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Okie, Dokey,

I'm just pulling together a spread sheet of what books we will need for this fall. And I'm in a bit of a conundrum about a few choices. Talking it through will help, so I look forward to your thoughts.

1.) My 10 yo son assesses as a 7th grade reader. This is fascinating (I would put him more on the 3rd grade level) because his reading is quite choppy, and of course his comprehension is not on the level, but he has pretty good phonetic skills so that pulls him through. He is JUST Finishing the Emerging Readers. On his own he is currently reading The Door in the Wall - his fascination with knights is propelling this. He has never been an avid independent reader. He would much rather play with Playmobile and mow the yard. So, I'm trying to decide which book pack to get him for DITHOR and I also want to order about 7 books for him to have for "free reading." I was thinking about ordering him the Level 2 book pack for DITHOR and the level 3 pack for Free Reading. But I can't decide....

2.) My 12 yo son assesses as a 6th grade reader and has assessed at this level for the last THREE years. However, he is an avid reader and reads everything. I have a hard time keeping enough books on hand. He just finished reading The Jungle Book volumes one and two has excellent comprehension skills, can figure out any word in context, but is weak phonetically which is why he doesn't assess at a higher level. I was thinking about ordering him the Boy Interest set from CTC for DITHOR and custom creating a set at ? level. This year for DITHOR he read books from the 4/5 list and really enjoyed them.

Any thoughts?

deltagal wrote:Okie, Dokey,

I'm just pulling together a spread sheet of what books we will need for this fall. And I'm in a bit of a conundrum about a few choices. Talking it through will help, so I look forward to your thoughts.

1.) My 10 yo son assesses as a 7th grade reader. This is fascinating (I would put him more on the 3rd grade level) because his reading is quite choppy, and of course his comprehension is not on the level, but he has pretty good phonetic skills so that pulls him through. He is JUST Finishing the Emerging Readers. On his own he is currently reading The Door in the Wall - his fascination with knights is propelling this. He has never been an avid independent reader. He would much rather play with Playmobile and mow the yard. So, I'm trying to decide which book pack to get him for DITHOR and I also want to order about 7 books for him to have for "free reading." I was thinking about ordering him the Level 2 book pack for DITHOR and the level 3 pack for Free Reading. But I can't decide....

2.) My 12 yo son assesses as a 6th grade reader and has assessed at this level for the last THREE years. However, he is an avid reader and reads everything. I have a hard time keeping enough books on hand. He just finished reading The Jungle Book volumes one and two has excellent comprehension skills, can figure out any word in context, but is weak phonetically which is why he doesn't assess at a higher level. I was thinking about ordering him the Boy Interest set from CTC for DITHOR and custom creating a set at ? level. This year for DITHOR he read books from the 4/5 list and really enjoyed them.

Any thoughts?

I like the idea of your 10 yo doing the Level 2 and 3 book packs from DITHOR (one pack for DITHOR, one for free reading). You could do Level 2 for DITHOR, and Level 3 for free reading. Or, you could do Level 3 for DITHOR, and Level 2 for free reading. If you think he could benefit from having your help going through the harder Level 3 books and scheduling bite-sized readings out for him to do, and if he'd be more likely to pick up the easier Level 2 ones to read on his own, then I'd go with Level 3 for DITHOR and Level 2 for free reading. On the other hand, if you're thinking the DITHOR instruction will be a challenge to do and you'd rather have easier books to do with it, and also if he'd be likely to pick up the Level 3 books to read for free reading anyway, then I'd go with the option of Level 2 with DITHOR, Level 3 for free reading. Either option is a good depending on your goals.

For your 12 yo, I think it's a super idea to use the CTC Boy Interest pack for DITHOR. If you are only doing DITHOR 3 times a week (which is the pacing suggested starting with the PHFHG guide), then you'll only use a handful of the package for DITHOR, and you can use the rest for free reading. For additional free reading titles, we've used some of the DITHOR 4/5 Girl Interest titles as well and plan on using some of the CTC Girl Interest titles (even though we have boys, these titles still appeal) - here are the CTC Girl Interest titles we're doing: The Good Master, Caddie Woodlawn, Gone Away Lake (we also are doing the sequel Return to Gone Away Lake), Bound for Oregon, and The Little Lame Prince.

Here are the DITHOR 4/5 Girl Interest titles we've chosen: Riding Freedom, Freedom Crossing, Naya Nuki, The Saturdays, and Stormy Misty's Foal.

One more option would be to use the Classic titles from Bigger Hearts, as the Classics are more difficult and are excellent.

Have fun choosing - HOD has so many wonderful books, you're dc are going to have some great reads ahead of them!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie, Great thoughts here! Thank you. Yes, I was thinking about going easy on the reading for my 10 yo, since the DITHOR will be a new challenge. And it never occurred to me to use the "rest" of the CTC set for free reading. And thanks for the other title suggestions and the Bigger classics idea. So many good thoughts.

Thanks a bunch.

Glad to help, Florence! Have a wonderful Fourth of July!
In Christ,
Julie