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I have an almost 9yo 3rd grader in Bigger. She struggles with reading, but took off this past week and she wants to start DITHOR. I'm assuming I should start her in book pack level 2. I don't want to push her.

I'm a little confused as to how it works. Do you go through the workbook twice, ordering a 2nd workbook? Or after we finish level 2/3 with level 2 readers, will we move on to book 4/5 with the 4/5 pack? I'm just not sure how this works year by year.

I suppose it all depends on how much they advance... It's really pretty easy to customize to their abilities mix and match book packs with workbook level.

It depends on where they are at and how long each round of DITHOR takes you to finish. In Bigger it is done 5 days/week so you could conceivably finish a whole round (all 9 genres) of DITHOR in one school year. Preparing and up it is scheduled 3 days/week so it takes nearly 2 school years to finish all 9 genres. We did DITHOR part way through Bigger and finished 2/3 (with some level 2 and some level 3 books) halfway through Preparing. I was torn but moved her up to the level 4 book pack and the 4/5 workbook. You could do level 4 or 5 books with the 2/3 workbook again, with more independence the second time around. The 4/5 level is designed to be more independent and my DD really dislikes having to do the workbook assignments on her own. But she is doing pretty well with it, I suppose a year and a half of 2/3 prepared her well enough for it.

So, I think you will be able to make that decision when the time comes closer, no need to know right now. You can always repeat a student workbook if you feel you need to.

That's kinda what I was wondering. If i do it as scheduled in Bigger on up, what happens. I'm loosely planning 2/3 in grades 3&4, 4/5 in 5&6 and 6/7/8 in 7&8.

I think you may want to just start it and then see where you are when you get 1/2 or 2/3 of the way through 2/3. If you start off placed well it'll be fine.

Mumkins,

That is how I use it. I plan to do 5 books a year Preparing through MTMM and then 2 books in Bigger. Here is my schedule:

Bigger - 2 books level 2/3 student book
Preparing - 5 books level 2/3 student book
CTC - 2 books level 2/3 student book and 3 books level 4/5 student book
R2R - 5 books level 4/5 student book
Rev2Rev - 1 book level 4/5 student book and 4 book level 6/7/8 student book
MTMM - 5 books level 6/7/8 student book

As for the book packs, starting in Bigger, I have my kids read all of the level 2 book pack, Preparing they read all of the level 3 book pack, CTC they read a 4/5 book pack, R2R they read a level 5/6 book pack, Rev2Rev the read a 6/7 book pack and level MTMM they read a level 7/8 book pack. For me, I don't do DITHOR with each book from the book packs. I love the book packs because I make my kids read all year long and especially over the summer. And my kids (and me) always have a hard time finding good books to read. By buying a book pack for them each year, this gives them 5 or 6 books they can read over the summer that I know they will enjoy. We also buy the extension packs but I set aside the books that are more mature for them for future reading. Those books get added to our library too. And sometimes I use those books for DITHOR instead of the books from the book pack because one looks particularly interesting and I think they would enjoy it more. But in general, the book packs and the extension pack books are helping me to build a great library at my house for my kids to take from and read. And even though my kids aren't really "readers", they enjoy the books picked by HOD and are happy to read those. So I am sticking with it

As you can see by the wise and varied posts here, DITHOR is very flexible to schedule and to pace. As far as your tentative plan here...

Mumkins wrote:That's kinda what I was wondering. If i do it as scheduled in Bigger on up, what happens. I'm loosely planning 2/3 in grades 3&4, 4/5 in 5&6 and 6/7/8 in 7&8.

This would be just fine! I try to have a goal for each of our dc move through the 2/3 Student Book, the 4/5 Student Book, and the 6/7/8 Student book all at least once by the end of Grade 8. Sometimes they get through more, but in general, I consider moving through each book completely once good preparation for high school lit. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie