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Hi,
My just turned 6 year old is in LHFHG for K, but we did the ERs as scheduled in Beyond since she was already reading at the beginning of the year (last summer). So her reading is great, but she still needs practice in answering questions like the ERs have written for them. She is NOT going to be ready for DITHOR in 1st grade. So what do we do? She has read a bunch of the recommended books with the ERs just for fun this year. (I would get them from the library for her, since she loves to read.) She has also read other books more advanced, full length chapter books, like old Bobbsey Twins stories, Janette Oke's children's stories, etc. She's just not ready for the level of work and analysis DITHOR requires, from looking at samples of the TM and the Level 2/3 book. Are there any recommendations for a 2nd grade reading level curriculum? Something with the same type of knowledge/comprehension/analysis/synthesis that Beyond had for the ERs? Even something that came with worksheets would work, if we could do them orally. I'm just not good at thinking up quality questions on the fly - with twin 2 year olds around. Thanks!

Hi there,

My 6 year old DD just finished up LHFHG for 1st grade. Like your daughter, she is an excellent reader but is not ready for DITHOR. My daughter just doesn't have the maturity for the depth of literature study that I think would be prevalent in DITHOR. With that being said, I take her to the library weekly and she reads about four chapter books a week in her free time. She likes the junior classics, Little House in the Big Woods series, Boxcar Children series, Sophie series, and other odds and ends. I know this doesn't answer your question directly, but because your daughter is young as well, maybe it would be beneficial to just let her read good books for fun until she's a bit older.

What we did with our child in your situation was to write the graphic organizers from DITHOR on a white board, and I wrote the answers for her in the graphic organizer. She came up with the answers, through. Make sense?

You could also do some of the supplemental titles listed in Beyond with the emerging readers and have your child read those and do simple retellings or narrations.

[quote="mrsrandolph"

You could also do some of the supplemental titles listed in Beyond with the emerging readers and have your child read those and do simple retellings or narrations.[/quote]

This is what I did with both of my kids in the in between stage from the ER until we started DITHOR. It worked as a good transition time for us.

Stephanie

I'm not sure if this would be recommended or not, but what about using DITHR's Level 2 books without the program. If you held off on DITHR for a while, she would most likely be ready for the Level 3 books when/if you started DITHR anyway. Starting with The Littles would be a good choice and they have an extensive series your library may have available. Cynthia Rylant's The Storm also has a series or at least other titles along the same theme. My dc have so enjoyed Carrie's book selections!

When we finished ER, I went back and got the alternative titles and we read those too. Some were so easy they were read in a single sitting, but it was fun. Now we are nearing the end of our school year so I am just dabbling in DITHOR to give dd some exposure to it before diving it with it for our full reading program next year. We do a lot of it orally since the writing can slow her down, but she is at least thinking through the process and for me at this age (7) that is my goal. I expect she will be able to do DITHOR as written in the fall.

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought I was being so smart and getting the additional titles for her to read in free time as we went along. So she's already read those and I was hoping somebody could recommend something different, something that was already planned out with questions again. I can search on the web for curricula but it takes so long and I was hoping somebody had already found something. Thanks for answering everyone! At least we're not alone!

Magic Treehouse books have a website where they can answer questions from the books. What if you did the DITHOR level two books and just did DITHOR orally? We did that for the first few genres with Jayden. She read each book for 30 days and we discussed and did the work every other day.

I went through the Beyond ER section again, to see how many of the supplemental books we had read. I found a halfpage after the last ER book titled "Additional Beginning Chapter Books" that says it is for after finishing ER's, to ease the child's transition into chapter books. Hello! Wonder why this isn't highlighted more? Maybe if we did those, just narrating what she reads would be ok (meaning it would be ok if I didn't have specific questions to ask)? They look like about the right level for her comprehension/narration ability (although she's been reading Freddy the Detective all day). Her comprehension and desire to stick with a longer book are all over the place, some days great, some days not so much.

So I think I'll hold off ordering anything for the fall, and see if I can get some of these titles from the library to see if they are a good fit? But will any of these come up in later HOD programs? they'd be too easy, right?

Thanks for input

"Additional Beginning Chapter Books"
Any by Thornton Burgess
Aesop's Fables by McGovern
Capyboppy
The Chalk Box Kid
Dolphin Adventure
Dolphin Treasure
Five True Dog Stories
Gold Rush Winter
Hannah by Whelan
The Light at Tern Rock
The Littles by Peterson
Liza, Bill and Jed Mysteries by Parrish
The Matchlock Gun
Meet George Washington
Meet Benjamin Franklin
The Minstrel in the Tower
Molly's Pilgrim
Pioneer Cat
Pioneer Trilogy by Whelan
Sarah Plain and Tall
Shoeshine Girl
The Velveteen Rabbit by Williams
White Bird by Bulla

Yes actually some of those other chapter books are used in HOD later. For example, Pioneer Cat, Capboppy are in DITHOR level 2 book pack and Littles is in Level 3 I think. The books by Peggy Parish are in storytime packs and other Dithor packs. There is a sample book list you can buy for $5 from HOD that has additional book suggestions for each genre & level so you could sub some of these books later in you used them now. Personally I think if your dc have gone thru the ER and answered all the questions then the books in DITHOR level 2 when be just right. If the writing in Dithor is too much, just do orally or you write for them. HTH!

I noticed Minstrel in the Tower is used in Preparing. Sorry I can't be more helpful. I used $5 booklist from HOD, 1998 resources I owned, Sonlight, and phonics ER I already had. Kids have surprised me, one day struggling and the next thing I know they are reading everything they can with comprehension. Summer reading helps too! Tammy

I'm sure you've seen this but in case not, here's a link to the DITHOR level 2 pack: http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional2.php

There were even more than the ones I mentioned that are at the end of the Emerging Readers and also on the DITHOR level 2 pack. Of course, you could just read these and then jump into DITHOR at level 3 or use alternate books for DITHOR later. I suggest you get DITHOR level 2 pack and the level 2 workbook and just go slowly and see!

Sorry can't be of more help!

So I have a 6.5 yr old that finished the ERs and most of the supplementary books last month. I had bought DITHOR and the 2/3 Workbook last year since I was considering it for 1st grade. At the beginning of this year when my son was barely 6, he wasn't ready for the deeper analysis of DITHOR. But 7 months later, I revisited it and I though... hm, maybe we'll try it! Here are some options that I thought through:

1) Just have him read the Level 2 DITHOR books and make up questions on the fly.
2) Read the Level 2 books and answer some of the DITHOR discussion questions orally, using the DITHOR manual as more of an idea/reference book.
3) Read the Level 2 books and have him do the DITHOR discussions and activities orally, but write the answers for him in the workbook.
4) Do DITHOR Level 2 as written, having him dictate the answers to me and then copy it into his workbook.

We are currently doing option #3 and it is working well so far. I wonder if you could start with something like #2 and then work up to #3 and then #4 as time goes on.

solagratia824 wrote: 1) Just have him read the Level 2 DITHOR books and make up questions on the fly.
2) Read the Level 2 books and answer some of the DITHOR discussion questions orally, using the DITHOR manual as more of an idea/reference book.
3) Read the Level 2 books and have him do the DITHOR discussions and activities orally, but write the answers for him in the workbook.
4) Do DITHOR Level 2 as written, having him dictate the answers to me and then copy it into his workbook.

We are currently doing option #3 and it is working well so far. I wonder if you could start with something like #2 and then work up to #3 and then #4 as time goes on.

dumb question...if I use the Level 2/3 workbook this year, for 1st grade, would I need to buy another one to use in 2nd grade? and another to use in 3rd grade? I like the progression idea. It is this coming fall after all, and she might be ready for more than I think by then. But having to buy so many books might be a reason to hold off for a year. Maybe I should get my hands on a copy of DITHOR TM to help me decide.

What you could do this year is have her read the level two books and answer all the things orally, or even just do the activity/question stuff from the big green book, and then next year use the workbook and all as planned with either more level two books or level three.