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...to place my order, FINALLY!!! I am going to go with Beyond (have been debating b/t Beyond and Bigger for my 7.5 year old who is going into 2nd grade) and wondered if it was okay to replace some of the Storytime books and Level 2 DITHOR books with others in the same genre? I would have loved to just purchase the bookpacks, but we have already read and own some of the books that are listed for those levels and I really wanted to expose him to new literature this year. For example, I replaced a few of the Level 2 DITHOR books with some of the Emerging Reader books that were listed in the Book Shop and did the same thing with 2 or 3 of the Storytime books. Am I right that you don't have to have specific titles for the Storytime or DITHOR, just as long as they are in the correct genre? Does that even make sense? Just didn't want to order the wrong titles!

Thanks for your help! We are very excited to start HOD in the fall!

Jessica

That's right! You can use any book from the same genre, just for DITHOR make sure you have the right reading level for your child. And for storytime, it's usually good to read-aloud books that are a little above their reading level. If you look at the details page for the book packs, you'll see what sort of reading level to look for.

Congrats and enjoy! We just finished Beyond and are starting Bigger now with my almost 8yo!! You'll love it!

Okay, so I have two of the Level 2 books I was going to replace with Emerging Reader books b/c we already own and have read the two Level 2 books. Should I not do that? Is there a list in the back of DITHOR that lists other book titles? The Emerging Reader books will definitely be on the easier side for him and, to some degree, so will the Level 2 in DITHOR. I just didn't want to push him too hard into Level 3 before he was ready b/c I assumed the activities for Level 3 would be more difficult. He is pretty easily reading 3rd-4th grade level books right now.

Thanks!
Jessica

I can't say anything about DITHOR, we're not there yet, but there ARE suggested titles in the back of the Beyond manual for storytime suggestions. To save money, I bought my books second hand; for the Storytime books I mixed and matched from the 3 different bookpacks and I already had several of the Emerging Readers so I only had to pick up a few more. I love that HOD makes it SOOOOOO easy to do what works for your family.

3sweeties,

It sounds like you should be fine, as long as you're on your kiddo's right reading level on have the right book matched within the right genre. There's MUCH flexibility with DITHR!

Blessings,
Carrie