Should we use the 4/5 or the 5/6 girl set for DITHOR for fifth grade?
I have two daughters who will be combined in Creation to Christ (CTC). Both will be using Drawn into the Heart of Reading’s (DITHOR’s) 4/5 Student Books. My older daughter will use the DITHOR 6/7 book set. My placement question is about my fifth grade daughter. I am trying to choose between the 4/5 and the 5/6 DITHOR Girl Interest sets of books for her reading. She is a strong reader. However, I’m wondering if we should do the 4/5 level, so she’s not ahead in the future. If I calculate it for her to do DITHOR through eighth grade, she should do 4/5 now, correct? Thanks!
Heart of Dakota’s (HOD’s) Reply To:Â Should we use the 4/5 or the 5/6 girl set for fifth grade?
As DITHOR is only done three days a week in Creation to Christ (and in every guide after CTC up until MTMM), your daughter will only get through half of each DITHOR book pack each year. So, four or five genres are completed each year, with the total nine genres being completed spread across two years. At this pace, students do not end up reading all of the DITHOR book packs. For example, a fifth grade student might read the 5/6 DITHOR Girl Set over fifth and sixth grade. Then, in seventh grade, that same student might read the 6/7 DITHOR over seventh and eighth grade. This would result in 7/8 DITHOR Girl Set not being read.
The second half of a DITHOR set can be read for fun during a summer break.
Now, some people (me included) have their kiddos finish the other half of a DITHOR leveled package over the summer or over breaks. This is just because they are excellent books! Not to mention, it is always good to keep reading during breaks! For example, your fifth grade daughter might read the 4/5 DITHOR Girl set first five genres for fifth grade. Then, she might read last four genres of the 4/5 DITHOR Girl set in the summer. When she is in sixth grade, she might then read the 5/6 DITHOR Girl set for whichever four genres she did not do in 5th grade. Next, in the summer, she might read the other five genres of the 5/6 DITHOR Girl Set just for fun. Or, she might decide to save them for the school year.
So, DITHOR has lots of flexibility! On a side note, I do personally feel it is helpful to do the 7/8 DITHOR Set over seventh and eighth grade. It gets kiddos ready for high school literature well, and there is enough reading in Revival to Revolution and Missions to Modern Marvels that breaks without reading would be fine.
So, to sum it up, really your fifth grade daughter could do either the 4/5 Girl Set or the 5/6 Girl Set this year – whichever you prefer. I would choose it based on her current ‘comfort’ reading level. I would also choose it according to which package of books she would truly enjoy reading right now the most. Hope that helps!
In Christ,
Julie
This Post Has 2 Comments
If you have your kids read the second half of package over the summer, is the expectation then that it’s just for fun, and you’re not doing the DITHOR book lessons with it?
I’ve been in this situation as well. I would decide which genres would be read in a year and then let my child choose the book(s) from either package that went with the genres. They chose a book that sounded interesting to them. Of course that meant I either didn’t buy a whole package of books and just selected the ones we wanted in my cart, or I bought both packages and then had extra books sitting around for reading for fun as they chose to do throughout the year or over the summer.