Creating Long Course Descriptions from Co-Op Class Info

Did you know that you can create long course descriptions from Co-Op class info? Yep! Course descriptions describe your homeschool class that even a stranger unfamiliar with homeschooling will understand what the student has done. Sometimes parents make course descriptions so short that even as a homeschooler myself, I'm not sure what the child did in the class. I know it can be challenging to create a course description for classes taken outside the home, when they provide only the briefest course description to copy. 

Let's talk for a moment on how to lengthen these kinds of descriptions and make them more detailed and informational, so colleges really understand what the child did. Here are some ideas to make it longer.

1. Use the writing prompts that I provide to consider the different kinds of sentences you can write in your descriptions to make long course descriptions.
   • In this class, the student will...
   • In this course, the student will study ___ with ___
   • Topics include...
2. Consider the 3 ingredients of a good course description.
   • What you did (which can include your own words plus the words of others)
   • What you used (curriculum, class, field trips, literature, reading, or supplements you added from home)
   • How you graded or evaluated the class
3. If this is a homeschool co-op class (in person or online) you are in control of the education of your child, and you get to use and modify descriptions from any homeschool co-op class, so you can make long course descriptions.
   • Please read this: How to Put Co-Op Classes on Homeschool Records.
     
   • You can decide whether or not you want to mention the coop classes
     
   • You can decide how a coop class is graded
   • You can choose the full content of the class
   • You control the class title
4. Find another long course description to imitate. Somewhere in the US, you'll find a high school that has a similar class. You can borrow their words, and rewriting it in your own words. I call this "The Starbucks Method." Read the descriptions. Sip your latte. Nibble your cookie. Spin around three times in your chair. Then write the description in your own words, so it sounds like you.
5. Use the class syllabus for information. The description is often short, but a syllabus will go into more detail about what the class was all about. If they handed out a syllabus, all those words and phrases are for you to use, if you have taken the class. 

​Each course description might end of being one page or less. Try to describe each class in enough detail so a casual observer can see what your child did in the class.

Do you have any tricks to help you make the course descriptions just long enough?