Writing Strands

Writing Strands is a composition series by Dave Marks, sold by Master Books in six courses for grades 5 to 10. The publisher describes it as skills-based composition instruction combined with Bible-based literature study.

Last updated: 2026-10-09 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Subject-specialist composition course. The publisher describes skills-based composition instruction with a Bible-based literature component (series page)
Worldview	Christian. The publisher states that a biblical worldview is integral to all of its curriculum (About page), publishes one Statement of Faith that names no denomination, and says the Bible is the literature base in the Beginning and Intermediate courses (Beginning 1 page). Every Homeschool directory classification: Christian-evangelical
Grades	5 to 10. The series page lists grades 5 to 8 for Beginning 1 and 2, grades 6 to 9 for Intermediate 1 and 2, and grades 7 to 10 for Advanced 1 and 2. The publisher's placement guide gives an approximate sequence from 5th grade (Beginning 1) to 10th grade (Advanced 2) and says to place students by writing skills
Formats	Paperback and eBook (Beginning 1 page); a separate Teaching Companion
Cost tier	Budget (Every Homeschool classification, based on the prices below)
Parent intensity	3 (Every Homeschool rating)
ESA-common	Yes (Every Homeschool classification). The publisher's ESA page lists 16 state programs through which Master Books is available, not individual products (retrieved October 2026). See the ESA section below
Accredited	No. The publisher states that curriculum cannot be accredited and that Master Books is a curriculum publisher, not a school
Established	The publisher's pages give no start year for Writing Strands. The Beginning 1 page refers to the series' "over a 30 year history"
Website	masterbooks.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Scores and one-line reasons are Every Homeschool's judgment. Publisher statements are linked.

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Six courses move from sentences and paragraphs to reports and arguments, and the publisher says the series teaches grammar as you go
Ease of teaching	4	A suggested schedule and perforated pages on the course pages; the publisher lists Beginning 2 as self-directed and Beginning 1 as designed for student and teacher to work through together
Content quality	3	The Scope and Sequence lists the skills focus and lesson titles for each course; the publisher says the Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 courses were fully updated, clarified and simplified
Flexibility	4	The publisher offers a placement test and says to place students in the level that most closely matches their writing skills
Value for money	4	$31.19 per course in paperback (list $38.99), retrieved October 2026
Worldview scope	2	Christian: the publisher states that a biblical worldview is integral to all of its curriculum and describes Bible-based literature study in this series
Visual/design	2	The product pages (for example Beginning 1) describe paperback pages that are perforated and three-hole punched and do not describe color or illustrations
Support resources	2	A Teaching Companion is sold separately, and the Beginning 1 page lists a placement test and a Scope and Sequence; the product pages list no video instruction

Who the publisher is

Writing Strands is sold by Master Books, an imprint of New Leaf Publishing Group (NLPG), according to the publisher's careers page. The Beginning 1 product page lists New Leaf Publishing Group, LLC as publisher and Master Books as manufacturer, and lists Dave Marks as the contributor on all six courses and on the Teaching Companion. The publisher's author page describes him as the founder of National Writing Institute and the author of the Writing Strands and Reading Strands series.

The product pages for Beginning 1, Beginning 2, Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 say each is a hybrid course that combines Reading Strands with a numbered Writing Strands level: Beginning 1 with Level 2, Beginning 2 with Level 3, Intermediate 1 with Level 4 and Intermediate 2 with Level 5 (Beginning 1, Beginning 2, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2). The Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 pages state no earlier-level equivalent. The pages give no start year for Writing Strands or for the Master Books editions. See our Master Books review for the publisher as a whole.

The core pedagogy

The publisher's series page describes a writing composition series that teaches grammar as you go, with a daily schedule, lessons of 30 to 45 minutes five days a week, writing instruction broken down systematically, and combined skills-based composition instruction and Bible-based literature study. The Beginning 1 page adds that the course teaches components of grammar, sentence construction, logical sequencing and structure, and has students practice spelling. The Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 pages say students rotate writing and reading assignments each week, that worksheets add structure to reading assignments the teacher chooses, and that the Bible is the literature base.

The publisher lists the six courses as follows (series page):

Course	Grades	What the publisher lists
Beginning 1	5 to 8	Exercises on dialogue, reporting, interviews, role playing, persuasion, story writing, and organizing and grouping ideas
Beginning 2	5 to 8	Sentences and paragraphs, main and supporting ideas, the process of rewriting, point of view and creating characters
Intermediate 1	6 to 9	Effective paragraphs, descriptive writing, narrative voice and tense usage, and analyzing plots in literature
Intermediate 2	6 to 9	Writing strong arguments, dialogue, papers and letters, and literary elements such as theme, genre, point of view and tone
Advanced 1	7 to 10	Reports, short stories, essays and other forms of writing, and literary devices including imagery, symbolism and rhetorical language
Advanced 2	7 to 10	Refining writing and research skills and studying John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in depth

The Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 pages each list one English credit. The Advanced pages describe a one-year course organized around three areas that the publisher names as creative, research and reports, and explanatory.

For placement, the publisher's placement guide lists an approximate sequence of Beginning 1 in 5th grade through Advanced 2 in 10th grade, then says the curriculum is skills-based, so students should be placed in the level that most closely matches their writing skills. It has two parts: a checklist of skills a student should have before starting each course, and a writing prompt that students can take up to 20 minutes to complete. The publisher's Scope and Sequence lists the skills focus and lesson titles for each course.

Features the publisher describes:

1. A suggested schedule on each course page: a suggested daily schedule on the Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 pages, and a suggested schedule on the Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 pages.
2. Short daily lessons. The Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 pages list 30 to 45 minutes per lesson, five times per week.
3. Writing and reading in one course. The Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 pages describe a weekly rotation of writing and reading assignments, with a new literature component.
4. Perforated, three-hole punched pages, as listed on the product pages.
5. A separate Teaching Companion. The publisher calls the 70-page Teaching Companion supplemental for any level of the program, with general guidelines for drafting papers with students and giving writing feedback.

A day in the life

The Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 course pages describe a suggested daily schedule, lessons of 30 to 45 minutes five times per week, and a weekly rotation between writing assignments and reading assignments; the Advanced pages describe a suggested schedule and a one-year course. Beginning 1 lists teaching instructions and says it is designed for student and teacher to work through together. Beginning 2 is listed as self-directed. The other four course pages state neither. The Scope and Sequence names each lesson and gives it a writing category, such as Basic, Organization, Description, Creative, or Research & Report. The publisher does not state how long a parent spends on a lesson.

What they do exceptionally well

A published placement path. The publisher offers a placement test, a Scope and Sequence and a placement guide that says to place students by writing skills. In our assessment, that lets a family choose a starting course from the student's writing rather than from grade level.

Reading and writing on one schedule. The publisher describes Beginning 1 to Intermediate 2 as hybrid courses that rotate writing and reading assignments each week, with worksheets for the reading assignments. In our assessment, that gives a family one daily schedule for composition and literature.

A low price per course. Each course is $31.19 in paperback (list $38.99), retrieved October 2026, per the Beginning 1 page. In our assessment, that is a low price per course.

What they do poorly

Biblical content is part of the course design. The publisher states that the Bible is the literature base in the Beginning and Intermediate courses, that Advanced 2 studies Pilgrim's Progress, and that a biblical worldview is integral to all of its curriculum (About page). A family that wants writing instruction without religious content will meet it in every course.

The series covers grades 5 to 10. The publisher lists no Writing Strands course below grade 5 or above grade 10. In our assessment, a family that wants one writing program from kindergarten through grade 12 will need another source at both ends. Master Books sells Language Lessons for a Living Education for grades 1 to 12 as a separate series.

Parent involvement differs by course. Beginning 1 is listed as designed for student and teacher to work through together and Beginning 2 as self-directed. The other four course pages state neither, so we cannot say from the publisher's pages how much parent time they need. The product pages, for example Beginning 1, link an "A Look Inside" sample for each course.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Writing Strands if: you want a six-course composition sequence for grades 5 to 10 with a published placement test; you want writing and Bible-based literature study on one daily schedule; you share the positions in the Master Books Statement of Faith; you want a low price per course.

• Skip Writing Strands if: you want a secular writing program or one built on a different statement of faith; you want a writing series that starts before grade 5 or continues past grade 10; you want video-led instruction, which the Writing Strands product pages do not list; you want every course to be self-directed, since the publisher lists only Beginning 2 that way.

Cost honest assessment

All prices are the publisher's current selling prices (list prices in parentheses), retrieved October 2026.

• Each of the six courses, Beginning 1 and 2, Intermediate 1 and 2, and Advanced 1 and 2: $31.19 paperback ($38.99) and $27.29 as an eBook, per the product pages for Beginning 1, Beginning 2, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2. The six paperbacks total $187.14, by our arithmetic. Because the publisher places students in the level that matches their writing skills, not every student will start at Beginning 1.
• Teaching Companion: $9.59 ($11.99) paperback and $8.39 eBook (product page).

The publisher's sales page states that MasterBooks.com offers 20% off retail every day of the year, and product pages describe the list price as the publisher's suggested retail price.

ESA eligibility notes

Writing Strands is sold by Master Books. Master Books' ESA page lists 16 state programs through which Master Books is available (retrieved October 2026), says ClassWallet can be used for purchases on MasterBooks.com but not for Master Books Academy courses, and says new states are being added frequently. The page lists programs, not individual products, so confirm that Writing Strands is eligible under your state's program and rules before ordering. See our Master Books review for the full list of programs.

Alternatives

A family that wants a different structure or worldview framing for writing can compare Institute for Excellence in Writing and Writing with Sharon Watson on their directory pages. Each publisher states its own prices and scope on its own site, and we do not compare prices across publishers here.