DITHOR-tell me why I need it

[happyWImom]

I have very ambivalant feelings towards DITHOR, sorry! It looks great, but I feel like too much "work" that's added to my dc's reading will suck the joy out of it. We do have lots of discussion with our read alouds, and when they are reading on their own, they talk about the plots, but...... Isn't the discussion that's done in the regular guides (ours is Preparing) enough?

Help me understand why we need to add it. I had it years ago & it looked too overwhelming at the time. Now, they are older, so it's not overwhelming, but I'm still unsure about it.

Thanks.

[Molly]

I wouldn't say you need DITHR, but I will say what a blessing it has been in our house. It gets the children to interact with books from a biblical perspective as well as a literary perspective. It truly does not add heaps of extra work beyond their reading time. At the end of each genre, the children get to interact with the book in a completely different way by producing a project or doing a thoughtful activity about it.

We have dealt with DITHR a few different ways in order to fit what was happening in our life at the time. We have read one book between the three of us and done the work at the same time, we have done two separate books and tried to do the discussion/written work at the same time and we are now going to try doing it separately, but coming all together on the 1st, 6th and 11th days.

Preparing definitely does not tackle the books in the same manner, neither does RtR. Bigger does some similar things, but it is still different.

Hope this helps some.

[happyWImom]

Molly,

Thanks, it does help! I keep forgetting that we can tailor things to suit our families.

I do like when character traits & things are discussed, and I'm sure it will probably help to prepare for more in depth literary discussion when they get older.

[MelInKansas]

We have thoroughly enjoyed DITHR - my 2nd grader is doing the level 2/3. She is an avid reader though so there's no way I could discourage her from reading. What DITHR does is helps her think about what she is reading and analyze it a little better. When I was her age I was also a voracious reader. I would sit and read for an hour or two at a time, completely blocking out the world around me. But I would say that my retention and understanding of what I read (beyond basic plot points) was very poor. I have seen my DD grow in her narration and understanding of what she reads by having to answer questions and do activities. She is also learning things like "setting" "characters" "mood," lots of the components of a story or a book. I think it will help her in creative writing, understanding the elements that go into a story. The character study actually is probably our weakest part of it... I am really bad at helping her talk about the different character traits. The book projects are fun, and again, I have seen my daughter have better understanding and take ownership of a story through the projects she has done.

I hope this helps. Also it's not as much work as it seems like. Or I know some people do it 3 days a week instead of 4 or 5. We do it every day we do school. My daughter would be disappointed if we did not.

[happyWImom]

We have thoroughly enjoyed DITHR - my 2nd grader is doing the level 2/3. She is an avid reader though so there's no way I could discourage her from reading. What DITHR does is helps her think about what she is reading and analyze it a little better. When I was her age I was also a voracious reader. I would sit and read for an hour or two at a time, completely blocking out the world around me. But I would say that my retention and understanding of what I read (beyond basic plot points) was very poor. I have seen my DD grow in her narration and understanding of what she reads by having to answer questions and do activities. She is also learning things like "setting" "characters" "mood," lots of the components of a story or a book. I think it will help her in creative writing, understanding the elements that go into a story. The character study actually is probably our weakest part of it... I am really bad at helping her talk about the different character traits. The book projects are fun, and again, I have seen my daughter have better understanding and take ownership of a story through the projects she has done.

I hope this helps. Also it's not as much work as it seems like. Or I know some people do it 3 days a week instead of 4 or 5. We do it every day we do school. My daughter would be disappointed if we did not.

That was part of my hesitation, that it seemed like lots of extra work, and I was wondering whether it was worth it. Thanks for the input!