Is there a way to test my kids to place them in DITHOR

[walkermamaof4]

I am so unsure of where to place them. Can anyone help with that?
DD15 has special needs. She loves to read Nancy Drews. She is a very fast reader and a very poor speller and very poor writer.
DD12 is a bit below average reader. She has very mild special needs. I think her comprehension is poor. She loves to read books like Betsy-Tacy which has a grade level equivalent of 4.2 and she is in 6th grade.
DD9 is reading at about the same level as DD12. He is reading Runaway Ralph for fun right now. It has a reading equivalent of 4.1 and he is in 3rd grade.
DD7 is still learning phonics. He isn't quite ready for emerging readers.

Thanks for your suggestions. I want to get this right for next year!

[Heart_Mom]

I am so unsure of where to place them. Can anyone help with that?
DD15 has special needs. She loves to read Nancy Drews. She is a very fast reader and a very poor speller and very poor writer.
DD12 is a bit below average reader. She has very mild special needs. I think her comprehension is poor. She loves to read books like Betsy-Tacy which has a grade level equivalent of 4.2 and she is in 6th grade.
DD9 is reading at about the same level as DD12. He is reading Runaway Ralph for fun right now. It has a reading equivalent of 4.1 and he is in 3rd grade.
DD7 is still learning phonics. He isn't quite ready for emerging readers.

Thanks for your suggestions. I want to get this right for next year!

Hello!

I'm not terribly experienced with DITHOR, but I did have a couple thoughts for you. Hopefully some other ladies will chime in as well! (And, ladies, feel free to correct my idea if it's not a good one!!! )

Have your older three children had much formal literature study? If not, what if you started them all in DITHOR 2/3 student books, coupled with reading books that would be good for their reading level? Then you might bump them up to a highter level after even just a few reading units. My 10 year old is currently doing DITHOR 2/3 using books that are on more of a 4/5 level. I'll be bumping him up to the 4/5 workbook soon, but I wanted to give him some practice at the easier level first since he hadn't really done much literature analysis before.

If you're not sure what book packs would be appropriate, you could always check a couple of books from some book packs out of your library to get an idea of whether or not they would work for your children.

I hope that helps! Feel free to ask more questions!

[walkermamaof4]

Thanks! After reading other posts this morning, that is exactly what I was thinking! I think I'll buy the reading packs at each kid's level like you said. I may read both the 2/3 and the 4/5 each day and then assign which serves them best and advance them as quickly as it seems like they can handle. I do want them to love it, so don't want to overwhelm them. But I don't want to have a house full of underachievers if they can do more either! This sounds perfect. Based on what I wrote here, my new idea is to place the 3 olders in Preparing with extensions for my girls, instead of doing CTC as I had originally planned. Do you think this would work? And my youngest in Beyond with Emerging Readers?

[Heart_Mom]

Thanks! After reading other posts this morning, that is exactly what I was thinking! I think I'll buy the reading packs at each kid's level like you said. I may read both the 2/3 and the 4/5 each day and then assign which serves them best and advance them as quickly as it seems like they can handle. I do want them to love it, so don't want to overwhelm them. But I don't want to have a house full of underachievers if they can do more either! This sounds perfect. Based on what I wrote here, my new idea is to place the 3 olders in Preparing with extensions for my girls, instead of doing CTC as I had originally planned. Do you think this would work? And my youngest in Beyond with Emerging Readers?

You're very welcome! So many kind and patient ladies have helped me with placement here, particularly with my son who is behind in some areas that I'm so happy to be able to be helpful to someone else!

I think your idea sounds great! Did you know that there are two components to DITHOR: the DITHOR teacher's guide (this has all the teaching material for all levels) AND student workbooks (a different one for each level 2/3, 4/5, 6/7/8). I've read before on these forums that the workbooks are allowed to be copied for your individual family, so maybe you could get just one level 2/3 workbook, and one 4/5 workbook. Then you could copy what you need as you need it, especially since your older children may not stay in the 2/3 level for a whole year. Does that make sense? If not, feel free to ask me to clarify!

Also, I think that Preparing would be a very good choice. It really does a good job of teaching the skills that they will need in CTC and higher guides. (I'll actually be starting in within the next few months with my 10 year old, and I'm really looking forward to it! In preparation for that I pre-read one of the extension books, The Bronze Bow and it is an amazing book!)

Your plan for your youngest sounds great too! If he's still finishing up phonics in the beginning of the school year, it would be fine to wait a bit before jumping into starting with the Emerging Reader Set.

I hope that's helpful! May God bless you and your family in this coming school year and beyond!

[walkermamaof4]

Thank you so much! I didn't think of either of those things: copying workbooks or waiting to start Emerging. I was worried he wouldn't be quite ready! So thankful! I asked on another post about this, but if it were you doing 3 kids in preparing, and you really, really didn't want anyone to wait on another for a book during the day, what would you buy duplicates of? Thanks so much!

Also, are the workbooks pretty easy to copy? Or is the binding tight?

[Heart_Mom]

Thank you so much! I didn't think of either of those things: copying workbooks or waiting to start Emerging. I was worried he wouldn't be quite ready! So thankful! I asked on another post about this, but if it were you doing 3 kids in preparing, and you really, really didn't want anyone to wait on another for a book during the day, what would you buy duplicates of? Thanks so much!

Also, are the workbooks pretty easy to copy? Or is the binding tight?

Hi, again!

I'm glad the Emerging tip was helpful. It's nice to be able to just move along at the pace of the individual child, and HOD allows me to do that very well. For instance, I'm using R&S grammar with my son, but we're not on the same lesson that his HOD guide says. But we just do the next lesson each day, and it's working out fine.

I actually replied to your first question on the other post a minute ago! Feel free to go there and see my reply, but if you want there to be zero time when any child is waiting on another for a book I think you would need 3 Preparing Teacher's Guides, 3 sets of the Science books, and 3 sets of the Deluxe Independent History set. (That post was longer because I think I was thinking while I was typing! )

I just checked my DITHOR workbook, and the binding is pretty tight, but I was able to get it pretty flat for copying. You could always have the binding cut off at an office supply store if you'd like.

[Molly]

Just popping in to say that we are using Preparing with 2 children. What we are doing is having them do independent history and science at different times so that we do not need to double up on the books. It is working well so far. I do have a schedule so they do know when each of them can have each book.

[walkermamaof4]

Thanks Michelle. I could do that. But it seemed to me like they wouldn't always finish alternate subjects at the same time. But maybe 2 sets of books for 3 kids will work. So I'm glad you told me that one set is working for your 2 kids. I appreciate that!

[Molly]

I was actually just going to come back after reading your other post and suggesting two copies. I think that would work well. I pray you all enjoy Preparing as much as we are although we have only just finished our second week. It is just such fun, and I love the short amount of time spent on each subject, it just seems the right amount.