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My 7-year old is now almost done with all his spelling words in Beyond for the entire year! He already knew them all, missing very few. He can make a sentence with each of them as well. He didn't want to stick with one group of words all week. He wanted to do a new list each day, and that is what we have done for the last few weeks. He loved it. What do I do now?

Also, he reads 2 chapters/sections per day in his Emergent Reader books, because he wants to (he loves it), so we will be through with those earlier too. We go over all the questions with them, and he comprehends what he reads very well. What should I do after these readers are finished? Should I start him on the DITHOR chapter books? I am not trying to push him, but he is pushing himself in this because he enjoys it!

Thanks!
Tina

If you do not want to rush him into DITHOR why not have him read all the supplementary titles from the emergent list. My ds had already read about half the emergent reader list before we started HOD, so I had him read some of the supplementary titles as well as some other historical step into reading books I found(I have a list on my blog). As far as the spelling you could just get the Bigger guide now and start on the dictation.

The pp had a nice idea - those titles are good books! That would be a nice way you can stall starting DITHOR. Or, you can always ease into DITHOR Level 2/3 too. Can he do the Level 2 Book Pack? We started that with our 7 yo, but kind of did it half-speed. We just read a few pages one day, and then the next day we read a few more pages and did the DITHOR lesson. This allowed us to ease into it. With the writing in the Student Book, I wrote for him first. Then, he took over half the writing as copywork (I wrote half his answers on the paper for him, and wrote the other half on a markerboard which he then copied). By the third genre, he took over all of the writing. This let him read fewer pages each day, and gave him time to focus on building writing skills within the DITHOR Student Book, and new reading skills DITHOR teaches (i.e. genre study, story element focus, Godly character traits, etc.). As far as the spelling, if he is able to do all of the week's activities with a list of words very easily and has been through at least one year's worth of words, he could probably begin dictation Level 2. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Where do I find dictation level 2? Is that in the Bigger guide? I don't have that guide and really didn't want to buy it just yet (watching finances).

If I can find any of the alternative books at our library, I think that would be great for him. I am going to try to go that route first, and then go from there. Thank you for your suggestions!

Tina

Yes, Level 2 Dictation is in the Appendix of the Bigger Hearts guide. There no reason he has to start that though. I'd probably work on copywork for a bit then and use the supplemental titles.

In Christ,
Julie