Parent Tips: Answers vary

Many of our writing practices do not have one set answer because there’s rarely just one way of writing an idea. If you want to give your child feedback on these practices, please ground your notes in the skills in focus in the particular practice. This means that if your child is misusing commas in an early practice that focuses on spacing conventions, give feedback first on your child’s spacing decisions.

Please note that we will often ask your child to record themselves explaining any significant differences between what they wrote and our sample answer for these open-ended practices. The vast majority of our sample answers were written by fellow kids, so this should feel a bit like a conversation with a peer. This step helps your child reflect on their work, which is an essential skill in any field.

We also encourage you to review your child’s answers on practice items and give them your feedback. If you see a problem, probe your child’s understanding of the convention or analysis underlying the choice, and help guide them to a better understanding through discussion. Resist the urge to mark up the text with a red pencil and walk away. We’ve tried that. It doesn’t work, and most kids will simply make the same set of mistakes again in their next text. Also, there’s a lot of whining.