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I HAVE the DITHOR materials! A friend of mine gave the books to me as she no longer needed them. That was about two years ago. I never even opened them and didn't even connect those books with the HOD products I was looking at for my youngest daughter.

It finally dawned on me that this is the DITHOR material people are talking about.

So...maybe this will be good for my going-into-7th-grade-next-year daughter? How about older students?

And I don't mean to be negative, but does using these materials get in the way of a child's love of reading?

I am already very pro-HOD, so I'm not really a hard sell in this. I just need a little persuasion. Thanks!

Hi Callia!

You could definitely use DITHR with a 7th. grader, using the Level 6/7/8 portion of the guide and the Level 6/7/8 workbook. The workbooks are a necessary part of the program, but they are reproducible for your family, so you can use them again as your other children grow into the older levels. I've known moms that have used DITHR for 9th. graders, that had not had previous levels of DITHR before. It's that GOOD!

As far as keeping the love of reading going, I think DITHR totally delivers! Before I homeschooled my own children, I used DITHR to tutor other children who were struggling with reading. I wrote a post about that, and I'll put a link here for that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=149

If those children could learn to LOVE reading using DITHR, all children will, trust me! Those little honeys had grown to hate reading prior to me using DITHR with them. It worked miracles with them, and I have found my own son's favorite books to remember and discuss are ALWAYS books we've read doing the DITHR curriculum. They're just like "old friends" to him. Think of it like how you would chat about the books you were reading with your friends - it's like that - personal, and memorable, only with lots of awesome skills taught to go along with it. Plus, if they don't enjoy one of the books, it's pretty much an easy fix - just pick a different one, any book will work as long as it fits the genre. I've found that older children in particular appreciate this facet of the program, and are very hesitant to say they don't enjoy a book when they themselves had a hand in picking it. Hope that helps some! Enjoy it - it's a gem!

Thank you so much. That is a wonderful testimonial for DITHOR. I just spent some time looking over the main manual. I can see where this could be very helpful! Actually, I wish I had these materials when I taught in the classroom.

Now, I only was given the Levels 2-3, and 4-5 supplements along with the main manual. I think I could "test drive" the program using the 4-5 materials with my 6th grade daughter right now. But I would need the 6-8 material for next year when she will be in 7th.

So, there you go...I've been wishing for some premade plan for my 6th grade daughter for next year, and it looks like part of the answer has been sitting on my shelf.

I'm planning to use it again next year with my 9th grader. He's used it for the last several years. (six or seven years, I think) It's easy to use and it would be easy to adjust up for an older. I'm adding a higher grade level vocabulary study and a higher level grammar study.
I don't think it's hampered their love of reading at all. They got to pick their own books, so it keeps them interested. I found that the books in other programs that were assigned to them didn't always hold their interest, and so this was one of the biggest selling points for us.
The workbooks are easy to use as a self directed assignments. I like to work with my boys on all their work, but on the days they need to be independent they didn't have to skip their DITHOR.