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Homeschooling High School - documenting learning and giving mommy-credits
By Rebecca in Learning in Freedom
February 27, 2008

In Texas, as a home educator, I have the freedom to decide what my children learn, what materials are used for learning, what time of the day or week that that learning takes place, and how and whether or not I want to document that learning.  I can chose to use a state-accredited program in my home, a non-accredited program, or just pick and choose materials from various sources and give mommy-credits for various subjects.  I also decide what constitutes a high school “credit” and how many “credits” are required for graduation from my homeschool program. I can decide whether or not I will require my child to pass a GED for high school graduation or whether to use an SAT or ACT to determine college readiness.  Of course, what I decide will be based on my high schooler’s goals.  Since my oldest wants to attend college we are trying to chart out a high school experience that is based not on state standards but with college admission requirements in mind. 


Since we are not using an accredited program I feel it is very important that I keep detailed notes about what my highschooler is learning for my own peace of mind.  This is not a requirement but something I feel I need to do. 


Here is how I document my high schooler’s learning so that I can feel confident giving my highschooler a home spun diploma.  It sounds complicated as I try to explain it but it’s basically just keeping notes on everything my high schooler does educationally, formally and informally, throughout his high school experience.  If we go on a field trip or a family vacation, I bet there was some learning that took place and I’m going to document it!  If my teen reads a book for the fun of it, you better believe that I’m counting it for school.  Making detailed notes helps me see how much learning took place even when we weren’t trying to do “school.”  I can then feel confident giving a “credit” for something that didn’t ever look like traditional learning.


All I use to keep these detailed notes is my computer’s word processor.  I created a folder on my computer titled, “M…..’s High School.”  In that folder I have four sub-folders created one for each year of high school: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. 
 
[M……’s High School]

[Freshman]
[Sophomore]
[Junior]
[Senior]

My sub-folder for the 2006-2007 Freshman “school year” contains several word documents, one document for each subject that I think my freshman or my high school student should have.

[Freshman]

Computer Science.doc (will be added to all throughout High School)
Physical Science.doc
Algebra I & II…
World History… I have included the details from this file at the bottom of this post.
Literature…
Field Trips…
Health… (includes details of his CPR certification and his Life Guard certification)
Athletics… (details of soccer with VYSO and tennis through the homeschool group)
Fine Arts…  (details of art classes at the Victoria Art League and a Photography Class)
Foreign Language…
Work…
Volunteer…

I have documents in the “Freshman” sub-folder titled “Computer Science,” “Physical Science,” “Algebra I,” “World History,” “Literature,” “FIELD TRIPS,” “Health,” “Athletics,” “Fine Arts,” “Spanish,” “Work,” and “Volunteer.”  Under “Fine Arts” I have listed when he attended art classes with Mrs Ellie and then the details of a Photography class that he took though the Victoria Art League.  In the “Volunteer” file I have listed the campaigning that he did for Ron Paul.  (I need to add this year’s campaigning!)  Maybe this campaigning could be mentioned in another file that I create at some point titled, “Government” when he needs that course!  I’ll have the dates ready to copy and paste when that course is required BY ME THE MOM.

Here are  the names of the documents with course details under the Sophomore folder.  (This school year.)  

[Sophomore]

Biology.doc
Geometry.doc
American History…
Literature…
Field Trips…
Athletics…
Yearbook Staff…

 
Throughout the year everything and anything my high schooler does that could be considered educational or worth noting: family vacation, field trip, work, class, research, self study, independent reading, or even helping someone, gets noted in the file created for the appropriate subject, usually under two and sometimes even three subject-files!  For example, when we went on the field trip to the Marine Education Center I made a note of that field trip in my document titled, “FIELD TRIPS” and the same note under my document titled “Biology.”  The field trip, to me, was the same as participating in a Marine Biology lab as he went out in a boat to study marine life.  I consider real experience to be superior to a text book prompted lab.  Another example of documenting a life experience in our educational details is when my brother came over to help us network our computers.  He showed us and explained everything that he did and even let my high schooler cut, clamp, and create the wire that would be used to connect the computers to the internet.  Since my son helped, and we all know that you can learn by helping, I made a note of that in a file titled, “Computer Science.”  Maybe, at some point I will go back and create a new document or file titled “Technology,” I don’t know, but when that day comes all I have to do is copy and paste my notes from one file to another. 

 
Of course, ***if*** I’m using a textbook or a particular program for a high school subject, I make a note of that and I’ll even add grades **if** there were tests or activities to grade.  If I’m using a text book, I’ll try to add the table of contents to the notes under the appropriate file.  An example of the text from a file is at the bottom of this post.  You don’t have to do all of this in Texas, it’s not required, but I love playing on the computer so I actually LOVE typing that stuff out!  I was very detailed with Science but not detailed at all with Language Arts because for Language Arts we are not using a purchased program.  And about not having grades:  How do I give a grade for “Computer Science” when there was never an actual test?  I don’t care about tests if the subject is an experience based subject like computer science.  When there’s more experience than text book or busy work and I’m hoping that the colleges we apply to have someone smart enough in the admissions office to know that experience is the learning lived out whereas a test is just a test for what is in the head.  I think actually DOING is better than testing.  So if you can DO it you proved MASTERY, which is an A to me.  Most of the core subjects come from programs, but some do not…

 
Organizing the subjects by school year can get tricky because some of his “credits” will come from activities or experiences that he’s done off and on over several years.  Like, using Word to type and print out questions and answers from various subjects or lab reports, using Power Point to create a presentation, composing and sending e mail, or just installing and uninstalling programs over the years will accumulate into some type of experience that I think is worthy of some type of Computer Science or Technology credit.  So, a “course” that I give homemade MOM “credit” for doesn’t have to be completed in one year and doesn’t even have to have books and tests.  It might be knowledge that is acquired by LIVING and knowledge that is acquired over several years.  The details of those years will go in one file.  

 
For each subject folder I do make a note of cross-curricular learning.  I try to combine subjects whenever I can.  The most obvious and easiest to combine into one are History, Literature, and Computer Science.   My son’s history is a purchased program that we are using but when he would rather print something out or create a power point presentation to document something that he learned in history I make a note of that in a word document that I created titled, “Computer Science.”  Actually, doing one activity or project, like creating a Power Point presentation, will allow me to make a note of that activity under “Computer Science” AND again under “HISTORY” if that’s the case!  My goal is to kill several birds with one stone, so to speak.  If he is reading a literary selection from that period of history, which we try to do, I will make note of it over in a file I created titled, “Literature” and a note over in the file titled, “HISTORY.”   History and Literature seem to flow together.  And then if you he has used the computer to print out and make presentations – there’s your “Computer.”  Over the years I will give him a credit of Computer Literature or Science (I’ll deal with the details at some point) because by the time he is finished with High School, he will have put the time in as if he took a computer course.

 
After four years of keeping all these notes, organized by subject and year, I will have a portfolio of his high school experience.  With these details I hope to create a transcript, more like an overview, that will be presentable to the college of his choice.  I already have several rough drafts .

I am printing these details out, when a course is completed, and putting them in a three ring binder.   If something gets added to a file I can just print it out again with the new details.  Great way to document learning for your high schooler.

I know this sounds confusing so I’ll copy and paste the contents of one of his courses from his Freshman year.    

 
Here is a sample of the text from my “History” file from his Freshman year.  It does include some activities and learning that took place in Junior High.  I didn’t include the information from the year he was in public school.  That is something that I need to do as he completed a course in Texas History and some colleges want to see that!  These are just notes and the state of Texas does not require that we keep them or show them to anyone, but for my homeschool, it’s what I’m doing, and like I said, it’s so that I can sit down and SEE how much learning we actually did – a little adds up over the years!

 *****start freshamn world history notes******

(some of the formatting was lost so it's harder to read)

World History 89.6  B

Ancient World History 2006

Resources:

Books:

The Story of the World 

History for the Classical Child Activity Book One: Ancient Times Susan Wise Bauer

 The Story of the World

History for the Classical Child Volume I: Ancient Times from the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor Susan Wise Bauer

 Videos/Programming:

 The Annenberg/CPS Collection The Western Tradition lecture series with Eugene Weber from U.C.L.A.

1. The Dawn of History
2. The Ancient Egyptians       
3. Mesopotamia
4. From Bronze to Iron
 

Computer programs/Games

 Pharaoh
Caesar
Civilization IV
Risk 

Web addresses:

  Virtual-Egypt
www.virtual-egypt.com

Mahenjodaro.net
http://www.mohenjodaro.net/

The Ancient Indus Valley
http://www.harappa.com/

 Activities:

 Participated in World History Learning Co-op

Mummified a chicken

Wrote in Hieroglyphs, Cuneiform, Hebrew, Greek

 Writing Assignments:

 “Sargon” A
“The Myth of Osiris and Isis” A
“The Hunter and the Quail’ or ‘The Raiders and the Citadel Cities” A

Miscellaneous:

Map Work

*Independent study and research  

 *M***** was responsible for supplementing our studies and was given the task of “researcher” as he was to find more information than our texts presented.

World History  2006-2007

 Resources:

 Books/Workbooks/Texts:

The Great Courses
Study Workbook for… World History
The Teaching Company     

Additional:      

The Story of the World

History for the Classical Child Activity Book Two: The Middle Ages from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance Susan Wise Bauer

The Story of the World

History for the Classical Child Volume II: Ancient Times from the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor Susan Wise Bauer    

 
Videos/Programs:

The Great Courses
World History
The Teaching Company
(Taught by Linwood Thompson, Bellflower High School – Los Angeles)
      
Lecture Outline:

Lesson 1:  Civilizations of the Fertile Crescent (100)
Lesson 2:  Egypt-The Gift of the Nile (100)
Lesson 3:  Early India and China (83)
Lesson 4:  The Ancient Greeks (90)
Lesson 5:  Ancient Rome (Power Point Presentation – 100)
Lesson 6:  The Growth of Christianity
Lesson 7:  The Fall of Rome
Lesson 8:  The Byzantine Empire
Lesson 9:  The Rise of Islam
Lesson 10: Early Russia and the Fall of Constantinople
Lesson 11: The Early Christian Church
Lesson 12: The Vikings (Power Point Presentation – 100)
Lesson 13: Medieval Life (100)
Lesson 14: The Crusades (100)
Lesson 15: The 1300’s, The Age of Despair
Lesson 16:  The Renaissance (70)
Lesson 17: Africa-The Civilization of the Sub-Sahara
Lesson 18: China (90)
Lesson 19: The Mongols and Marco Polo
Lesson 20: Early Japan through the Tokugawa Period (70)
Lesson 21:  Discoveries and Conquistadors (80)
Lesson 22: North American Explorers (60)
Lesson 23: The Old World vs. The New World-Hazards and Benefits (94)
Lesson 24: Civilizations of the Americas (100)
Lesson 25: The Protestant Reformation (90)
Lesson 26: Tudor England  (100)
Lesson 27: The English Civil War and Parliament (100)
Lesson 28: The Monarchs of Europe (80)
Lesson 29: The Growth of Democracy (80)
Lesson 30: The American Revolution (95)        

Writing Assignments:

This course is writing intensive.  Each lecture was accompanied by ten questions and two essay questions.

Multimedia/Technology

Student Initiated Activities:

Power Point Presentation on the Roman Empire
Power Point Presentation on The Vikings  

Cross-Curricular:

Computer Literature

Created Power Point Presentations for a few of the topics.

Using WORD M**** typed and printed-out short answers and essays for most of the lessons.

Literature

Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Odyssey   

*******end freshman world history notes******


If I paid more attention to what he watched on the History Channel I could have documented that! 

Anyway, these are just notes that I created for myself.  I don't know what other homeschoolers do to document their learning but since my child wants to do a traditional high school type of learning and plans on attending college, these notes help me organize his learning in a way where I can sit down and create something that will be presentable to a college.  This isn't required in Texas and there are programs out there that make documentation so easy, like homeschool tracker, but I just take notes on my word processor.

If you need some sample blank transcripts, e mail me, or just go to the Home School Legal Defense Association's web site and print some out. 

If you have any questions please ask!