Maintaining education records can be a challenge. As a result, we have witnessed families, who after home schooling their children through elementary and middles school grades, choosing to enroll their high school student(s) into public or private high school. Otherwise, if not for the uncertainty of maintaining high school level records, and the fear of the child/student not being accepted into college, these families would have continued to home school under the 3rd option through graduation.

AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTATION

In a past conversation, a parent/teacher presented a very good point. She considers her son will more than likely be the bread winner for his future family. She is deeply concerned that what she does now will have an impact on the future of her son's family. Her concern is that her authority to produce the professional educational records required for access to colleges, universities, or quality job employment opportunities will not be recognized. We asked this parent to consider the answer to the following question.

Does the parent/teacher have the authority to produce an official copy of their student’s educational records?

Yes! Review the laws and regulations of the South Carolina Code, specifically 59-65-47.

Home schooling is legal in every state. Parents and guardians that meet the requirements put forth in the SC Code of Law have been approved by the state to home school their children as an alternative to sending them to a public or private school. The parent/teacher has the authority, granted by the state, to produce an official copy of the student's records. However, even though home schooling is legal in every state, some institutions of higher education are slow to respond in favor of supporting the home school community.

As home schooling continues to grow institutions are becoming increasingly familiar with home schooling. Even though, we still may find some institutions that are not home school friendly. Unexpected situations are bound to present themselves, and when they do it is important to remember a desirable outcome will depend on the home school family meeting all requirements, knowing their rights under the home school laws, and their ability to communicate.

In addition to understanding the home school laws, parent/teachers should know how to properly construct their student’s educational records and skillfully represent their student at every level of the process. These areas deserve extra attention because if neglected these could cost the student by limiting their options.

ABILITY TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTATION

In a similar conversation, one parent/teacher expressed her concern with her ability to produce adequate records. She feels her documentation may be missing important information. She has never had the responsibility of organizing, formatting, and writing transcripts. She feels overwhelmed by the immenseness of it all.

In another conversation, a parent/teacher with no experience writing transcripts is confident they will be able to produce the necessary documentation. They will research and do their home work in order to meet the challenge before them.

While most parents are certain they can do a better job than public or private schools can, there are some that lack confidence in their abilities.

If a parent is unsure about what they are doing, they need to come into contact with other home schoolers for support. Contact different groups in the area to determine if any offers some type of support for parents.

When we take the time to come into contact with other parent/teachers, we begin to learn from their experiences, gain insight for different techniques, and soon we begin to realize that home schooling is just like anything else. The longer you become involved, the more skilled you become. When your skill level increases your confidence increases as well. It won’t be long you’ll find yourself comforting someone else with less experience.

RECORD KEEPING SOLUTIONS

The following is a list of items to consider when deciding which software solution to use for your educational record keeping solution.

Will the final printed product meet your personal specifications? Anytime you choose a record keeping solution, including software or service, that comes preformatted, the odds are, you will always find something doesn't meet your specifications. The only way to overcome this condition is to choose a solution that enables the user full formatting control (The office of PIE recommends Microsoft Office Tools).

How much time will it take to learn how to use a program? Simple programs should not take very long to learn. The more powerful software programs, like Microsoft Office Tools, will have a steep learning curve. However, we are providing resources through the PIE's Web site that will help beginners get a jump on the learning process, such as pre-made document templates. We will continue adding resources, such as document templates and tutorials, as new Microsoft products emerge.

What kind of support will you receive in the future? Anything could happen, for example, a database driven Web site could close up shop and take your information with them. That is if you choose an online service. If you choose software solution, you may run out of support or upgrades before your child graduates.

What is the overall cost? Prices will vary. As you will see, there are some software solutions available for free. However, most software solutions will range between $30.00 and $60.00. You will also find online record keeping solutions that usually range between $20.00 and $40.00 a year.

Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition alone will run you around $150.00. However, if you consider what you are getting, you may decide it's worth the cost. The office of PIE recommends Microsoft Office Tools.

• Homeschool Tracker Plus (Basic Edition is Free): Homeschool Tracker Plus is a computer database program designed to adapt to your particular homeschooling style in a simple yet very sophisticated way. With Homeschool Tracker Plus, lesson planning and record keeping doesn't have to consume a great part of your day.

http://www.homeschooltracker.com/default.aspx

• Home School Easy Records: HomeSchool Easy Records automates and manages all of your home school record keeping needs. This award winning, full-featured, affordable software is being used in all 50 states and around the world.

http://www.dataplus.biz/HER/

• Homeschool Solutions: Homeschool Solutions is a PC program designed to make your homeschool record-keeping simple. Here are some of the new features that we've added to the program recently:
  • Store data for multiple school terms.
  • Preview your reports before printing them.
  • Automatically average grades.
  • Calculate your students' GPAs and print transcripts.
  • Keep a lesson planner up to ONE YEAR long for each course

http://www.homeschoolsolutions.com/

• Edu-Track Home School: A complete commercial quality home school education and record tracking system. If you are serious about home education and desire to meet your home school state requirements, then Edu-Track Home School is the solution for your. Compliant in all 50 states and U.S. territories, Edu-Track Home School will keep you organized and track all of your home school records

http://www.contechsolutions.net/products/eths_pc/

• Microsoft Solutions: The office of PIE recommends the following Microsoft products for the home school program. Our goal is to include various tutorials through PIE's Website explaining different techniques for maintaining educational records and creating printables using Microsoft's Office Tools. To take full advantage of these tutorials, students and teachers will want to use Office Students and Teachers Edition 2007 or later. Visit the following Web page for further information concerning Microsoft solutions for members of PIE.

http://pietemp.com/RecordKeeping/MicrosoftSolutions/tabid/166/Default.aspx

RECORD KEEPING SOLUTIONS WITH PIE

Members of PIE are free to choose whatever method of record keeping they like. However, they will be required to use a specific format for their transcript under certain circumstances, for example, the Palmetto Fellows Scholarship application process. The office of PIE desires to provide support for those in need. It is our intention is to work with members to share information, ideas, and encouragement whenever possible. The following section describes the current status of our record keeping solutions:

• Transcript and Diploma Service
• Document Templates
  • Office 2003 currently available
  • Office 2007 under construction

Transcript and Diploma Service: Contact the office of PIE for further details.

Document Templates: Ready-made documents created for use as a basis for quality educational record keeping tools. Excel and Word files can be downloaded through the Document Library.