Frequently asked questions
What is Transcript Keeper?
A free web app at transcriptkeeper.com where homeschool families keep high school records as they go — courses, credits, grades, test scores, and activities — and print a signed, college-ready transcript PDF whenever one is needed. GPA is calculated for you from your own grading scale. Sign in with Google or Apple; both parents can share one family account.
How do I get started?
Sign up with your Google or Apple account. New accounts are reviewed by a person before they're activated — usually within a day — and you'll get an email when yours is ready. If another family invited you, their link skips the wait. Once you're in, the Students page walks you through the three steps to a first transcript: name your school, add a student, and enter courses. Everything is editable later, so start with what you know.
Should both parents sign up?
No — one parent creates the family account and invites the other from the Parents tab. The invited parent signs in with their own Google or Apple login and sees the same students and records. Two separate sign-ups would create two empty families.
My student is already partway through high school. Is it too late?
Not at all; that's the most common starting point. Enter the year they actually began 9th grade, add the earlier years' courses with their final grades, and mark this year's courses as in progress. The transcript will fill in as you go.
Who can see my family's records?
Only the parents you've invited to your account. Nothing is shared between families except course titles you explicitly offer to the shared catalog, and an admin reviews those first. Student addresses are never stored — only your school-of-record address. See the privacy policy for details.
What is a homeschool transcript?
A one-page academic record of a student's high school work: the courses taken in grades 9–12, the credits and grades earned, GPA, and usually test scores and activities. It's issued by the parent as the administrator of the family's homeschool ("school of record").
Do colleges accept parent-made transcripts?
Yes. Colleges — including selective ones — routinely accept transcripts issued by the homeschooling parent, provided they're clear, complete, and signed. Many pair the transcript with test scores, course descriptions, or dual-credit records for context. No accreditation is required in most states, including Texas, where a homeschool is treated as a private school.
What counts as a credit?
One credit generally represents a full year of high-school-level work in a subject — roughly 120–150 hours of study or completion of a standard course/textbook. A semester course earns half a credit. Most students earn 6–8 credits per year and graduate with 22–28.
How is GPA calculated?
Each letter grade maps to points on your grading scale (typically A = 4.0, B = 3.0, and so on). Multiply each course's points by its credits, add them up, and divide by the total graded credits. Courses still in progress aren't counted until they have a grade.
What's the difference between weighted and unweighted GPA?
Unweighted GPA treats every course equally on the 4.0 scale. Weighted GPA adds bonus points for more rigorous courses — commonly +0.5 for honors and +1.0 for AP or dual-credit — so it can exceed 4.0. Transcripts often show both; colleges frequently recalculate to their own method anyway.
What grading scale should I use?
The typical Texas letter scale is the default here: each letter carries a standard numeric conversion (A+ = 99, A = 96, A- = 92, B+ = 89, B = 86, and so on down to D = 70 and F = 60) alongside its 4.0-scale GPA points. The parent sets the scale, though — what matters is printing it on the transcript so readers know how grades map to points.
Should middle-school work appear on the transcript?
High-school-level courses completed before 9th grade (Algebra I or a foreign language, for example) may be listed for credit. Everything else from middle school stays off.
Who signs the transcript?
The parent or guardian who administers the homeschool signs as the school administrator, together with a short certification statement affirming the record is accurate. That signature is what makes it "official" — notarization is rarely needed unless a specific institution asks for it.