DITHOR using CTC & ext for first year in HOD...

[Rice]

Moving on to my DITHOR question for my oldest. . . he is doing CTC with extensions for Grade 7. I am anticipating never getting to Hearts for Him Through High School American History years (for him), finishing Grade 12 with the newly released World History year (and adding a credit of Canadian History in with it). I know I'll have to think of Science (and other) changes, etc. in coming years but refuse to worry about that for this year. But for literature/reading I need to take a quick trip down that planning road: I was planning for him to do the 7/8 pack for Grade 8 & 9 (through RtR and Rev) but I'm wondering at which point I should be subbing out DITHOR for a High School lit program.

He's a great reader but the work of DITHOR is pretty new to him. I am unsure of which DITHOR leveled books would be a challenge for him as I'm unfamiliar with the books listed in the book packs. Looking through the Sample Book Ideas list, he has already read some of the 6/7/8 books so I don't think it would be a stretch for him to read most of those, though some would be a challenge.

Should I:
a) do as I planned, using a combo of 5/6 and 6/7 books this year as we get used to HOD and DITHOR (coming from almost only oral narrations) and 7/8 the next two years? OR
b) do the 7/8 pack with him now through Grade 7 and 8 (using DITHOR as written 3x/w) and switch to the High School literature plans (BJU Fundamentals, Classic Novels, etc.) in Grade 9/Rev? OR
c) is there an option I'm not seeing?

(Doing DITHOR 5x/week to get through all the genres this year is not an option I'd like to use as this is my first time with HOD and I'm already going to try to run 3 guides with 4 students and have 3 littles added to the mix. I need him to do CTC w/extensions as written. Doing that next year with the 7/8 pack might be an option but I can't really plan on that now, not knowing how HOD will work for us.)

Thank you!
Blessings,

[Kteni]

I too have a grade 7 using CTC next year because she needs to cover ancient history PLOs. We are using the 5/6 book com dithor that we started this year. It is meaty enough for my 12 year old and BRILLIANTLY designed in the way it teaches them to study literature, not just gargle on spoon fed direct questions like in most lit study guides. The reading list that comes with the Dithor book is awesome. You can choose a 7/8 book and use the 5/6 student dithor guide if you want. Or nail some of your Canadian history conte by choosing your own biography, historical fiction, or such. I think Dithor is gold really.

[Rice]

I'm leaning more and more towards picking a book pack from HOD, just not sure which one to pick, based on where he "should" be going into Grade 7 and moving higher. . .

I think I'm suffering from sticker shock (as one other poster aptly described it) but my friend pointed out that the $1000 or so that I'm spending on HOD (for 4 kids!) we could easily spend on just one child for just one month of private school! (I never thought of it that way as we're way too far from any private schools to even hear about that option.)

So my question still remains: which HOD level books should he read this coming year? How many more years should I plan on him doing DITHOR before moving on to a High School literature program - I'll try to spread the highest level reading packs over that many years.

Blessings,

[Nealewill]

I think you have a ton of freedom here. I personally don't think there is right answer and that it will really depends on your future plans. And realistically, both options great. If it were me, and you have done literature studies in the past, I would probably complete the 7/8 student book. If you haven't done any literature study in the past, then I would probably go with the 4/5/6 student book level. I would also pick the book pack for him to read based on his interest. With him completing the extensions as well, a book pack can easily last 2 years. So I would let him/you pick the book pack he/you like the most. The higher level book packs aren't necessarily harder to read, they have more mature topics that a younger child might not be ready to experience.

That is what I would do