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Hi I just have a quick question about DITHOR. I am currently doing LHTH (part time), LHFHG, and BHFHG. I was wondering if we wait to start DITHOR till halfway through the year or even wait to do it with Preparing next year if that could work? I'm still getting a feel for how to do everything with the guides we're doing. Plus I also have a very sweet 15 month old baby boy who is very busy right now too. I've thought of maybe having my ds read the genres for free time that we won't cover on the 2/3 level this year since he'll probably do the next level up for next year. That way he'll still get to enjoy the books. We're absolutely loving HOD so far. I love having it all planned out for me and the variety is so much fun! If I can get it figured out I want to try and post some pictures at some point. The board topics have been such a huge blessing, I always come away so encouraged! So much for a quick question
Hope you have a wonderful day,
Annalisa

It will absolutely not mess anything up if you wait to start DITHOR.

It's just fine to start DITHOR halfway through the year or wait until Preparing. But do you then have any regular reading/comprehension activity as part of your school day? I would suggest you try to work that in in some way if you don't use DITHOR or anything else. It's really important to keep those skills sharp, especially if your child doesn't pursue reading on their own (and even if they do, they need your guidance to grow, I assume if he's at 2/3 level he's still learning lots of words and good reading skills).

Once you do add it in you will want to have a strong routine and maybe have it somewhat early in the day so it doesn't get consistently dropped when things get busy. With several kids at home, it is always busy and 2/3 is the most intensive for you because you are with them for most of the work. Also I would encourage you to keep going with the 2/3 student book even if you move up a level in the reading books. 4/5 is a lot more independent and the 2/3 activities are challenging enough. Just because of how we did Emerging Readers, we started DITHOR halfway through Bigger Hearts, and finished up 2/3 halfway through Preparing. It was nearly perfect for her. The 4/5 readers go up a lot in length and reading level too. So don't be in a big big hurry to get there, that's my thought.

Blessings

My son is doing Bigger this year and he won't start DITHOR until after Christmas or next year. I am fine with it. He reads out loud to me still - every day - for at least 20 minutes and then he reads on his one for another 20 to 40 minutes. But we aren't doing DITHOR yet because he is still getting used to Bigger and the volume and I want him to be able to read a little bit faster for the DITHOR books. So I am thinking that after Christmas he will be ready. We are still getting a ton of lit study out of the story time box though.

My current fifth grader is working on Dithor for the first time this year. He is using a mix of 2/3 and 4/5 books, but he is completing the 2/3 Dithor workbook. I am fine with that, as I plan to finish it this year and do the 4/5 book next year, doing the 6/7/8 book for grades 7 and 8. I am glad we are doing the 2/3 level, although it is less independent. It helps me ease him into the comprehension exercises and makes his written component lighter (He doesn't care for written work, as he has a fine motor challenge).

Once dc have completed phonics and the emerging readers, continuing daily reading is still a focal point of instruction. Dc are not responsible for independently reading any subject in Bigger Hearts, so if they are not doing DITHOR, they are not reading consistently for school daily. However, I CAN totally see that beginning DITHOR full-speed at the same time as starting 3 HOD guides may be a lot of 'new' all at once for you as the teacher. For this reason, I think a happy medium would be to have ds read to you each day from his DITHOR book, but spread the DITHOR day's lesson over 2 days. This would probably only take 20 minutes a day, and half of that time could be fairly independent if ds is reading fairly well. For example, one day he may just read half of the assigned pages. The next day he may read silently the other portion of assigned pages, but do the discussion questions or Student Workbook page with you. Or, you can just spread the Student Workbook pages over 2 days if that is easier. Or, you can do the writing for ds on the Student Workbook pages, as he orally answers, if him writing the answers is what takes too much time. A second option, if this seems too much right now, would be to have him read his DITHOR book each day, every other day reading some aloud to you, with you asking a few questions about the readings, and in January or February, have ds begin DITHOR, either half-speed or full-speed. What we don't want is gaps in reading and instruction - we want to keep the ball rolling in this area, especially at this age. I think either of these options would accomplish this, as long as starting DITHOR full-speed later is on the horizon. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie