How much time does DITHOR add to the school day?

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inHistiming
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How much time does DITHOR add to the school day?

Post by inHistiming » Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:31 am

I am thinking of adding DITHOR for my 3rd and 5th graders next year. How much time does that add to the school day? And what kind of schedule do you use with it?

Carrie
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Post by Carrie » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:50 am

inHistiming,

Thanks for posting with your question. If you don't happen to get any responses here, you may want to re-post on the main board. Most of the moms check there first.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie
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Post by Carrie » Thu Nov 08, 2007 5:09 pm

I've got a few minutes now to answer your questions from what we've found with our own kiddos as we use "Drawn into the Heart of Reading". For my third grader, it currently adds about 25-30 minutes or less per day. But I keep the reading assignments purposefully short to allow plenty of time to discuss (I'm a talker) or to take extra time on the written assignment (which allows my methodical son time to work carefully).

When my oldest was in 5th grade, it added about 40 minutes to his day. His reading assignments were longer, and he wasn't always speedy with his written assignments. A motivated 5th grader with shorter reading assignments could probably be done in 30 minutes a day.

As my kids have gotten older, we have moved from doing 3 books for each genre, down to 2 books for each genre, and then down to one long book a genre in the level 6/7/8. This allows me in depth time to focus deeply on one harder book and also allows for shorter reading assignments for the kiddos with more reflection on what was read.

This year we are using "Drawn into the Heart..." 3 days each week. We followed this same schedule last year, completing 5 genres. We plan to complete another 5 genres this year including the ones left from last year and one repeat that we really enjoyed.

Other years we have used "Drawn into the Heart..." 4 days a week or even 5 days a week, depending on what I was wanting to accomplish. Right now 3 days a week is what I can realistically do well. My boys are currently in 6th grade, 3rd grade, Kindergarten, and toddler-staged (18 months).

Hope this helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

6timeboymom
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Post by 6timeboymom » Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:40 pm

That's an interesting question-I've never thought of our school in terms of time frames before! We tend to be quite relaxed, so really, you completely opened a new train of thought for me! :-) Thanks!
But now, enough about me! on to your question! lol!
I found ds #2 took much longer with his things then ds #1. #2 is not as strong a reader as #1, and he does much better when he can hear the story. So, I ended up reading his assignments to him. That certainly added a lot more time then I expected! but-it was the way he learns best.
ds #1 who is a strong reader and who enjoys reading, enjoys the reading but not the end or genre activities as much. So, we kind of gloss over the tie up and move on with him. He is very much the, "let's get down to the business of school so I can get on with my day" and isn't thrilled with anything that resembles fun schoolwork, kwim? :-)
I guess...if I consider the time I give them to do the reading and the time we take to discuss we might work for an hour or hour and a half? all together? that includes our reading time, though.
It's so great that I can adjust the curriculum for the needs of my boys, too! as in; reading aloud to one and skipping some activities for the other. :-)
Darci
mom to 6 great boys-"they've got me surrounded!!"
using: as much HOD as possible! :wink:

Tansy
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Post by Tansy » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:02 am

When I follow all the directions and not skip anything. Now it takes 30- 60 min But before it was more like 1.5 hours... (my dd writes very slowly, and doesn't like answering questions)

I have found that I do need to keep the reading part short. or it is always a hour at least. On the really long days it is usually because we had lots of reading (aka no pictures in that day's assignment) and lots of writing as part of the assignment.
Also I started using book adventure to get books at or below her reading lvl (I tested her) If I use slightly above her reading lvl the lessons drag on and on.

I really find it hard to engage my dd in discussion. I think to much speech therapy primed her to only answer questions if prompted to. She not big on original thought

When we do all the work. I can see she is Learning so to me it's worth the extra time in school. and practice is helping her do more in less time.
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inHistiming
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DITHOR Student Workbooks

Post by inHistiming » Mon Dec 31, 2007 6:13 pm

I am trying to decide if I am going to add DITHOR to our curriculum next year with my (then) 8 &10 year olds. I think I will be using BHFHG with both of them, along with the extension pack for the 10 yo. Are the student workbooks an integral part of the program, or are they optional? I'm just trying to economize as much as possible, but I still want to make sure we have everything that is necessary. Any suggestions for this would be great.

Carrie
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Post by Carrie » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:36 pm

The Student Workbooks actually have all of the graphic organizers and student pages that the students need to complete the lessons in the Teacher's Guide. The Teacher's Guide has all discussion questions and lesson plans needed for using the workbooks. So, they function hand-in-hand.

At the 2/3 level there are Student Pages for about 1/3 of the lessons. At the 4/5 level there are Student Pages almost daily. Hope that helps. Some moms may not see the post here as they mainly read the main board. You could repost over there to get some other perspectives beside mine!

Blessings,
Carrie

inHistiming
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Post by inHistiming » Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:06 am

Thanks, Carrie! I appreciate your answering my questions.

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