DITHOR completely covers my children's reading needs - 100%, which is such a stress reliever for me. If my dc only did DITHOR and did it well, they would be doing great. When my dc started the Emerging Reader's List (which came before DITHOR), that was the beginning of a love for reading. When they began DITHOR 2/3, that was the start of a passion for reading. This is why I came up with the independent reading shelf, to help fill the passion they had developed for reading and mainly for their pure enjoyment.
The dc do not see the shelf as anything to do with "school". It's just for fun
. I don't ever look at reading levels for this. One of my main goals for reading (that is also a goal of HOD) is to have my dc reading quality books that are living and that teach good character. This is why I first begin with HOD books - they've done the work for me, and these books fit my definition of books worthy to read, and reread, and reread. After I've used up the HOD titles, I try to find series I know fit the criteria for good books. Usually, I use titles that follow the ones HOD used - i.e. Encyclopedia Brown, Scripture Sleuth, etc. Or, I try to pick books by the same authors - i.e. horse books by Marguerite Henry, Clyde Robert Bulla, etc. All of this started with me just looking at the HOD Bookshop titles.
I do not worry about whether they'll like the books or not, because they will eventually read them all since they are excellent. I encourage them to try to finish their shelves, and the general rule is they don't get new books until they do. For instance, my ds finished all of the books on his shelf last year except a Black Horse series book and a Trixie Belden book. They were the only 2 left, and he had reread the others a bunch, so I asked him why he didn't want to read them. He said they looked scary. That made total sense to me - he wasn't ready for these books yet maturity-wise, so I told him we'd set them aside and try them another year. If he'd said they looked boring (which he wouldn't because we don't allow the use of that word in our house
), or if he gave another lame reason for not reading them, I'd tell him to give it a try anyway because of all of the books I could have picked for him, this was the one I spent money on and thought would be the very best.
As far as reading level, I rarely look at that. I look at the length of the book and the size of the print, and I read a page at the beginning, middle, and end. I ballpark how many mistakes he may have reading it. He can have a few mistakes and still enjoy it - especially if those mistakes are special names or places. Generally, if my ds was doing Bigger Hearts, I'd start by looking at the Storytime titles we didn't use in Beyond and start there. If my ds was doing PHFHG, I'd start with the Storytime titles we didn't use in Bigger and start there. I read all different kinds of levels of books and enjoy them all, and I want the same for my dc. My oldest ds (who can read very well) will still choose picture books now and then off my younger ds's shelf in his room, just to reread them for fun. I encourage this, as I think it is a more natural way to view reading.
When I used to teach in ps, there were teachers who would not let dc check out books that didn't fit their AR level. That was crazy, IMO! I know they needed an AR book because we have to test everything in ps, but common - they couldn't read any other books in that library other than 3.2 level to 3.5 level? I had dc that would say to me "I like this book and want to read it, so I can't pick it because it's not in my level - it's a 3.6 so I know I won't be able to read it." This used to drive me nuts!
Anyway, books matched for reading instruction (DITHOR), are a different deal. They do need to be close to a child's optimal reading level. So, I do think it's important to check reading levels there. Otherwise though, reading levels are not so important.
So, I know this got long and you weren't probably wanting all of this information!
But, DITHOR is all that is truly needed for reading instruction. From that, grows a passion for reading that can be filled with an independent reading shelf, and when that is started, it should just be for enjoyment. I would either hold off from starting this until ds is loving reading more, or I would get the books (maybe like 10-20 to start with) and start it in a very low key, no pressure way - like having 20 minutes of reading each day. If he starts and stops a bunch of books at first, that's o.k. - he'll find something he likes. He'll get into something eventually because if you use HOD books, they're impossible not to love. I do think he'll learn to love this; he just needs to see it as something you do for fun and not another assignment.
We want to cultivate a love of more refined, living, good character books - and HOD's bookshop taught me how to find those books and spot them among the rest of the junk.
Eventually, dc love these books more, and they can choose them of their own accord because they've become good at spotting them; they've acquired an appetite for them.
In Christ,
Julie
