By request: How to Homeschool High School: How to Record ELA on the Transcript.
How to Homeschool High School: How to Record ELA on the Transcript
We occasionally get questions about recording English/Language Arts on the homeschool transcript. There are two reasons for the concern that these parents have about getting it right:
Some states’ graduation requirements include specifically showing: American Literature, World Literature, British Literature on the homeschool transcript. Some do not need specific English/Language Arts credits, they simply require four ELA credits of any kind.
A few colleges may give an edge to specified English/Language Arts courses, rather than integrated ELA courses. This would be more likely for a homeschool graduate who is aiming for an English, literature, communications or humanities major. (You can check this on the college website or by contacting the admissions office at the college. It is also a good question to ask on college visits.)
So, if you have a non-college-bound homeschool high schooler, specific ELA courses may not be necessary (unless you are in a state that requires specific courses to be listed). In many cases, you can simply record on the transcript:
- 9th grade: English/Language Arts 1 (or ELA 1, English 1, Language Arts 1…it is your choice)
- 10th grade: English/Language Arts 2
- 11th grade: English/Language Arts 3
- 12th grade: English/Language Arts 4
- OR you may instead, specify the literature course that each year’s ELA credit is built around (for instance, American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, Great Christian Writers Literature, etc).
If you you have a college-bound homeschool high schooler who is headed for a college that does not need specific ELA courses to be listed, follow the same guidelines as the non-college-bound teens.
(Unless you are in a state where the specific courses DO need to be listed.)
Be sure on the transcript to show the level of rigor that your homeschool high schooler has earned for each ELA (and other core courses).
Now, if you are in a state where the type of literature each year’s English/Language Arts course must be listed on the transcript, or are aiming for a college that would like to see this, you have a couple of choices.
Choice #1:
Choose a specific literature course for each high school year. We, of course, are partial to 7Sisters’ no-busywork, level-able, teen-vetted literature courses:
- American Literature
- British Literature
- World Literature
- Great Christian Writers Literature
- CS Lewis Literature Study Guides
- Cinema Studies for Literature Learning
(7Sisters Literature Study Guides in the Literature courses contain vocabulary from the book. This is sufficient for many teens, however, if your teen is aiming for more competitive colleges, supplement with a vocabulary course or FreeRice.com, a fun vocabulary-building game.)
Of course, along with the the literature course, your homeschool high schooler will need writing.
Again, we are partial to 7Sisters no-busywork, level-able, teen-vetted writing courses. Our courses contain the writing genres and lessons that build comfortably through each year until they reach college-readiness.
- Introductory High School Writing
- Intermediate High School Writing
- Click here for an excerpt to Intermediate Guide to High School Writing
- Advanced High School Writing
- Professional Writing
Homeschool high schoolers should also include some grammar studies in their writing. For many teens, simply learning good editing skills is enough for their goals. Editing is built into 7Sisters guides. However, some teens really need a grammar checker to help them learn writing skills. We suggest Grammar Granules.
A number of colleges want to see at least a little of some kind of speech also. We, of course, are fans of 7Sisters fun Speech curriculum.
All of these together create the specific Literature course (which implies that writing, vocabulary, grammar and speech are included).
Choice #2
Use an integrated curriculum. An integrated curriculum has a little American Literature, World Literature, British Literature, and another Literature mixed through the year, each year. This is a good choice for teens who will get bored with one literature topic for the entire year.
Integrated curriculums often also include the required writing, vocabulary, grammar and speech components so that homeschool moms do not need to shop for a bunch of extra curriculum. 7Sisters ELA Bundles are an example of integrated ELA curriculum (they also include schedules to help your teen know what to study and when).
The ELA Bundles cover:
- First Year (usually 9th grade): One Year of High School English
- Second Year (usually 10th grade): Another Year of High School English
- Third Year (usually 11th grade): One MORE Year of High School English
- Fourth Year (usually 12th grade): A Final Year of High School English
- We also offer a free suggested syllabus for each of these courses. Click here to see the syllabus for A Final Year of High School English/Language Arts (A Good Fit for 12th Grade).
The ELA bundles have all three state-required Literature topics (for the states that require American, British and World Literatures). However the topics are sprinkled through each bundle. (This is similar to the Integrated Math 1, 2 and 3 that many high schools use, where Algebra 1 and 2 along with Geometry and Trigonometry are sprinkled throughout each year.)
Here are two ways to handle the integrated ELA:
OR you could record on the transcript:
- 9th Grade: .25 credit each of American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, Great Christian Writers (or General Literature)
- 10th Grade: .25 credit each of American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, Great Christian Writers (or General Literature)
- 11th Grade: .25 credit each of American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, Great Christian Writers (or General Literature)
- 12th Grade: .25 credit each of American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, Great Christian Writers (or General Literature)
- This will total a full credit in each by graduation
For more on record keeping for homeschool high school on Authoritative Guide on record keeping and check out this post.
One last thing: If you have a college-bound teen, it would be wise to record the level of rigor of the ELA courses.
That’s more than we can fit in this post, so click here to read an in-depth explanation of handling levels on the transcript.
As you know, there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school, so you handle recording ELA on the transcript in the way that best fits your teens needs! (In fact, you can create your own course, like our friend, Betsy, did.)
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