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Am I correct in thinking that phonics and reading are not tied to any of the teachers guides in any way? I have LHFHG and realize phonics is not, but I'm wondering about reading in future years. Is it ok to move at our own pace with this? I may put DD in the Emerging Readers soon and want to be sure it's ok and won't mess up where she should be later on. Also, would there be a need for her to complete the readers by the time we complete LHFHG or can she still be in the middle of those by the time we start the next guide? Thanks!

I think I understand your question...

I'm only up to Bigger, so take that for what it's worth

Up to now, there are no actual lessons for reading in the daily lesson plans. They tell to choose phonics, emerging readers set, dithor, or other reading program. You pick where your child is in regards to reading and place them there. Then you go at their pace/level... if they start the ERS in the middle of LHFHG, then you'd just keep doing the emerging readers until they are done, then start DITHOR level 2 (if you are following the HOD suggestions at least) It doesn't matter if they begin at the beginning, middle or end.

Yes, you can take reading at your own pace. The reading book assignments do not go with the guide spine in any way.

Perfect, thank you. I think I may do that and use Explode the Code to be sure she knows all the rules. Has anyone used these? I'm worried about her missing some important rules or not being drilled on them enough. We are using MFW right now for phonics but it's going a little fast for her and doesn't have enough review. I'm just not sure where to go with her. The Reading Lesson doesn't tell me what sort of rules it covers at the end of the book, we are past the beginning for sure. She CAN read, but like I said I don't want to miss important rules. Any suggestions? Does Explode the Code teach the rules?

I am using LHFHG and Beyond and I use explode the code in both. I really love how it is a gentle approach but yet teaches what they need to know!!!

We are not quite halfway through Bigger and we are a good ways through the ERs. I'm not sure what unit we are on but we're almost through Tornado which is one of the later books. So we will be done with the ERs long before we are done with Bigger. We'll just go into DITHOR when we're done.

We're also doing ETC along with the ERs. I don't require her to do every page but we do more when she has a difficult time with that rule. I don't think it's necessary, and if I had stuck with one program throughout phonics I probably wouldn't be having her do it, but we jumped around so much that I'm concerned there might be gaps. I don't plan to use ETC with my subsequent children since I plan to stick with just one phonics program (RME) throughout. But ETC does work well if you feel you need a workbook or if you feel you have gaps.

I am so glad you asked this question. My daughter is zooming through the reading lesson. Apparently she has been reading for awhile and didnt let onto it. Lol! No sounding out...she is reading veru fluently!

I hadnt really thought about how it all works through the years until you posted. This eases my mind a lil now that I know we can work at our own pace.

This is one of the reasons we chose HOD. I love that we can go at my ds's pace without losing the guide's effectiveness. We're also only at the end of unit 8 (we switched mid-year) and this doesn't mess up our school year. I can easily stop at the end of a unit for our summer break and pick it back up in August. Heart of Dakota has been a real blessing to our homeschool!

raceNzanesmom wrote:This is one of the reasons we chose HOD. I love that we can go at my ds's pace without losing the guide's effectiveness. We're also only at the end of unit 8 (we switched mid-year) and this doesn't mess up our school year. I can easily stop at the end of a unit for our summer break and pick it back up in August. Heart of Dakota has been a real blessing to our homeschool!

I am agreeing here! We have found this flexibility to be so valuable, as each of our dc are unique in their needs. HOD helps me meet each of their pacing needs without messing up the balance of the rest of the guides!

In Christ,
Julie