✒️Teach Children the Art of Precise, Powerful Writing (With One Simple Exercise)

✨The way you say something matters.

If Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a detailed plan with several key objectives” instead of “I have a dream”? Would we still talk about it?

I doubt it.

Bold, effective communication is hard. Not everyone masters it.

So how do we help children become masters of words.

Let’s start with how we won’t get there.

We won’t get there by over-editing their work. Don’t get me wrong—your kids need you to fix grammar, polish spelling, insist on topic sentences. But after that? They have to take ownership.

They must learn to hunt for the perfect sentence, to question their word choices, their rhythm, their tone. In short: they have to care.

A harsh truth: you can’t do this for them. You can hover, suggest, rephrase—but that only breeds resistance. You need to spark an internal drive for precise, powerful writing.

Sound impossible?

✨Let me tell you about paraphrase variations.

My Angel - age 9 - Photo by Maren Elizabeth Photography

The exercise is simple👇

1. Take a well-written model sentence

2. Vary (or replace) some of the words with alternatives

3. Rewrite the sentence with the new words

(Advanced versions rewrite the full sentence and vary the structure and tone)

I know what you’re thinking → That’s it?

But, there’s something special about variations — let me explain.

I’m always hunting for tools that intuitively teach. Maria Montessori was the master of this. She built games that taught grammar and arithmetic through play. No resistance. Just discovery.

Variations do the same for writing.

If I sit over my kids shoulder point out all their mistakes, they resist.

If I give them a better writer’s sentence and say, “Can you do better?”, they rise to the occasion.

Here’s why👇

• It’s not personal.
  Because they’re not editing their own work, kids can relax. There’s no sting in revising someone else’s sentence

• It’s exciting.
  Editing a strong writer feels like a challenge. Kids get to compete with greatness, and for emerging writers still finding their voice, that’s deeply motivating.

• It’s empowering.
  Every so often, they’ll outdo the original, crafting a line that’s sharper, stronger, or more vivid. That moment matters. It’s when kids realize there is a best way to say something… and they can find it.

After implementing this with both of my kids, I noticed both of them starting to edit their own work. They started searching for better ways to say something. I started getting asked “What’s a more interesting word for mud?” “I’m saying ‘but’ too often, what can I say instead.”

Moreover, variations train the brain to seek synonyms. Do this enough and it becomes effortless to find just the right word not only during writing but also speaking. Turning your child into a formidable orator.

Variations help children not just write but think like writers.

✨And that’s the gift of variations. It turns the hard work of precise, powerful writing into a playful puzzle—one kids actually want to solve.

Interested in trying variations out in your home or classroom? Below, I’ll share:

• Tips & guidance on how to teach variations

• How to advance the practice as your children grow and their writing becomes more sophisticated

• My favorite curriculum to support this work if you’d like more structure or inspiration

My children’s writing has soared since we started variations - I wish I’d started doing them in my youth. Join us?