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I am trying to create a package of books for my son who will be in grade 4 next year for DITHOR. I plan to place him in Preparing. However, he has not studied American History, so I thought I could choose titles for many of the genres in DITHOR that were related to American History. I wanted to possibly use the book Guns for General Washington for adventure. Would this book work in this category?

He is going to get American History down the road. I wouldn't force the DITHOR books into that niche.

I did see that we would get to American History in later guides. However, he is very interested in the topics of American History. We had been planning to study American History next year until I really began considering doing HOD. I know he places perfectly in Preparing and that it is important to place correctly. He does not mind doing a different curriculum than we had originally planned (I don't think he really cares which curriculum we do), but he did express a great disappointment in not studying Native Americans. So, this is why I thought I could choose some books with that in mind. This is what I have considered so far:

Biography: The Captive Princess or Jed Smith
Adventure: The Buffalo Knife (changed my mind about Guns for Washington)
Fantasy: Indian and the Cupboard
Mystery: the Scripture Sleuth books
Folktales: The Children's Book of Virtues
Non-fiction: Naya Nuki
Humor: either the Great Horned Spoon or Tales from Dust River Gulch
Realistic Fiction: The Year of Mrs. Agnes
Historical Fiction: Sign of the Beaver

Any thoughts on these books for a 9 year old boy in Preparing doing the level 4/5 of DITHOR?

I can't really answer your question since we haven't done DITHOR yet.

I think you have made great choices in books. I have read most of them, and liked all except the fantasy one.
If your son is truly wanting to learn about the Native Americans this gives him several, plus on his own time he could study more.
This is what my oldest son does when he wants to know more about any subject.

I think that you have found a way to meet ds's interests, while still utilizing DITHOR and the awesome books suggested by HOD for it! And they are awesome books, BTW, every single one you have listed! I'd go with "Jed Smith" if you are trying to pick between the two for that genre. My sons loved every one of these books you've chosen. And like Shannon shared, your ds will get to enjoy a well-balanced chronological American history flow later with HOD. Sounds like you have a super plan!

In Christ,
Julie

Just an FYI with the way DITHOR is scheduled in Preparing you will only get through 4-5 of the genres in a year. Just wanted to make sure you knew that. You don't have to do the genre's in order though. If you wanted to do Sign of the Beaver first since he has an interest in Native Americans you could. My ds loved that book as well as Jed Smith.

Great point, LynnH! Thank you so much for sharing that!
In Christ,
Julie

Thank you everyone for your advice and encouragement!