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We are starting Monday with the boys. My ds11 is doing PHFHG and I have DITHOR 2/3 for him. He is 5th grade but has dyslexia/dysgraphia. Writing is a major issue. How many genres do you cover in DITHOR? I am thinking of using an old 2/3 book that his sister had done 2 genres out of (adventure and historical fiction) so he still has 7 genres to choose from and I think he is only supposed to get through that many as DITHOR is 3 days a week. So I have all the BHFHG boy storytime books and think that is what I am going to have him read for DITHOR 2/3. He did BIgger over a year and a half ago before we did a charter school for 4th and 1/2 of 5th grade. Does this sound like a good plan for a 5th grader that has reading/writing difficulty? I have both Concord Cunningham-The Scripture Sleuth and Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for mystery as well. Which would you recommend?
He had done Charlotte's Web, Pippi Longstocking, Henry Huggins, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler last year for his 4 novel studies with our charter. He had only completed 1 novel study this year before we withdrew and that was The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. He had to do computer assessments on these novels but not a lot of analyzing the novels or writing a lot with the studies. Does 2/3 sound like the right workbook to start him?

Yes, in terms of analysis and writing, 2/3 is probably the right workbook for him. Whether or not you have him read to you all the time or not would be up to you, because he is older and probably capable of reading some independently. My DD will do 2/3 again because it was difficult for her this year and I had to help her a lot, and I hope she can do it independently next year (in terms of completing workbook assignments as written instead of always having my help).

Even though he heard them 1 1/2 years ago I think books for DITHOR are supposed to be new books for the child (which is why their book lists are different, although there is some overlap but it is minimal).

We did Encyclopedia Brown and my daughter really liked that one. It is a bit difficult sometimes to do the activities because of the nature of the short stories within it. We read one mystery each day I believe, and sometimes the activity was something like "Make a prediction" and a few days later "see if your prediction was correct." Well, when the mystery is solved in that day's reading, it's hard to do that. So that's the only down side to that, I think I adapted it somehow but I forget how.

Also I believe 5 genres is the most you can complete in a year in Preparing because it is only scheduled for 3 days a week.

I had asked a similar question recently and got some wonderful information. Below is a link to that discussion.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14607

I think choosing the 2/3 Student Book is a good idea! Planning to complete about 4-5 genres will fit the pacing in PHFHG well. I wouldn't hesitate to hop in and write a portion of the answers for ds if he is fatigued at times, especially if you feel that his answers would have more depth then. DITHOR isn't a writing program, so helping ds with some of the writing at times in order for his reading comprehension to have more depth and improve more is probably a good tradeoff overall. You could also write ds's answers on a markerboard as he dictates them, and then he can do them more like copywork. When starting DITHOR, I found this to be helpful for my dc as they focused on giving good answers more than on the mechanics or writing the answers well the first time. Hope something here helps! I think he will grow into DITHOR very nicely over time, and I bet you will enjoy it too. We have many happy memories together within DITHOR. I hope you do too!

In Christ,
Julie