Anyhoo, my recent post about graduation. The question was if you homeschool year round but the homeschool groups have graduation in May like traditional school, how does it play out. So this is a good question. We homeschool year round because it just makes more sense. When kids are out of school for three months straight, their brains start to die plus in GA, it is 99 degrees all summer long so we tend to stay in during the hottest parts of the day so why not do school work? Plus it allows for more frequent breaks, taking a break if you are sick or they are sick, being off on your birthday, moving, vacation, being random, and just free time. For example, both my girls love to be in movies, and GA is the place to be for that! Recently, they have both been filming two different movies for months including several overnight shoots which leaves no time for anything but sleeping and eating, the day shoots really are not school friendly either since they are usually out for over 12 hours. After they wrap this second movie, it is back to school full blast. They love participating in the movies and are lucky they can so there is no way I would let a math lesson take that away from them. Real life experiences are far more educational than anything a book can teach.
So we homeschool from August to August every year. Graduation is usually in May, sometimes June. As I talked about in the other post, public schools will allow a student who has not met all the "graduation" requirements to walk with their class for graduation but will be given a blank, unsigned diploma. At that point, the student has to meet the requirements over the summer to be able to receive their official, signed diploma. Same thing with homeschooling. Your child can participate in as many ceremonies as they like but until they meet the requirements and attendance, they are not officially graduated by the state you live in. When you file a letter of intent to homeschool, you specify your child's academic calendar and will be held to that calendar accordingly. We have a few friends who start in September so they can participate in a graduation ceremony but will not be recognized by the state until the attendance has been met. September is many months away from May and/or June.
Another person asked how to submit transcripts for college admissions when you have not determined the final grade for the year. When C17 was filling out her admissions applications, her transcript reflected the fact that she does not have a final grade for the 12th grade year as of yet. Obviously if the school year has not ended, there is no way to know the final grade. Her transcript said in progress and had a mid-term grade. Don't worry too much, she still was accepted to four colleges without final grades on the transcript. I think colleges are more laid back now because so many kids dual enroll these days. If you are dual enrolling, most likely your child is in 11th or 12th grade (sometimes 10th grade but this is a little ridiculous to me--dual enrollment is great but its not for child) and have no final high school transcript anyway. It is also possible that your child has not taken an ACT, a PSAT, or a SAT either but they can still dual enroll and go proceed with college classes. If your child does not dual enroll and applies to college in the 12th grade, the ACT and/or SAT are mandatory and hold a lot of value. They pretty much speak to the schools.
So the bottom line is don't worry. Your child can be accepted to college without being officially graduated from high school.
I hope that explains it. Always check with your state's guidelines about anything you are unsure of. Thanks for the questions.
Happy homeschooling...........
No comments:
Post a Comment