How does dithor work?

[exodus4]

I am interested in preparing package . Do I have to buy level 4/5 books to use with dithor or can I use the same books from preparing ? They are not scheduled in the manual . We are only in unit 2 so maybe I am wrong. I am not sure which books from preparing to use with dithor as preparing doesn't start with a biography genre as dithor starts.

My almost 9 yo is doing preparing and the amount of reading and projects takes way over 4 hours . the child is placed right , he reads,spells, and writes above average. I don't see the possibility of adding more books on his plate right now. At the same time, I really like the look of dithor and I am a little concerned that doing only preparing without a reading program, won't prepare him adequately for the state standardized test at the end of the year.

[blessedmomof4]

Which books from Preparing do you have? At his age, you should have everything except the Extension package. Are you using all the recommendations from Preparing for language arts, math, and science, or are you substituting or adding anything? Are you reading the "Reading About History" books aloud to him (you should be, as only the Independent History Study books and Science books should be read independently by the student)? Are you doing 2/3 of the Rod and Staff grammar orally or on a whiteboard, reserving only 1/3 as written work? Are you doing the Singapore textbook pages along with him on a whiteboard, reserving only the workbook pages for him to do with paper and pencil? I am just asking to see where the extra time might be coming from. If you could share a little on that, we can brainstorm ways to make your son's day go more smoothly. As for Dithor, you could purchase the 4/5 package or you could buy the Sample Book Ideas List for $5 and use the library to get books for each genre http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php
Hope something in here is helpful

[frankesense]

Preparing took a while for us to get into the swing of too...since you are only on Unit 2, I would just be patient. As you keep going and get more used to what is expected in each section, it will continue to flow more smoothly and not take so much time. In my opinion, you could wait until your day is moving along smoothly before adding in DITHOR.

DITHOR is scheduled 3 days in each unit of Preparing. The books that you read are not scheduled in the the teacher's guide for Preparing but in the DITHOR teacher's guide. You can choose one of the book packs recommended by HOD or use your own books chosen for each genre. Throughout Prepraring, you would complete 4 or 5 of the genres, and complete the rest of the genres in the following school year.

Blessings,
Stephanie

[exodus4]

I have all preparing books except the extension. We do English mostly orally, math takes less than 30 min. He reads the books by himself . We only add foreign language because I speak it.
What takes him long is the true story of Noah's ark , he says there are too many words he doesn't understand so he wants to look them up in the dictionary . He doesn't want to ask me and honestly I don't think I could help him much as englishis not my native language
He is also a perfectionist and Takes a lot of time to draw .

About how long does it take to read the book and do the writing activity in dithor for level 4?

[chillin'inandover]

If this is your first time doing DITHOR I would recommend doing 2/3 and depending on your chid's reading level do 2/3 or 4/5 book package. The number isn't based on grade in school but on reading level and comprehension. Although dc can read the more advanced reading the comprehension comes later. The analysis comes after the comprehension. The reading level should be a comfortable reading level not too challenging because the child will be analyzing the reading such as comparing/contrasting character, settings, and conflict. I would also suggest that you start DITHOR after you have the Preparing guide running smoothly-perhaps after 1 month but you will be the best to know what feels right.

Do you have the TM (Teacher Manual) for DITHOR? I ask because it is not in Preparing TM. All 3 levels (2/3, 4/5, and 6/7/8) of instruction are in DITHOR TM. You would need a DITHOR student workbook for the dc level either 2/3, 4/5, or 6/7/8 so that they could complete their assignments.

In regards to length of time of day that is a bit long but I noticed that ds is reading a book from the read alouds that you would read to him unless he was out of suggested age range of guide or there were extenuating circumstances, but reading to him is the recommendation. The read alouds are working on his comprehension and would have more difficult words than his reading level. I enjoyed our read aloud time because of the discussions we had based on the questions in TM that followed the reading. Tammy

[blessedmomof4]

Sounds like math and grammar are going great. As Tammy said, your son should not be reading the Reading About History books or the Storytime books (such as the True Story of Noah's Ark) on his own-these are intended to be read aloud to the student by the parent/teacher, and are usually above the student's reading level. After you read these to the student you should work with him to do the follow-ups in the Preparing. The Independent History books and the Science books are meant to be read by the child, as are the DITHOR books. Incidentally, the Noah's Ark book contains an audio CD with a narrator reading the book, so you can try that as well.

[exodus4]

I know the ideal would be me reading him the books. But I don't do that because
1) I have a strong accent in English and I am not proficient in it yet, my son speaks and reads better than me
2) I have five dc, including a preschooler, an infant ( she is 4 months) , twins 1st grade and my 4th grader . My plate is full and I am overwhelmed! In the top of that one of my twins has autism, which comes with speech delay, math and reading comprehension , social delay ,etc so I have to work with him in all these areas besides school work. Although he is Above average academically,I believe this is because of the hard work we were doing, but that means I have to spend less time with my capable 4 th grader. He doesn't like when I read to him anyway , probably because my accent . He often corrects me.

If he already read almost all the books from 23 and 45 , should I ask him to read them again? He read them in the past two years, but a few of them he loved so much, he read them like 3 or 4 times. However, I never did any kind of literature analysis with him. I only asked him to narrate now and then. I do have dithor and 45 student book. He only read a few books from 56 but I don't have the workbook that goes with that level. So why should I do?

[blessedmomof4]

I see you have a unique situation on your hands, and may just have to accept a longer day because of it As long as your son is doing well and enjoying...For DITHOR, you may choose any grade-appropriate books that fit the genre being studied, rather than using the book packs. You may purchase a Sample Book Ideas List from HOD for only $5 which has a great list of books you may be able to find at your local library to use with DITHOR for every genre and grade level. You don't need to push him to use the 5/6 books, but if he is ready for them you can simply continue using his 4/5 student book with your DITHOR manual and the 5/6 books.

[mom23]

I wonder if it would help you to slow down for a while? Just to let him get the hang of things until they begin to flow more easily, especially as you're looking to add in DITHOR, but can't imagine adding anything else to his day. Consider trying half pace for a couple of weeks-there are lots of threads on here that would give you ideas on how to do that, but basically you'd try to do half the boxes from, say Day 1, on one day, and then finish the boxes from Day 1 the next day. Then as he gets the hang of that, maybe you could spread out the 4 Days' worth of work each week into 5 days. Preparing has a lot to get done each day, especially when he's going to be having to do most, if not all, of it by himself.

[my3sons]

I wonder if it would help you to slow down for a while? Just to let him get the hang of things until they begin to flow more easily, especially as you're looking to add in DITHOR, but can't imagine adding anything else to his day. Consider trying half pace for a couple of weeks-there are lots of threads on here that would give you ideas on how to do that, but basically you'd try to do half the boxes from, say Day 1, on one day, and then finish the boxes from Day 1 the next day. Then as he gets the hang of that, maybe you could spread out the 4 Days' worth of work each week into 5 days. Preparing has a lot to get done each day, especially when he's going to be having to do most, if not all, of it by himself.

I LOVE this idea! Your ds doing his own reading for Reading about History will certainly continue to add time to the day, as will his reading his own Storytime (if he is doing that). Why not slow it down to account for that extra reading, and enjoy that pacing for awhile? I'd wait to start DITHOR for 3 months, and then I'd choose some books he has not read off the 2/3 Sample Book Ideas list. It really is a good idea to do DITHOR with books dc have not read before. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie