organizing and planning ahead DITHOR books

[kvmck]

I am just preparing to begin my oldest ds who is 9 in DITHOR. I was looking at the book list online and realized that we've already read many of the suggested titles as read alouds or he has read them on his own. I realize that I can have him read them again or a I can choose any other book in the genre but he isn't as excited about reading a book again and secondly, it is so nice to just have the books at his level and the correct genre listed right there! I know that he isn't getting as much out of a book during his "fun reading" time as he would with DITHOR so I'd like to be able to keep track of which books we should wait to read. Does anyone have any good ideas how I can track this?
Should I try to gather up the books on the lists and "hide them"-- we have a lot of books and own many of the ones on the lists for the coming years. Or perhaps I should try to label the books somehow so that both the kids and I know we have to wait to read that particuar book? I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has this question and how you have dealt with it.
Also, when looking through my books I find myself thinking "oh, this would be a great book for dd to read in 2 years for DITHOR for fantasy" but again I don't have a system in place to track this so in 2 years how will I remember?
I hope I've explained my question good enough so someone can understand it

[my3sons]

Should I try to gather up the books on the lists and "hide them"-- we have a lot of books and own many of the ones on the lists for the coming years.

This is what we do! Otherwise, there is just no way those awesome books are going to go on being unread. We have the DITHOR Book Pack books put in tubs, set aside. I didn't do this for my oldest ds and wished I would have. Now that I am doing it for my second ds, it's great! So, yes, I second the idea of hiding the treasures away in an impossible place to find. If, at the end of the year, you finish a DITHOR level without finishing all of the books in the book pack, then at that point, you could unbury the gems and let them have free reign to read them on their own.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Kristen,

If you do want to use the titles that we have placed into our Book Packs for DITHR, if your kids are anything like mine, you'll honestly have to pull them off your shelves and pack them away. We have ours placed in lidded tubs in storage. I just pull out the tubs I need for each school year. It has saved me SO MUCH time hunting for a new DITHR book, which I had to do with my oldest who had already read much of what I would have like to use for DITHR! I wouldn't recommend reading a book a second time for DITHR, unless it is a true classic that your child read too early and too fast. The shine just wears off books sometime upon a second reading, unless it happens to be one that is deeply loved!

On a sidenote, once we get the books out and in our cabinets for school for the year, we keep a close eye on them there too! Our boys know the books are meant for school and aren't for taking off to read on their own. This saves me much time for having to find a replacement book for DITHR, or any other part of our curriculum, due to the kiddos reading through the books we were planning to use that year!

Blessings,
Carrie

[kvmck]

We have six 6ft. high bookcases filled with children's books and even with all that selection both of my older children will pick out eiher a DITHOR book or a "curriculum" book to read for fun--and then I have to quickly take it away from them . That certainly proves to me and them that Carrie has chosen great books for HOD! Thank you for your ideas-- I went ahead and gathered all the books and separated them into tubs and also color labeled the book spine with round stickers so if they accidentally get mixed in with other books I'll be able to find them quickly. I will say that it feels kind of funny to have to hide books from my children!

[Busymomma1]

What a wonderful dilemma... having to hide books or set aside books so our kids won't read them!!!!

[Carrie]

Kristen,

I agree that it felt strange to me at first too, however when I began thinking of it as setting aside the cream of the crop to bring forth like a gift to be read at a later time I felt much better about it! Some books are meant to read through quickly and others are meant to be savored. You're just saving the best to savor slowly.

Blessings,
Carrie