Our story
Why I made Zigzag & And
Writing was the part of our homeschool I found hardest to teach.
I'm Joshua, and I homeschool in Singapore. My daughter is 8 and learning at home this year, at the age of Primary 2. My son is in kindergarten, and he'll start homeschooling when he reaches Primary 1 age at 7.
Zigzag & And is published by LONUT, my independent publishing business.
Why writing?
Reading together came easily to us. So did talking about what we read. Writing asked for something else: many small skills, built in order.
A child has to know where a sentence ends, how to join two ideas and when a detail is worth adding. Then those sentences have to become a paragraph. I wanted to teach those steps one at a time, and I couldn't find a way to do it systematically.
I looked through many writing curricula. The Writing Revolution, by Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler, matched how I think writing should be taught: start with the sentence, build to the paragraph, then move on to longer and argumentative writing. The authors' introduction to their book explains the approach in their own words.
Zigzag & And follows the same sentence-first order. Zigzag & And is an independent publisher. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by The Writing Revolution, and our worksheets are our own.
Why real books?
Around us, I see a lot of children's practice at home coming from worksheets and assessment books, the exam-style workbooks Singapore families know well. They have their place. There isn't much in them to think about, though, or to write about.
I also notice many children reading mostly comics. Comics are fine. I'd like children to spend time with longer, more substantial writing too.
I share the view of the Core Knowledge Foundation, founded by E. D. Hirsch Jr., that every child should have access to important shared knowledge. At home, good books are the best way I know to build it.
Why older books?
Every reading is an original passage from a public-domain book, kept word for word as the author wrote it. I chose public-domain books for two reasons.
- Their copyright has expired, so the same reading can go to every family.
- Their language is richer. Many older writers used longer, more varied sentences and a wider vocabulary than much of what children read today, and reading that prose shows a child how much a sentence can hold.
The collection mixes stories and nonfiction, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Little Women to Greek myths and natural history.
Why write about the reading?
Writing sends a child back to the text. To answer one question in a complete sentence, they have to find the part that matters and decide what it means. Talking about a story rarely asks that much of them.
It starts conversations too. My daughter often brings me a question from a reading, about a word she hasn't met or why a character did something. Answering those questions builds her knowledge while the writing builds her skill.
So Zigzag & And is for a child who can read a story and talk it through with you, and who is ready to turn those thoughts into sentences, then paragraphs.
What age or level is it for?
The worksheets are organised by readiness rather than by age or school year. The readings are pitched above most early readers. Still, a child who is beginning to read on their own can work through most of a passage with a patient adult beside them.
Use this as a rough guide.
| If this sounds like your child | Try this |
|---|---|
| Your child isn't reading on their own yet | Read the passage aloud and talk about it together. Younger children can listen in. Leave the worksheets for later. |
| Your child can answer questions about a story out loud, but writing a sentence is a struggle | Start with Sentence Craft in Guided Practice. Do a section or two together rather than the whole worksheet. |
| Your child writes complete sentences, but they're short and plain | Try Sentence Craft in Independent Practice, and Reading Notes or Editing & Revising in Guided Practice. |
| Your child can write several sentences about one idea | Try Paragraph Building, in Guided Practice first and then Independent Practice. |
| Your child writes organised paragraphs on their own | Try Reasoned Opinions and Longer Writing. |
Whatever the kind of writing, the order is the same: read first, then Guided Practice, then Independent Practice. Guided Practice adds prompts, word banks and smaller steps, so it's a lot easier. If a worksheet feels too hard, step back a level with the same reading.
Do we have to do all eleven worksheets?
No. Each day brings one reading and eleven worksheets so that you have a choice. My daughter does one worksheet, or half of one, in a 30-minute sitting, and that's enough for our day.
Keep the readings that suit your child as they arrive. Pick the worksheet that fits where they are, and skip days when your homeschool has other plans.
Who chooses the readings and checks the worksheets?
Here's how each collection is made.
- The readings. The collection is built from public-domain books, with the source, edition and exact wording of every passage recorded. Each day, AI chooses one unused passage from that collection, favouring a genuine seasonal connection when there is one. The passage itself is never written or rewritten by AI.
- The worksheets. They're written with AI, following a detailed teaching specification I wrote. It sets out which skills each kind of writing practises and how Guided Practice differs from Independent Practice. Every question has to be answerable from the reading alone.
- The checking. A second, separate AI pass reads the finished pages as they'll print and corrects what it finds, such as an unclear direction or an answer the reading doesn't support. Its findings are recorded, and both passes read them before the next collection is made.
No person reads every worksheet before it's sent, so mistakes can slip through. Glance at the suggested answers before you use a worksheet with your child. If you find an error, please tell me at hello@zigzagandand.com.
Try it in your homeschool
Zigzag & And is what I wanted for our own homeschool: a good reading each day, and writing practice that builds a sentence at a time. If that sounds right for yours, open the free samples or start a 30-day free trial.
Joshua
LONUT, Singapore