The Writing Strands program focuses on the structure of writing by teaching the student to organize his thoughts before writing. Many of the ideas the author uses are found in other English programs, such as Voyages in English, but in WS they are presented in a more systematic fashion with each lesson building on preceding lessons. The lessons are written for the child to read and do independently, with the parent checking work occasionally. WS is very straightforward and directs the child to write about specific topics. I liked this approach, but after working through half of WS3 my son was less then enthusiastic about continuing. Some of the topics he couldn't relate to and others were boring. While his writing was organized, I didn't see any improvement in sentence complexity. I continued to search for a writing program that would work for our family and discovered the Institute for Excellence in Writing.