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I got my box of BHFHG and DITHOR today!! I am very excited and can't wait for the next week to go by quickly (kids get out of ps on the 28th). I do have some questions about DITHOR. I had bought some Learn at Home books for each grade level to use for Language Arts and Spelling to beef up my middle dd-7 while she combines with my ds-6 with LHFHG.
I really like their reading lists and I have looked up the genre's and I would have 11 titles for my DITHOR for my dd-8 and dd-7. The books all come from Learn at Home Grade 4's Reading section. I read through DITHOR's getting started and from what I can tell. I can cover the genre's in any order? Is that right?
I also saw that you can do read aloud's of the genre at the same time that you are doing the book you have chosen for your student for a group project. I have 16 title's that I want to read from Learning at Home's book list, 11 to be student readers, and 5 to be read-alouds during the study of that genre.
I really want to do DITHOR and I really don't want to miss out on the Learn at Home 4 Reading. I think this would be a good way to combine them and just follow Learn at Home 4's reading schedule and use whatever genre section in DITHOR that the book covers at the same time. Does this sound like how you would combine DITHOR with another reading program? Has anyone else combined DITHOR and another reading program at the same time?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Val

Val,

DITHR is a complete program in itself (and then some ), so there's no need to combine it with anything else. However, if you're just planning to utilize the books from the program you suggested and put them into DITHR that would work fine. DITHR truly works with any book you choose.

If you're only using the books from Learn at Home and placing them within DITHR, then you're actually not using 2 programs, you're using DITHR with your choice of book selections. I wouldn't add any more of the study than the books from another reading program though, as that would make the reading study time heavy with too much analysis and tip the balance of DITHR's reading and literature study.

Just some food for thought.

Blessings,
Carrie

I do plan on using a lot of their titles and a lot of them are also HOD picks as well. I realized that I couldn't do all from both even though there was some really neat projects that were calling my name. After I sat down with both Learn at Home and BHFHG and DITHOR, I realized that I had a ridiculously long list of books for anyone to read much less analyze in a 36 week period. It was one of those cases where I was drooling at all the great titles and all the stuff and loved it all and it was just going to be overkill.
I have wheedled it down considerably and with the help of my dd-8 putting in her 2 cents in on the titles that she really wanted to read. So now I have a much smaller reading list and maybe will add a project or 2 that is neat from Learn at Home for a title or 2. They aren't analyzing projects but hands on stuff like models of things from the book or a cooking project that corresponds with the book...that type of thing.
Thanks for the advise,
Val

Val,

Sounds good! I, too, must guard against doing too much. You should see how pained I am when trying to decide what to keep and what must go when writing a new guide!

Don't forget to do some of the wonderful projects in DITHR at the end of each unit, as there is much hands-on in that part of DITHR that my boys have loved.

Blessings,
Carrie