DITHOR how many times per week?

[sted]

Question: How many times per week should I schedule this and is there an activity to do everyday with this or are some days just reading?
The level is 4/5.
Thanks,
Shannon

[my3sons]

Hi Shannon! I can't remember what guide you are doing DITHOR with? If it's your child's first year with DITHOR and the child is young, I'd do it 5 days a week (which is the suggested scheduling for it in BHFHG). If your child is older and either in his/her second year of DITHOR or doing very well with reading, you can drop it back to 3 days a week (which is the suggested scheduling for it in PHFHG and in the next HOD guide to come). Your child would do about 4-5 genres at that pace.

As far as the Level 4/5, there is not an activity every day. If you scroll down to The Daily General Format in the following link, that should help you see the rotation of plans for 4/5:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/drawn- ... -intro.pdf
It shows which things are done independently and which ones are with you. We did 4/5 last year 3 days a week, and basically this is how it went for us in a nutshell:

First 15 days of plans for each unit:
*each day the child reads independently using the reading calendar to know the pages assigned, and my ds read a few pages out loud to me each time as well to work on oral reading ability and so I kept tabs on what was happening in the book)
*the Kickoff is always done together
*about 3 days out of each 5 day week plans have a lesson/activity to teach
*about 2 days out of each 5 day week plans the child does independently
*about 4 days out of each 5 day week plans have a student workbook page to do

For the last 5 days of each unit the project is completed. There is no reading during this time, and no teacher-directed lessons (other than overseeing the project completion and reflection).

I hope that makes sense - if not, just disregard what I said and check out the Daily General Format! Enjoy DITHOR - it has lit a fire for reading for my dc!

In Christ,
Julie

[sted]

Thank you Julie,

I'm starting to figure things out! Actually my daughter will be doing Bigger w/extensions so we may do it 3 times per week or maybe everyday?? I'm trying to see how long each activity will take once we get started. Why does it say on the Assigned reading chart, mark the pages on day 1, 6 etc. at the bottom? I don't quite get that.

Although we've dappled with the subjects these past two weeks, we start officially on Monday. I'm a bit nervous to see how everything will be sheduled but I know I need to run through it a day or two (or a week or two) to get things running smoothly? Now I noticed you do Beyond at Half-speed. I am going to try that. How old is your Beyond child? I'm just afraid my 6 yr. old may not be ready for Bigger next year (even though she'd pretty advanced) it just seems like Bigger is more a grade 3 and up level?? So thus I'm going to try and extend Bigger. I noticed Rebecca on here has a similar problem and is opting for ordering Little Hearts and doing the LH with the RS of Beyond. I'm hoping not to have to do that because I've already put in two big orders this past month and don't want to have to order another guide. Sorry for the rambling. Any last minute advice would be apprecaited. By the way, are you the author of the devotional? I am really enjoying it.

Thanks,
Shannon

[my3sons]

Thank you Julie,

I'm starting to figure things out! Actually my daughter will be doing Bigger w/extensions so we may do it 3 times per week or maybe everyday?? I'm trying to see how long each activity will take once we get started. Why does it say on the Assigned reading chart, mark the pages on day 1, 6 etc. at the bottom? I don't quite get that.

Although we've dappled with the subjects these past two weeks, we start officially on Monday. I'm a bit nervous to see how everything will be sheduled but I know I need to run through it a day or two (or a week or two) to get things running smoothly? Now I noticed you do Beyond at Half-speed. I am going to try that. How old is your Beyond child? I'm just afraid my 6 yr. old may not be ready for Bigger next year (even though she'd pretty advanced) it just seems like Bigger is more a grade 3 and up level?? So thus I'm going to try and extend Bigger. I noticed Rebecca on here has a similar problem and is opting for ordering Little Hearts and doing the LH with the RS of Beyond. I'm hoping not to have to do that because I've already put in two big orders this past month and don't want to have to order another guide. Sorry for the rambling. Any last minute advice would be apprecaited. By the way, are you the author of the devotional? I am really enjoying it.

Thanks,
Shannon

Good morning, Shannon!

Since your dd is doing extensions, I'd do DITHOR 3 days a week. That should be a nice combination for her, without overwhelming her. As far as the "Update the calendar on days, 1, 6, and 11...", that is if you fill out the calendar as you go rather than all at the beginning of the unit. We fill ours all out at the beginning of the unit, so it's all done. But for ladies who have only picked the first book to do (and planning to do it for 5 days or for 10 days), they may want some extra time to pick the next book.

I did do Beyond half-speed for awhile last year. My ds was about 5 1/2 yo when we began. We did the left side one day, and the right side the next. After awhile (like about a month), he was wanting to do more with me, so we did it all at that point. We did it 4 days a week to match my schedule with Wyatt for PHFHG. By the end of last year, we made it through exactly half of Beyond. This year, we'll be finishing out Beyond 4 days a week, and starting a bit of Bigger half-speed. Here's a post where I shared this plan in more detail:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3790&p=28065

If I were you, I'd start your dd half-speed with Beyond, and take it from there. If she's doing well, just do it half-speed all year. If you feel the two of you would both like to go to full-speed, you can do that at any time. I wouldn't feel pressure to do that though. The reason I did is because my little Riley doing Beyond has always demanded a lot of my attention and time. When he finished school earlier than my oldest Wyatt, Riley was still needing me and showing me this by lots of interruptions, etc. I decided it would just be easier to spend more time with him doing school, and that made him happier. If this was not the case, I would have gladly been happy to do Beyond half-speed over 2 years. Just maybe start slowly, ease into it, and then give yourself 2-4 weeks to establish a good routine. That's when we fell in love with our year - it's seldom the first week of school that is my all-time favorite! But the year, the year is awesome! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie