Drawn Help Needed!

[Patience]

Help! I'd like to start my 8 year old with Drawn, level 2/3...but I'm not sure I understand. Do I have her read an additional book on her own, separate from the read aloud we do from Beyond? Is this the idea? And do you generally do a different genre than what you are doing as a read aloud? Or do ya'll tend to do the same genre? I'm sure these are silly questions, and you can tell I'm a newbie, but I'd appreciate any help.

[Kathleen]

Hi Patience!

I don't think I've welcomed you yet, so welcome! (I loved your idea to call yourself patience since you need to show more of it with your kids. I'm afraid if we all chose our names that way though we'd all have the same one! Or at least a "fruit of the spirit - basket". I know I could go by patience as well.)

I started DITHOR with my 8 yo this year. I know that you're going to really enjoy it! For DITHOR, you're going to choose a book (or books) for each genre. These will be books that you daughter will read - most of the time out loud to you. HOD has book packs available already "scheduled" for you, but you can truly use any book you wish with the program. I got the Level 2 book pack this year. If you go check out that pack, you'll see that the reading level for each book is listed...I think it goes from 3.0-4.2...can't remember for sure. (This would mean third grade, 0 months - fouth grade, 2 months.) You'll see that for some genres there is one book, and for some there are 2. You'll be spending 15 days reading from each genre. The reason for different amounts of books is that some genres have a long enough book selected to last 15 days. Others have shorter books that will take 5 and 10 days, which added together fills your 15 days.

This year we're doing Bigger which has a similar storytime to Beyond, and we've hit the same genre as storytime with DITHOR. That worked fine, but most of the time we've been on a different genre. I actually think I prefer to be on a different one because you are focusing on the same character quality and story element when you're on the same genre. (For example, when you read biography you're focusing on the characters, and looking at how they show responsibility.) Storytime and DITHOR are both genre-based literature study - but since your child will be working on reading in one and listening in the other they somewhat help build different skills. Plus they happen to be right at the top of my ds's favorite parts of the day!!

Does that help answer your questions? If I've confused you more, just keep asking away.
Kathleen

[Patience]

That helps alot! Thank you so much!

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD board, Patience! Kathleen did an awesome job of answering your questions already! We too are enjoying DITHOR and have for several years. I have used the book packs at times, and other times made my own choices using books from HOD's Suggested Book Ideas list, or from their Bookshop. The Storytime books have you doing the reading out loud, and the DITHOR books have the dc doing the reading out loud (and eventually silently as they are older). Like Kathleen, we have sometimes been on the same genre and sometimes not. I decided if they overlap the do, but if they don't, they don't. I've just found it easier to go at whatever pace and whichever genre fits our dc's reading interests better than try to match them with the Storytime. You can also choose to do DITHOR anywhere from 3-5 days a week. This year, we did DITHOR 3 days a week, and we will finish about half the genres this year, and then next year we'll do it 3 days a week and finish the other half (plus repeat one genre). That's worked well for us since I'm doing several HOD programs - however, when I was just doing school with my oldest, we did DITHOR 5 days a week and loved it! So, it's very flexible that way.

In Christ,
Julie

[6timeboymom]

I hate to read a thread and not post, So I'm going to ditto what response you've already gotten!
We've used DITHOR for a long time, and we've generally done the five days a week thing and used books that generally match the history/literature we are studying. Although if the boys ask for a certain book, I don't say no! On the other hand, if I let him, I have one who would do the same genre over and over and over and over...

[Benelli]

Wow, I can't believe this... I've been using the same book for Storytime and DITHOR. I do a few pages of reading out loud to the kids, then they each do a couple of pages out loud (2 kids in the same books, 3rd and 4th graders). I always wondered why there was some overlap with questions in DITHOR and Storytime. I guess that's because I'm supposed to be using two different books? Hmmm... That would mean that I would read Storytime to them, and they each could pick their own book for the Genre from DITHOR? I guess I should change to doing it the way it is meant to be done, so they are getting more read aloud time from me, and more than one book to "study"? They both read all the time on their own for pleasure as well, though. So, should I change what I'm doing? Just thinking it through...

I'm so glad this board is here!

Blessings!

[my3sons]

Hi Lisa! You know, I just realized the other day I am doing dictation 4 days a week rather than the scheduled 3 days a week - which is why I am so far into it. I also realized I'd ended last year with Singapore 2A and should have started this year with Singapore 2B - I started with 3A for a month and could not figure out WHY it was so hard for my ds - so you are not alone in realizing something wasn't going quite right. I do think you should have them do both though - they have different purposes. Having them do their own reading for DITHOR will have them practice some oral reading as well as silent reading independently - then they will have to discuss questions and character traits based on having done that. Listening to someone else reading and then doing discussion/analyzing uses and strengthens listening skills instead. Plus, it's just great to be studying several books at the same time - the connections there (whether they are the same genre or not) are neat! I'm glad for this board too - it always helps me out in the day-to-day!

In Christ,
Julie