Bigger and DITHOR for 7yo second grade?

[momof3kids]

Hi all,
thinking about next year.....has anyone did Bigger and DITHOR for a 7yo?? My oldest son is 6 now, be 7 in May...we are half way through Beyond with emerging readers and he does great with it. So, was planning on just going ahead to the next guide when we finish... around June maybe...and looks like DITHOR 2/3 would be the next step for him. This year has been a great fit for him...just want to make sure this wouldn't be too much for him, and how it has worked for others.
We do school 4 days a week usually....thought about taking him to 5...but don't know if there is really a need since he is still on the young side....
thanks for any thoughts or ideas!

[Nealewill]

I think if your son is right on target with his reading and writing, then adding DITHOR at 7 would be fine. I know my oldest child - while we didn't do HOD at the time she was 7 - couldn't read well but she had no problem writing tons of stuff at that age. She couldn't spell worth a darn but I didn't want to discourage her either.

If it were me, I would probably start BHFHG for a month or so to get him used to the schedule and then start DITHOR kind of a month late. That way he gets used to the increased schedule and increase writing already. And you can probably judge better at that time if he is ready for DITHOR. But that is just me and how I would do it. I do have 2 in Beyond right now and I plan to start DITHOR when they are about 1/2 way through Bigger.

[my3sons]

We did DITHOR with our dc at 7 yo. They had done well with the Emerging Reader's Set, and the DITHOR Level 2 Book pack and suggested pacing for that worked well. To ease my dc into the writing of DITHOR in the 2/3 Student Book, I wrote their answers for them first. Then, after a few weeks or so, I wrote all but one part, and put that on a markerboard for them to copy themselves in their Student Book. Last, I just was near to help with spelling by writing words in question on a markerboard as needed. This transition took about 3 months overall. For one of our sons, I broke up the reading to half-speed. For example, if Amelia Earhart was planned to take 15 days to read, we took 30 days to read it. If it was going to be about 8 pages of reading, I had him just read 4 pages one day (not doing the DITHOR TG plans), and then read the other 4 pages the next day doing the DITHOR TG plans that day. We did this for around 4 months, and we just got through fewer genres that year. The next year, I made sure to start by doing the remaining genres first. DITHOR is easy to slow down if need be, or to help with writing if need be. It is an outstanding reading curriculum! It prepared my high school student for high school literature beautifully. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[momof3kids]

Thanks!...those are very helpful suggestions. I will a little afraid it may be too much, but he has done so well with the ER, I think it will be good, especially with the options of how to slow down if needed. I am looking forward to seeing how he does next year!

[Samuel'sMommy]

You can always start Bigger and get him into the routine of the guide and then add DITHOR several weeks down the road. That way it won't be so many new things all at once.

[momof3kids]

Good suggestion!...I may do that, since we will be adding in LHFHG for my second son as well....it will be quite a bit of new!...thanks!