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I am starting to plan my school year for next fall, and have really enjoyed reading the posts on the forum. There is so much encouragement and support on here that I have never got from my current program. I have been praying much about what to do next fall and am leaning toward HOD, with Bigger combining my then 2nd and 4th graders.

My main question is about DITHOR. My youngest is an emerging reader and she constantly tells me she can't read, though she is getting better but is on Dick, Jane and Sally books mostly. I think by next fall she'll be able to read the emerging reader books. My oldest is a fine independent reader. I have looked over the catalog and the website and am not sure where he fits in. And am I understanding you need dithor and grammar individually? He hasn't done much writing. Am I also understanding correctly each level takes 2 years?

Thank you in advance,
Kirsten

This is great to hear, Kirsten - I think your dc and you would enjoy doing BHFHG together so much! Praying is the best way to make a decisions, so it's wonderful to hear you are doing that, as the Lord always has the best advice. We are just a few days into BHFHG with my middle ds (half-speed), and he's loving it already.

I think the Emerging Reader's Set sounds like a good fit for your youngest. As far as your questions about DITHOR, since you mentioned he has not done much writing, I think I would start him in DITHOR 2/3 for the Teacher's Guide's plans and for the Student Book. Then, you could either use Level 3 Book Pack which has a reading level of 3.5-5.1, or Level 4/5 Book Pack Boy Interest which has a reading level of 4.0-5.7. Here are the links for those:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional4-5.php
Or, you can choose any other books you want to as long as they fit in the genres.

If your torn between the two packs, I guess I'd choose the easier of them (Level 3 Book Pack), since it is his first time doing DITHOR. However, if he is a strong reader, you could have him do the Level 4/5 Boy Interest pack. Either one would be fine.

Then, after he finished DITHOR 2/3 Student and plans, the following year, you could bump him up to Level 4/5 in the DITHOR plans and Student Book 4/5. I just think this plan would give him a strong start in DITHOR, and he'd have a good foundation of the Story Elements, etc. before being asked to do some written assignments more on his own in 4/5. In 2/3, you'd be able to get him started on his written work and walk away for him to finish it. But with 4/5, since he hasn't done 2/3 before, you'd probably be doing most of the Student Book with him. I hope that makes sense.

As far as how long DITHOR takes, it is scheduled daily in BHFHG, so you'd go through all 9 genres in a year. The following year, in PHFHG, it is scheduled 3 days a week, so you'd get through 4-5 of the genres that year, and then the next year in CTC, it's also scheduled 3 days a week, so you'd just do the other half of the genres you didn't do during PHFHG. Of course this is all extremely flexible, if you'd rather do daily DITHOR in PHFHG or CTC, then you'd get through all 9 genres each year, for example. Ever since we started PHFHG, we have a goal to get through all 9 genres every 2 years. This pace has worked well for us. However, if one my dc showed a need for more reading instruction, I'd up it to daily then.

As far as grammar, yes it is separate from DITHOR. Our goal is to get through R & S English 6 by then end of Grade 8. R & S Level 2 is scheduled in BHFHG daily. So, you'd get through all of 2 that year. In PHFHG, all of R & S 3 is scheduled daily, so you'd get through all of 3 that year. In CTC, either 4 or 5 are scheduled half-speed. Half-speed options have you do a lesson only 2 days a week, and full-speed are 4-5 days a week. If you ever wanted to do a different pacing than those provided in the HOD guides, it is not difficult to do (though I do just what's in the guide as I find that super easy to do ).

All of these are just ideas - you will know what fine tuning decisions seem to fit your dc best. Keep asking questions until you have it ironed out. This time spent on placement is well worth it, and once you start HOD it is simply a breeze.

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks so much. It hadn't occurred to me that I could use the higher level books with the Level 2/3. That makes perfect sense now that you mention it.

I think my youngest could do R&S Level 2 and my son may be ready for level 4. I'll have to check into that a little more.

Thanks for the advice.

Kirsten

Kirsten,

It sounds like you have a good plan forming! As far as Rod and Staff goes, if your 4th grade son has had a really strong foundation in grammar so far (through ABeka, First Language Lessons, or BJU) then he could use Rod and Staff 4. If he hasn't had a strong grammar background up to this point, then I'd recommend Rod and Staff English 3 as a good starting point for him. Rod and Staff English is very rigorous, and it's best to use it a year or more behind your child's grade level for typical students. We've found this to work well, and actually recommend third graders do Rod and Staff English 2 within Bigger Hearts. So, you could wait on English 2 with your second grader, or do it at half-speed over two years (doing it twice weekly).

As far as your daughter goes, if she hasn't been all the way through a formal phonics program, you may wish to consider having her finish out her phonics instruction to cement her reading skills. Some phonics programs leave a child off without completing all of the needed phonics instruction, which can make reading tough. So, depending on what you've used in the past for phonics, it may be worth considering using The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy to cement those phonics skills.

Anyway, just a couple of thoughts to ponder.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks Carrie,

I appreciate the input!

My son is doing Lifepacks from A&O right now. He is doing fine with it, but I may have to check into the R&S site. This is the problem with switching! I am using Phonics Pathways with my daughter. I think by the end of this school year we'll be far enough along in it for her to read much better. I just have to convince her she can!!!

Hopefully I will have this all figured out by May!

Thanks again,
Kirsten

Hi Ladies.
I have been going over the catalog and the website and have a new question about HOD/dithor. Can the books used for the storytime read-a-louds be used for dithor for my independent reader or is dithor a stand alone program? Does the storytime catagory in the guide go along with dithor?

I hope that's clear.
Thanks,
Kirsten Jett

Different books should be used for Storytime and DITHOR. The Storytime box of plans teaches different skills than the DITHOR guide teaches. Also, HOD selects different types of books to read aloud (for Storytime) than they do for books to be read independently by the student (for DITHOR).

With that being said, some people do use Storytime books with DITHOR that they didn't use for Storytime. For example, in BHFHG, maybe they chose the Boy Set for Storytime, which meant they did not use the Boy Interest or Girl Interest Storytime set books. So, that person may end up choosing the Boy Interest or Girl Interest books (or some of them) for DITHOR because they did not use them for Storytime. People may do this if they'd read most of the DITHOR Book Pack titles already, or just because they love certain books and want to use those.

Clear as mud? Please ask more if this didn't make sense.
In Christ,
Julie