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Last year in Preparing, my son was reading DITHOR book pack 4/5 (for his 4th grade year) and using the level 4/5 student book with it. Well, he loves to read, and I just couldn't keep him from over-reading and reading ahead. Needless to say, it didn't work to do half of the books last year and save the other half for this year (CTC for 5th grade). He only had 2 books left from the pack to read for this school year, and he has finished those. I have just ordered him the 5/6 book pack. My question is, do I get the level 6/7/8 student book to go with that book pack? I am not sure how the level 6/7/8 student book is laid out, so I want to make sure that's what I need before I order it...I completely forgot to order the student book when I ordered the books! Thanks!!

Did he finish the student book, or just read the other books? If he didn't finish it, just do that. Also, it's totally fine to do the same workbook again if you think that was a good fit for him. He doesn't have to move up.

He did finish the book. I just didn't now if it's too early to move him to that next book? I think I read somewhere though that for book pack 5/6 you can choose to do either student book 4/5 or 6/7/8.

I would keep him in the younger student book another year.

The goal is to complete each workbook once. Since you still have many years left (more than enough time for the 6/7/8 workbook, I would do the 4/5 again. Also, you could have him just read some of the books. Do the DITHOR workbook with half of the books this year again to help balance his subjects a little. Of course if he likes DITHOR workbook assignments, you wouldn't have to do that.

Is the 6/7/8 book set up to finish over the course of two school years (half one year and half the other year) like the 4/5 book is? My son is really an over-achiever and will be very frustrated if I put him back in the book he just did. So I guess I'm just confused as to what will happen if I put him in that book this year (5th grade) and next year (6th grade)...then will we end up not having something to do for reading those following years? Or how long does DITHOR remain part of HOD? He is my oldest, so I haven't ventured past this point! Thank you!

Yes, each workbook only covers each genre once. Carrie has DITHOR scheduled 3 days a week in all of the guides from Preparing to MtMM, with the goal of completing 4-5 genres a year.

The 6/7/8 book is set up the same way as the 4/5 book in that you do it over 2 years because you do half the genre's each year. DITHOR is part of HOD up through 8th grade. I would make sure he only does half the genre's this year. Patience and doing things as scheduled is a good skill to learn. I would do the 4/5 book with the older book pack and pick different projects. The workbook pages are so open ended it really isn't like doing the same workbook again because he will be reading harder books.