Homeschool Transcripts made easy

Tweet

Are you freaked out a little bit at the thought of making a transcript for your high school student?

I know I was. 

I mean, I knew I could make one in a spreadsheet, or create one in a word document...... but that takes time.

Time is something I am short on these days.

I didn't want to have to format, fiddle, rearrange, fiddle, format some more, do the math to make the GPA right.... ugh...  and hope that it looked all nice and professional.   I mean really, let's face it.... coffee stained, handwritten transcripts are not the things that inspire a college to admit your little genius.

I am excited to tell you about an amazing product that I was privileged to be a beta tester for.



This has to be the greatest thing since parents decided to educate at home.  It is SO easy to use !!

The getting started wizard asks you to name your school, enter the years you are creating a record for, select the grade point values of your letter grades, it gives you a helpful list of possible classes.... or you can just skip the wizard and get right to work setting up the program.

It is easy to add students, classes, subjects, and grades.  You can enter how many credits are needed to graduate your student.  (I found that information out by just searching the Internet for the graduation requirements for my state.)
If your student attends college classes, or takes honors classes, you can weigh those classes more heavily into their GPA....  The program does it all the math for you.  You can enter testing data, extracurricular activities.... and it will all show up on the Transcript.

About half way into the beta testing process, I contacted the developer with a question....  I wondered if we could add some sort of a progressive or projected GPA to the transcript.  You see, in my state homeschoolers are allowed to participate in Public School Sports programs......  but that means they need to have grade check like everyone else does....  Steve Sensenig, the homeschool dad and creator of this program, went right to work adding this progressive feature to My Homeschool Transcripts. 

Last week,  we were in the school office paying our fees for Softball.....  (she made JV by the way) and the Athletic Director came out and asked if there was a way I could get them Tayler's grades.  I looked at him and smiled....  "Yes,"  I said.  "I will go home and email them to you this afternoon."  I got that look, the one that says....  "sure you will, homeschoolers don't 'do' grades"

Thanks to My Homeschool Transcripts, I was able to go home, plug in her 3rd quarter grades and in under 5 minutes I had a PDF transcript to email to the Athletic Director, with her projected GPA right on it.   HA!  It was great ! I felt so smart and organized !

This web-based application has an introductory price of $ 59.00, that is 25% off the regular price of $79.00.  For that price, you receive access to the application for LIFE....  all your kids, for all the years you homeschool.... how nice is that?  Including the 2 I have IN high school, I have 2 more still to go through high school and into college, and My Homeschool Transcripts is going to be there to help me do it !

This program is really worth the investment.  You can't put a price on peace of mind.  Go and get it now at this great low price!




*** disclaimer***
I received a copy of My Homeschool Transcripts for free in exchange for beta testing the software.  No other compensation has been received.  I was not asked to write a review on this product and have done so of my own volition.  I just think it is a great product and people need to know about it.

PG Key~ Product Review

This is an amazing little piece of hardware, you never knew you needed, (well maybe you did...) and in this day and age, will not want to live without.

Let me introduce you to the PGKey.  The Keyware Corp in Arizona, has managed to provide an amazing piece of monitoring hardware for your computer, it is easy to use, and requires NO annual or monthly fees.

When this product arrived for review.... I read the box....  and then I started to get excited...  I started to feel like Jane Bond.... my inner spy was completely enthralled with the claims this product was making........The box made some amazing claims.  I was looking forward to putting this baby to the test.

• Have you ever wished you could "see" what the kids actually were doing on the computer... not just the web history in your browser? This product provided a DVD like playback system where you can view all the places a protected user has been.
• Have you ever wished that you had a monitoring system that would disable your computer if they tried to pull it out? You decide when to allow access to the computer.  If you take the PGKey out, the computer can not be accessed without the key and your password.  If someone attempts to take it out while in use.  It will freeze access, and be disabled till you return with the password.
• Do you long for Internet searches without the risk of stumbling onto offensive photos, or websites? In partnership with Google, PGKey has created a filtered search engine that automatically blocks undesired content from ever showing up.
• Worried about cyber-bullying?  Wish you could record BOTH sides of chat conversations? Do your kids keep changing their passwords, in an attempt to hide things from you?  Just another one of the benefits of the DVD playback.  You can see emails, chats, anything that was viewed by that user.  No need to have their password.  If they view it, you can too.

If you answered yes to even one of these questions, the PGKey will be worth the investment.  It costs $49.99 and if you purchase direct from the website they charge $8.95 shipping, for a total of $58.94.  It is also available through Amazon, and this month will be available in an Office Max store near you.  They even have a free trial offer!

My PGKey experience:

The very next morning after receiving this little package of love, I was up and at the computer before the kids.... I plugged in the PGKey into the USB port... and picked a password.... and that was it.  Installation began.  It took me maybe 30 Minutes to pick out the websites I wanted to block, add our favorites list to the Key, and set my email notifications up.  I played around with the DVD like video play back and saw my activity setting up the key right on a little screen.... it was really cool.
I was feeling really, really proud of my sneaky little self.
 
Later that same day, I had to leave the house for an appointment. I had tested the PGKey... it had sent me and email notifying me that I had used the blocked words in a search.  I knew I had picked a website that my son loves to go to, I was confidant I was going to get an email alerting me he was playing on the computer when he should have been doing school.  See, in my house.... when momma cat is away.... the mice play... I knew I had laid the perfect trap!
 
When I got home there was no email.  I was feeling very proud of my children for being obedient and not playing games on the computer..........  Alas, my joy was short lived.....  my oldest came in and snitched on himself.  He asked me why the computer wouldn't let him go to his game site.  This got me thinking.... He admitted trying to go there, but I didn't get an email..... hmmmmmmm. 
The product worked.  It blocked his access.  He could not get on that site, no matter how many times he tried.  The play back option the product provides, indeed captured him typing in the game site into the secure web browser.... but no email... weird.
 
I figured my happy lil spy self messed something up, so I sent an email to the company's customer service department to ask for help.  They replied very promptly, and were very patient with my questions. Turns out, I did not add every possible choice of words to my blocked list....  that was part of it... I had Addicting Games.... I should have added addictinggames to my blocked words list also....  The second cause for the lack of email notification was the dreaded drop down menu on search engines.  If my son were to type "add" into the search engine... it was likely addictinggames would drop down as a choice.  If he never finished typing the word and clicked the drop down choice.... I wouldn't get the notification.
 
Needless to say.... this was just a minor glitch in my opinion..... the main components of the PGKey worked like a charm.  He was never allowed access to the website I blocked, and the playback feature caught every move he made.  I watched lots of YouTube clips of his favorite video games... (sigh).   I also told him to go ahead and try to hack his way around the safety features....  He was unable to get around them.  My daughter liked the fact that if she searched for something through the PGKey safe search, she didn't have to be bombarded with unwanted images, or vulgar websites.   When my son, a night owl, wants to be on the computer late into the night, I can go to bed knowing he is protected.  The next day, I can open a screen and see exactly what he did.  I don't have to wonder what places he may have visited, the emails he may have sent, or who he chatted with.  It is all visible with a click and a password.
 
I wholeheartedly recommend this product to absolutely everyone.  It should be used by everyone with a child, not just homeschoolers.  It is incredibly easy to use, and the peace of mind you are able to have for only $50, is well worth every penny. 
 
***Disclaimer***
As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was sent a PGKey by Keyware Corp. free of charge.  This unit was provided in exchange for my opinion of their product.