So you've decided to homeschool through high school, and you're wondering how on earth to keep track of and present your child's coursework and other pursuits for the time when you'll need them for colleges, post-secondary institutions, or just your own sense of validation.

And it's worth mentioning that, whatever your child's future plans may be, keeping a transcript is a good idea. As we all know, plans can change. If you prepare a transcript now, then you can avoid having to wrack your brain at a future date to try to remember what courses and activities your child completed in the distant past.

Additionally, as a homeschooling parent, you will be taking responsibility for issuing your child a diploma. A well-formatted transcript can demonstrate that you've taken this responsibility seriously and done the necessary work to certify your child's high school graduation.

Getting Started

To get the ball rolling, you may want to keep an annual portfolio of your child's work. That might include listings of any classes, activities, field trips, or volunteer activities she has participated in, as well as samples of work and assessments. These portfolios will be incredibly helpful as you begin to put together transcript information.

Speaking of information, let's go over the essential parts of a transcript, so you'll know what types of things you should be keeping track of. Hold that portfolio thought for the time being.

The Basics: What's in a Transcript?

• Student demographics: This is an easy one: your child's full name, address, contact info (phone, email), date of birth, social security number, gender, and date of graduation. 

• School information: Go ahead and give your homeschool a catchy name if you want—just be sure to be consistent with it on all forms. Aside from the name (or simply the designation "Homeschool"), you'll want to include your school address, the principal or administrator's name (that's you), and your contact info.

• Course listing: By year, list the names of the courses completed and the amount of credit received for each course. For an explanation of how to determine how much credit to award for a class, check the HSDLA's informative article or this explanation from Homeschool Success.

• Grades received: Along with your listing of courses and credits, you should include the grades your child has received in each class. In terms of awarding grades for work completed, you may want to use something along the lines of this goals-based grading tool form developed by North Atlantic Regional High School (NARHS). NARHS also has a grading tool for self-designed courses that you can use as a model to create your own. (Copyright prohibits download and use of the form unless you are a NARHS member, but it'll still give you sense of how to get cracking.)

• GPA: Year by year, add all of your child's individual course grades together and divide that sum by the number of courses. And voilà, you've got her grade point average.

• Cumulative GPA: At the end of successive years, add all annual GPAs together and divide by the number of years to get the cumulative grade point average.

• Grade scale: Somewhere on your transcript, you'll need to include a simple scale explaining what grade range equals an A, a B, and so on. You can use a 100-point scale, a 4.0 scale, or a different measure altogether. Hey, you're in charge here, so it's your call.

• Extra-curricular activities: Remember that portfolio listing of activities, field trips, volunteer opps and the like? You can list your child's accomplishments in these areas at the bottom of the transcript, with a number to indicate the number of years that activity was pursued. For example, if your son took horseback riding lessons during his 9th, 10th, and 11th grade years that you're not including as a course, you could list "Horseback Riding 9, 10, 11" in that spot on the transcript. Did your child participate in a chess club? Dungeons and Dragons? Running? Hiking? Volunteering at a Soup Kitchen? List 'em.

• Awards: Again, you can list special accomplishments or awards by year at the bottom of the transcript. First place in an art or story competition, National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist, Odyssey of the Mind championship—it's all worth mentioning.

• Test scores: SAT and ACT scores can be listed on the transcript, too—although if your child is applying to college, this won't be necessary, as colleges require that scores be sent directly by reporting institutions. If you're just keeping track for yourself, though, put them on there—you can always delete them later. Additionally, PSAT and Accuplacer scores may be a good thing to put on a transcript you're using to apply for dual enrollment at a local college during high school.

• Parent signature: Somewhere on the transcript, you'll need to include a statement along the lines of "I, [your name], do hereby certify and affirm that this is the official transcript and record of [student's name]." You should sign and date right below this statement to make it official.

Designing your Transcript

Now that you know what needs to be included, you're probably wondering how on earth to fit it all on one page. That scanty length, after all, is the preference of most colleges and the general practice in most high schools. Of course, high schools do not always list extra-curricular activities and awards on transcripts, which is a big space saver, but believe it or not, you can fit it all in without using an 8-point font. And—lucky you—you don't have to start from scratch. There are numerous templates and apps out there to help you create your transcript.

HSDLA offers both simple and detailed transcript samples you can work with, depending on your preferences. For links to the .pdf versions of these files as well as blank templates, this is your destination.

And there's more. Teascript will help you design your own transcript through an online app. There's a free version with basic functionality that will allow you to design one transcript, but you can also upgrade to a family version for $5 a month that allows you to complete up to ten.

Yet another is the Home Scholar, which offers two different models you may want to emulate: a transcript by year and a transcript by subject. Also offered via the Home Scholar site are transcript training and a complete transcript service, though both have significant fees.

The Transcript Creator is a free online resource you can use to create your own transcript hassle free. Once you've entered your information, you have to save the transcript as a .pdf—it won't be saved on the website.

Finally, for a small fee, you can purchase the software for TranscriptPro and create your own transcripts at home.

Now that you know how they look, and have more than a fair share of samples and templates to work from, all that's left is to fill in the blanks.