1. Gel pens and black paper.

2. Instant message or text with your child.

3. Use sidewalk chalk on the driveway.

4. Write a sentence on a white board that is provocative yet unfinished, like: “If I could design today, I would…”

5. Write together (at the table, everyone at the same time).

6. Write at the mall, jotting down fashion fails and snippets of ridiculous conversation.

7. Give shoulder massages before writing to everyone (you might do it in a circle and then switch directions).

8. Write on a clipboard, under a table, on a trampoline, or up in a tree.

9. Comment on five status updates on social media.

10. Rewrite the ending to a favorite movie or book (make it melodramatic, sad, angry, happy, or include aliens).

Writing is about freedom to express without the pressure that comes from straight jacket formats. Formats are only helpful once kids feel FREE to write. When kids feel as easy writing as they do talking, formats are a snap of the fingers to teach and follow.
So play with words today.

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Julie Bogart homeschooled her five children for seventeen years. Now she runs Brave Writer, the online writing and language arts program for families, and is the founder of The Homeschool Alliance and Poetry Teatime. arts program for families, and is the founder of The Homeschool Alliance and Poetry Teatime.