Help with DITHOR

[laurapella]

Hi All,

This is our 2nd year using HOD, and I love it!! I think the curriculum is absolutely amazing, and I thank God that there are people willing to put in all this work so that I can reap the benefits. Thank you Austins!!! We are running 3 guides right now...CTC with my 5th gr, Bigger with my 3rd gr, and LHFHG with my 1st and almost K-er. I think the guides are running very smoothly most of the time, EXCEPT...

Isn't there always an except?? I cannot figure out how to fit in DITHOR!!! I have tried to start many times, we get through about 2-3 days, and we become completely overwhelmed!! How do you do it?? I have read several of the threads on DITHOR but nothing seems to really help. Maybe I am completely missing the boat on this one...I am just not sure what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Laura

[Nealewill]

I am not sure if you having trouble finding the time to teach it or if you are struggling with the books they are reading too. What if you did DITHOR as the first thing you taught each day? I find that for us, my oldest works on all of her independent stuff first each day because I am helping the youngers. Then once I finish some with the younger kids, I help her with stuff she needs help with. So I bring all my teacher stuff over to her that I need to work on with her and we meet for about 30 - 45 minutes and go over the DITHOR lesson in that portion of the day. I wish I could sometimes structure my day a little differently but it works okay. Also, there are times when I have used the emergency lesson plan in the back. And I also think selecting the right books for your kids to read at their level or a little bit above is helpful too. My oldest dd is a painfully slow reader. She remembers everything she reads but sometimes she will read and then reread and then reread something again so that she can get the perfect picture in her mind. So it takes her 30 minutes to read 8 pages in most of the books she is reading now. I got one book for her that I think she will love but it is going to take us 20 days just to read it versus 15. And I am okay with that. So I guess I would say that book selection is important too. Find a book your child can read within the recommended time and will enjoy reading does help as well.

I hope this was helpful in some way.

[MelInKansas]

The first 2 or 3 days are the hardest! The kickoff is always the hardest for me to figure out and can take a lot of time sometimes. But once you get into a rhythm of reading the book and doing the activities it doesn't take nearly as long. It's hard to add in once you've got the rhythm of your day going, we struggle with that too sometimes. As Nealewill said, I moved it to the beginning of the day and then we get it done. It does seem to make the rest of the day go longer, of course, as it is an addition, but we get through it more quickly that way.

Since it is something you find it difficult to fit in, I would look and find the time in your day when you are most likely to get it done. Maybe even slow the guide down to 1/2 speed and try to fit it in? You won't regret putting in the effort to get it going, there is so much great stuff in there!

[mrsrandolph]

I have a 10 and 11 year old doing it, and I make sure to have 2-3 copies of each book. One for each of them and one for me. That way they are reading the same book at the same time. I just plan it in at the end of Preparing. I like to listen to them read, so we do that together.

[my3sons]

Good advice here already! I am wondering what levels of DITHOR are you doing? I'm assuming from your signature that your dc are doing CTC and Bigger Hearts, but is that right? I have a few ideas depending on your answers to the questions. Thanks!

In Christ,
Julie

[laurapella]

Thank you for the responses so far! Julie, my boys are doing CTC and Bigger for 5th and 3rd grade. I have the 4-5 student book with 4/5 boys interest pack for my 11yo. I have the 2-3 student book with the book pack 2 for my 8yo. I have tentatively written up a new schedule to try after the new year, but any additional suggestions would definitely be appreciated!
Thanks!

[my3sons]

Thank you for the responses so far! Julie, my boys are doing CTC and Bigger for 5th and 3rd grade. I have the 4-5 student book with 4/5 boys interest pack for my 11yo. I have the 2-3 student book with the book pack 2 for my 8yo. I have tentatively written up a new schedule to try after the new year, but any additional suggestions would definitely be appreciated!
Thanks!

Thanks for answering my questions! Years back, we had sons in these guides together. Bigger Hearts has DITHOR scheduled 5 days a week, and CTC has it 3 times a week. So, I remember having to decide if I wanted them together or not. I did it both ways. First, I thought Riley (Bigger Hearts) needed DITHOR daily, so we did it separately from Wyatt. Then halfway through, we did it together 3 days a week with both of them. So, I think it depends on the 8 yo. I liked doing the kickoffs and projects together, as well as the other All Levels Together plans together, so if 8 yo will get enough and is a strong enough reader for dropping it to 3 days a week together, I'd do that. If not, I'd do a handful of genres separately, with 8 yo 5 days a week, and 11 yo doing it 3 days a week, then finish out the year together dropping 8 yo to 3 days a week. The last years we had 2 in DITHOR, I went to doing their DITHOR separately on the days that weren't "All Levels Together" days. I liked this better, and then on the days that they were all together, we did the lessons all together. I hope that makes sense. If I'm about as clear as mud, ask more questions!!! With DITHOR, you just have to dig in - I'm excited for you to do that and give your new plan a try. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie