s homeschooling through our older children.
I hope that seeing these real-life transcripts helps parents understand how to prepare your own children’s homeschool documents when the time comes to move on as adults. If you’d like me to help prepare your children’s diplomas and transcripts, schedule a paid consultation so we can take the time to work through all the details together.
God bless your studies,
Mr. William C. Michael, Headmaster
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
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