Course descriptions require a professional demeanor on paper. Your words should sound “business casual” not “yoga pants” even if you are writing professional course descriptions while actually wearing yoga pants.
Why? Read on and let me tell you.
The reason? Homeschool Records that Open Doors for college admission and scholarships. The audience for your course descriptions is a college. Your voice is “the professional educator” at your school, so the document should have a professional tone. I know it can feel intimidating, but these three writing prompts will help you get started with the right audience, voice, and tone in mind.
1. “In this class, the student will . . .” This prompt gives you the verb tense and point of view of the writing style, so you don’t get stuck figuring out if it should be past, present, future or past perfect tense.
2. “The student will study ____ with _____.” This prompt helps you focus on what you are writing and why. Fill in the blanks: “The student will study Algebra with Saxon Algebra 1 by John H. Saxon Jr.”
3. “Topics include . . .” This prompt helps you use the table of contents to construct a major portion of your course description. List topics from the textbook table of contents or online curriculum descriptions.
College admission advisers meet together to discuss applicants. Each has their favorite kids. In that meeting, they discuss who deserves admission, and sometimes even the amount of scholarship money they deserve. You want them to have all the information available to make those decisions, and comprehensive homeschool records can help. This post has a short 2-minute video that will show you what it actually looks like as they are talking about each applicant: How to Create the WOW Factor for College Admission
I know it can feel intimidating, and these three writing prompts will help you. This article is an easy read and will give more information on course descriptions: How to Write Perfect Course Descriptions
