To teach paragraph writing in your homeschool, help your child choose one main idea, collect details that belong with it and put those details in a sensible order. Then write and reread the paragraph together.

The Australian Education Research Organisation's paragraph-writing guide explains that paragraph structures can be taught explicitly and that different purposes call for different types of paragraph. Below is our original example of a short explanation, using a fictional family walk.

Begin with a reading and one clear question

A change of route

On Saturday, Ella and her family planned to walk beside the river. Overnight rain had left the riverside path deep in mud. At the entrance, a notice said the wooden footbridge was closed for repairs. The family chose a marked trail up the hill instead. It had a firm gravel surface and led to a bench overlooking the valley. They ate their picnic there before walking home.

Ask your child: Why did the family change their walking route? Discuss the answer before writing. If they cannot explain it yet, point to the parts about the mud, the bridge and the other trail.

One question gives this paragraph a focus. A full retelling of the outing would be a different task.

Make short notes before drafting

Choose the details that help answer the question. Write a few words for each. Notes can be incomplete phrases; the finished paragraph will need complete sentences.

Notes for the explanation

  • riverside path: deep mud after rain
  • footbridge: closed for repairs
  • hill trail: firm gravel surface

The picnic is a true detail, but it does not explain why they changed routes. Leave it out of these notes. This is a useful moment to show that a detail can be accurate and still belong in a different piece of writing.

Write a topic sentence that answers the question

A vague opening such as The family went for a walk names the event without introducing the explanation. Try an opening that tells the reader what the paragraph will explain:

The family changed their route because the riverside walk was difficult to use.

Ask your child how the notes support that sentence. The mud and closed bridge explain the problem. The firm trail explains the alternative.

Turn each note into a useful sentence

Model the first note: “My note says deep mud after rain. I need to tell the reader where the mud was and what caused it.” Write Overnight rain had made the path muddy.

Invite your child to turn the bridge note into a sentence. Then work on the hill trail. Read the sentences in order and check that each adds information.

One possible paragraph

The family changed their route because the riverside walk was difficult to use. Overnight rain had made the path muddy, and the footbridge was closed for repairs. The marked trail up the hill had a firm gravel surface. Choosing that trail allowed the family to continue their outing.

The closing sentence brings the explanation back to the family's decision. It draws together details already in the paragraph. It does not introduce a new reason, such as dangerous weather, that the reading never gave us.

Reread for meaning, then check the details

Use three questions when you review the draft together:

  • Does the opening answer the question?
  • Does every detail help explain that answer?
  • Can a reader follow the explanation without guessing what a sentence means?

If a sentence needs work, choose one improvement to demonstrate. After the meaning is clear, check capitals, sentence endings and any spelling you want to teach in this lesson.

How long should the paragraph be?

Our example has four sentences because that is enough to explain this decision. It is a model for this task, not a rule that every paragraph must contain four sentences. A description, an argument and a story paragraph do different jobs.

If your child needs substantial help making each sentence complete, return to a smaller task using the same reading. For example: The family took the hill trail because... Our sentence practice guide shows how to teach that connection. If the sentences are complete but bare, sentence expansion practice shows how to add when, where and why.

Paragraph writing practice on a new reading

Once your child has seen one paragraph built from start to finish, practise the same moves on a reading they have not met. Here is a second original passage. Read it aloud together before any writing.

The bean pot

In early spring, Noor planted six bean seeds in a pot on the kitchen windowsill. Every morning she pressed a finger into the soil and watered it when it felt dry. After ten days, four green shoots pushed through. Two seeds never came up, and her grandmother thought they had been planted too deep. When the nights grew warmer, Noor moved the strongest seedlings outside. As they climbed, she tied them to bamboo canes. Her cat liked to sleep beside the pot in the sun. By midsummer the plants were taller than the fence.

The question for this paragraph is: How did Noor help her beans grow? Work through the five steps below. They can fill one sitting, or you can take one step a day across a week.

  1. Choose an opening. Compare This paragraph is about Noor's beans with Noor helped her beans grow by caring for them at each stage. Ask which one tells the reader what the paragraph will show.
  2. Keep or cut each detail. List the details from the reading and ask your child to mark each one K for keep or X for cut, using one test: does this help to show how Noor helped the beans grow?
  3. Put the notes in order. The details here follow the life of the plant, so the order is the order in which things happened.
  4. Write a concluding sentence. It returns to the opening point in new words. It does not add a reason the reading never gave.
  5. Draft and reread. Turn each note into a sentence. Joining words such as every morning, when the nights grew warmer and as they climbed show how one step leads to the next.
Suggested answers for steps 2 and 4

Keep: watering when the soil felt dry; moving the seedlings outside when the nights grew warmer; tying the plants to canes as they climbed. Cut: the cat sleeping beside the pot, which is true but about something else; the two seeds that never came up, which explains what went wrong, not how Noor helped. A possible concluding sentence: Her steady care turned a pot of seeds into plants taller than the fence.

If your child cuts the cat straight away but keeps the two missing seeds, that is a useful conversation. Both details come from the reading. Only one of them answers the question.

A free printable paragraph writing worksheet

If you would like practice on paper, our Paragraph Building sample is a complete 13-page worksheet PDF you can print. It is built on one public-domain reading, Down the Rabbit-Hole by Lewis Carroll, which is also free as a reading PDF. Read the chapter together first.

The worksheet works through eight short sections: topic sentences, selecting support, concluding sentences, planning a paragraph, developing a paragraph, summarising a passage, planning a short response and planning with topic sentences. The first five follow the steps in this guide, so a child who has written the walk and bean paragraphs will recognise them. Each section opens with a few lines explaining the skill and a worked example.

This sample is the answer copy, so each exercise shows a suggested answer. Read it with your child and discuss the answers, or copy the exercises into a notebook and compare afterwards. Choose how much of it to do: one section is enough for a day. You may print and adapt the samples for your own household.

When your child is ready to try another kind of writing, you can open the other free samples on our home page. There is one for each of our six kinds of writing practice.

Zigzag & And is an independent publisher. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by The Writing Revolution. The examples in this guide are our own.