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High School Diploma
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Our son is in 6th grade this year, but I am beginning to think about high school. I believe for a high school transcript you have to give grades (A,B,C etc.). How does that work with CM? Has anyone out there used CM for high school and made up a HS transcript that a college accepted? This will be our second year using CM and we really enjoy the learning style, I’m just wondering how the “no tests” works out for HS grading? Thanks, Stephanie
My eldest dd followed a CM-styled highschool.
Some courses will have tests and will be easier to have a grade. For example, math. We used apologia for science and used the tests to form a grade.
For courses that did not have tests such as English & History, I created a contract with specific guidelines for earning an A/B/C. For example, read X number of books and write X number of essays (written narrations) and/or spend X number of hours earns a C and 1 credit.
Review and correct X number essays and earn a B for that credit (ex. revise, correct grammar/spelling, use MLA format, use different essay formats, etc).
Go “above and beyond” and earn an A for that credit. (ex. expand essay/ write research paper, use correct MLA format).
It’s been awhile, she graduated in 2009, but expectations for 9th grade courses were less than expectations for 12 grade courses. 9th grade “A” work might have meant write a compare/contrast essay on a topic and learn MLA format. 12 grade “A” work meant research paper with correct MLA format. Something like that. I made the expectations such that B level work was something easily attainable by her and “A” level work required more effort.
HTH
We essentially did the same thing. We had graded classes, and nongraded classes. You can do a narrative transcript if you want, although we did a fairly traditional looking one, and added course descriptions with a better idea of exactly what we did and where we were going with that. 🙂 I did actually even grade their last two years of English. I wanted them to know what it would be like to be graded, so that it wouldn’t be a shock when they got to college. After all, few colleges teach CM style. 🙂 And grades don’t HAVE to be an awful influence. Charlotte hated the competition that marks created, but my kids are all “in a class by themselves” and I would often say “Do you think this was an “A” effort?” or tell them that I thought the quality of what they did was not up to what they could do–and I’d give it a B or a C and tell them what was lacking. If you use it as a measure of how well you have mastered necessary information, and the students are mature and not using it as a competition, grades do not have to be “evil.” Prospective colleges have a right to expect to be able to figure out what a particular student is capable of; since both my graduates so far have gone straight to college, it was important to us to find a way to communicate this in the “language” of colleges.
Agreeing about the grades. My older 2 kids graduated in 2012 and both moved out of state going to 4-yr colleges. Their transcripts were very traditional looking. There are many examples online for transcripts so you can find some you like and imitate the format of those. We did a one page transcript but did have supplemental pages of course descriptions available.
One thing that might be helpful for you now is to look at a few schools that you think your son might consider and get a feel for what those colleges are looking for in the application process and in their expectations of applicants’ preparation. We found that colleges that were more competitive were actually easier to work with as homeschoolers, but I definitely concur with Bookworm about communicating with colleges in the “language” they are accustomed to hearing.
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