Hi! New to HOD and have a few questions!

[Tree House Academy]

First of all, I am Rebecca. My children are both boys, ages 5 and 9 (will be 6 and 10 this summer). I have decided to do Bigger (History and Science only) with BOTH boys this year - teaching to my younger and using the extension package for my older. We are excited!!! (ETA: my younger is reading really well right now and is working mostly toward the end of 1st grade level in all subjects despite his young age...so I think the history and science will work for him too. Please correct me if I am way off! We use other curricula right now for English, Bible, Math (Singapore), etc.)

My question is about DITHOR. I would love to start using this. Is there a guide on where you place your children? My older will be in 5th grade, but reads more on a 7th-8th grade level. I don't want to hold him back or have it be too easy for him, but I also don't want to jump ahead and have it be too hard. Is this placement based mostly on reading/comprehension and abilities or more on grade level?

Thanks for your time and nice to "meet" you.

[gracelikerain]

Hi Rebecca!

Welcome to HOD! you are gonna love it here. I will be using Bigger with my 9dd this coming August. Right now we are using Preparing & LOVING it!! DITHOR has a good amount of writing in the higher level. So, even if you have a great reader you may want to do level 2/3 so the writing won't be too much. That is what I am pretty sure I read. I'm sure if I am wrong Carrie the author of HOD or someone else who has more experience with it will chime in. I haven't gotten to it yet! I am hoping to do it over the summer with my girls.

God Bless!

[Lynnw]

Hi! I just wanted to say welcome! I recognized your name from wtmboards (I'm "Another Lynn" there, but I haven't been there as much since I found HOD). How exciting you can keep your kids together in Bigger! That will be great. I don't have experience with DITHOR or Bigger to give you advice, but the ladies here are very helpful and I'm sure someone will help you out soon. The only thing I would advise you to do is to check the placement chart linked from the Home page. It should give you a good idea if Bigger is a good fit for your younger son or in what areas it may stretch him, if at all.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and welcome!

[Kathleen]

DITHOR IS wonderful! I am on the home stretch of using Bigger with my oldest, and we've also started DITHOR this year. My guess is that your 5th grader would probably be able to start DITHOR with the 4/5 student book. (As long as writing isn't an issue for him. There is more writing at that level, but not tons.) I'd highly reccommend getting Carrie's book list along with your DITHOR guide. It has some great choices for all of the genres at all of the different levels. When you're using DITHOR, you don't want to use books that are all at the highest level your child could read. So, even though your son can read at a 7th grade level, it may be wise to go with books a little under this so that the interaction with them is a little easier. If I were you, I'd look at the new book pack Carrie has on the site for the 4/5 level. (I know the reading level is higher than that, and I belive the reading level is listed with the books.) Now, you can use the library to get books, too, if you want to.

For your younger child, if he's done with phonics and reading at about a 2nd grade level, there is a schedule for "emerging readers" in the appendix of Bigger. These books transition the kids from phonics to independent reading. They're great books, an Carrie has written questions to go with the readings. It teaches the child to start comprehending what they're reading as well as gives them practice reading aloud. You are free to start in the middle of those, too, if that's what your child is ready for.

You'll love DITHOR. I love the way that it's teaching my child to look at things from a biblical perspective and he's learning to be a discerning reader. Plus the projects are so fun to do! We're starting a new genre this week.
Kathleen

[Mom2Monkeys]

HI! I recognize you from the wtmboards as well. Nice to see you over here!

I have to say if you are using the History and Science in Bigger, it's worth the extra few minutes to at least tie in the key point with Bible as well even if you don't do the memory work...it ties a Biblical theme in with the history for that day, pointing out the theme within the reading and encouraging life application. My dd loves to see how the people of the past relied on God and His Word to get them through their days! Plus the Bible Box is just so much fun! That fun little box has much the largest impact on my dd than anything we've ever done! It's changing her heart...we've had some wonderful heart-to-hearts b/c of that wonderful little part of our day.

You said you are using another English, Bible and Math (singapore). Do you know that there are incredible hands-on plans for Singapore math scheduled in the guides? Since you are using SM, I just wanted to make sure you knew that Singapore is the math used in HOD (although you can use any math of your choosing).

I'd bet like the pp said, 4/5 would be a great starting place for your 5th grader in DITHOR, even if he reads on a higher level. My dd7/2nd grade is reading on a 4th-5th grade level, but we still use DITHOR 2/3 b/c it's geared for her age, not for her reading ability. I even still used the level 2 book pack with her...it's a wonderful introduction to DITHOR without being difficult, but she has still learned so much! The book packs are great! But you can choose any books you like for each genre.

You're going to love HOD! I've done Beyond and part of LHTH, now we've just started Bigger and LHFHG... I still love every minute of it!

[Bibliophile]

Hi Rebecca! Just wanted to welcome you since I "know" you from the other boards
Blessings!
Dorinda
AKA coffeefreak

[Tree House Academy]

Thanks for the warm welcome ladies! And lots from TWTM. That is wonderful!!

I am so excited to start the new curriculum, I can hardly stand to finish this year with what we have! LOL

I was excited to see the cool Singapore math stuff in the guides. My only problem is that Bigger doesn't have Singapore 4A and B which is what my older will be in. My younger will be doing 1B and 2A, so we may be able to use it for 2A at the end of the program, but otherwise, they will be outside the options. I was a little bummed there, but not totally.

Here is what I am thinking going forward: (Please chime in if you think this won't work for one reason or another.

Am Hist with Bigger this coming year (1st and 5th grades).
Preparing w/extension with my older (6th grade) and Beyond with my younger (2nd grade). DITHOR with both.
Preparing with younger (3rd grade) and HHTT w/extension for older (7th grade). DITHOR with both.
HHTT with younger (4th grade) and my older (8th grade) can do the next one that Carrie publishes. DITHOR with both.

The only reason I can combine them this year is because we are doing only History and Science. Next year, I will definitely be looking at the whole program for each of them (thus why I am doing the levels out of order with my younger).

Right now, we are using CLE LA 300 for my oldest (he is behind in his comprehension of grammar) and WP LA1 for my youngest (this may change as it is taking WP FOREVER to ship one little item and I can't deal with that sort of thing - lots of bad feedback about shipping issues with them). I am doing WWE with both of them. Is DITHOR a writing AND Reading program then? I will not start my younger with DITHOR until 2nd grade, but I wanted to start my older this coming year (5th grade). We will most likely switch to HOD Bible as well once we have used what we have (Explorer and CLE).

[eazbnsmom]

Hi Rebecca and welcome. I also recognize you from the WTM boards!

[netpea]

Am Hist with Bigger this coming year (1st and 5th grades).
Preparing w/extension with my older (6th grade) and Beyond with my younger (2nd grade). DITHOR with both.
Preparing with younger (3rd grade) and HHTT w/extension for older (7th grade). DITHOR with both.

I have been trying to figure out a way to combine my own at some point. I had been tossing around the idea of holding off on Preparing for my oldest until my youngest finishes Beyond and then putting them both into Preparing for 3rd and 5th. Carrie and others pointed out that it is a big jump from Beyond to Preparing. You will probably need to reevaluate your youngest after finishing Beyond, but you might need to do the full Bigger program with him after Beyond. The manuals really do build off each other. Each one requires higher thinking and writing skills.

[Carrie]

Rebecca,

I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you too! I think I just posted a welcome to you on a different thread, so I guess you're really welcome here.

Anyway, I agree with your long-term plan in that the age spread between your kiddos lends itself well to separating them within two HOD programs. As you're planning for this year with Bigger to be more of just a ride-along year for your younger one (along with the fact that you're on a limited budget for this year), and the fact that you're covering your language arts, math, and Bible for your younger child other ways, you should be fine with what you've planned for Bigger Hearts.

Then, after that I agree it would work well to separate your little sweeties to where they place best on the placement chart at that time, which for right now sounds like it would be Beyond and Preparing.

LeeAnn gave you great advice when she mentioned that you may need to repeat Bigger with your younger sweetie, once you get to that stage. So, you'll have to wait and see about that. However, the rest of your plan looks like a winner.

We do two HOD programs right now with our boys and are also piloting much of our new ancient's program with my oldest son (while our 3 year old generally adds his busy personality to the mix)! So, you can definitely do 2 HOD programs.

We are currently doing Preparing Hearts and Little Hearts, along with the ancients.

Blessings,
Carrie

[HollyinNNV]

Hi Rebecca and welcome. I also recognize you from the WTM boards!

Me too! Hi Rebecca! Glad to see you here.
Holly

[Tree House Academy]

Thanks for the welcome and the great advice Carrie and LeAnn! I had never thought of repeating the program with the little one, but that is a great idea! It will allow him to get more in depth with some of the awesome readers and such that he will miss this year. YAY! New plan!!!

P.S. I started getting all of my wonderful stuff in the mail and I am truly just impressed with the program. Curriculum choices have been the hardest thing for me thus far, but I really feel that HOD has changed that for us. It is all just right here! I mean, we already use and love Singapore Math. We were using a hodge podge to try to get a reading program I loved...and then I found DITHOR! History and Science are studied in such a fun, unique, and wonderful way here too!

When I was a senior in COLLEGE, it finally all clicked for me how English (writers), Science, and History tied in together. My kids are "getting it" right now! That just pleases me so much!