DITHR-Half Speed or Full Speed? (CTC)

[momtofive]

I recently read on the boards that CTC paces the DITHR program at half speed. I was looking over my DITHOR guide and it seemed to lay it out so the student goes through all nine genres in a typical school year. Does the CTC really have the student only finish half of the 4/5 book pack?

I just want to clarify and get things straightened out for planning next year. Any help is greatly appreciated!

In Christ,
Lisa

[Kathleen]

The plan for DITHOR is that the student will get through all 9 genres every 2 years. If you're using it at the speed that it's scheduled in the CTC guide (or any of the guides from Preparing on up), you will get through 5 genres per year. Then the following year you just want to keep track and make sure that you do the 4 that you didn't do the previous year plus an extra that maybe is a favorite genre for your child.

Some moms use DITHOR every day if their child is ready for it while they're in the Bigger (or an earlier guide). My guess is that there's time for it in the schedule every day at that point because the other LA skills aren't as time consuming. At the lower level, too, some kiddos are still using phonics or are at the emerging reader age or even beginning independent reader age where reading DAILY is very important to do. While you're using Preparing on up, the kids are scheduled to read independently for other subjects like science and history on top of their literature study, so I think it makes sense to plan it in 3 times a week and get it done consistently while still making time for the other important skills that come in at that point in their education. (I'm not Carrie, so I don't know if that was her thought behind scheduling it that way or not, but those are the benefits that I see as we're moving along. I know that HOD does a GREAT job of planning the kids' education so that they're getting what's important while being very time-conscious. I LOVE the balance that's there in the guides!! )

Kathleen

[momtofive]

Thanks Kathleen,

I really appreciate your quick answer! I was pretty sure that it was scheduled this way. I just wanted to be sure for my planning purposes. I did buy the boy 4/5 book pack and was a little disappointed because my son (who loves reading good books), wouldn't be able to read all of the books we ordered this coming year. I suppose something I could do would be to let him look them over and pick out which genres he'd like to do for this year. That way he would get to do the most interesting ones (to him) this year. I think all of the books are great, and would love reading them myself!

I guess this makes HOD even more economical because we're getting two years of reading, for the price of one book pack!!!

In Christ,
Lisa

[Kathleen]

Lisa,

We used half of the 4/5 boy pack this year, and are planning to finish it this coming school year because I think the reading level will still be right for Grant. If it looked to you like he'd need harder books the following year, you could let him read some of them for "fun", too. (I let Grant look through the books and pick out the ones he wanted to do this year, and told him that the others we'd use the following year. He LOVED getting to pick!) Enjoy your reading!

Kathleen

[Heather4Him]

Hi Lisa!

I'm from WI, too! (And we're new to HOD this year!)

Ok, I'm confused a little bit, because I thought the "Girl Pack" or "Boy Pack" books were supposed to be used for the "Storytime" box--not the "Language Arts" box where DITHOR is scheduled. I thought we were supposed to choose different books (or the DITHOR list book suggestions) for that program, and the "Boy/Girl" packs for read-alouds. Is that right?

[momtofive]

Hi Heather in WI,

The boy 4/5 book pack that I was referring to is the DITHR book pack in the back of the catalog, not the boy interest set for the storytime read alouds! There are seperate book packs for the DITHR program listed in the back of the catalog with the other DITHR books and student workbooks. Sorry if I made it unclear! That happens sometimes!!

Hope this clears things up!

In Christ,
Lisa

[Heather4Him]

OH, no problem--thank you for clarifying that! I didn't realize there were two different sets of "Boy/Girl" book packs! Sorry for the confusion--still trying to figure my way around all the details of the programs.

[my3sons]

OH, no problem--thank you for clarifying that! I didn't realize there were two different sets of "Boy/Girl" book packs! Sorry for the confusion--still trying to figure my way around all the details of the programs.

When you get ready to order, you can click on the picture of the guide. Then click on the "packages" link, and at the top you'll see a little light bulb called "Helpful Tips on How to Order". That is a handy tool for helping you understand the choices you get to make to customize your HOD guide for your family and for helping you to place your order. Of course, we're all glad to help here on the board too!

In Christ,
Julie