Summer Fun with Drawn into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR)
Drawn into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR) is Heart of Dakota’s (HOD’s) award-winning literature program. I have used DITHOR for 15 years and enjoyed it thoroughly! In this post, I thought I’d share some of the ways DITHOR can be enjoyed in some way, shape, or form in the summer.
Pick one Drawn into the Heart of Reading genre and do it with another family in the summer!
The books Carrie chose for DITHOR are the kind you just can’t put down. They beg to be read! The kickoffs and genre group projects are just plain fun to do together. Discussion questions create a book club vibe, so what could be more fun than doing a genre with another family in the summer? I did this with Carrie’s kiddos one summer. We had our DITHOR book packs and DITHOR Student Books for the next homeschool year already. So, I just picked a genre, filled out their reading calendars, and figured out when we could meet. Maybe you don’t have a family you know just down the road. No worries! With today’s technology (i.e. Facetime, Zoom, Marco Polo), you can meet virtually with another family just as easily.
Finish reading a Drawn into the Heart of Reading package in the summer!
Summer is just a great time to relax with a good book! Reading in a hammock, an outdoor fort, a pool chair, or even in a car on a road trip is a pretty fun way to spend your summer time! If my sons were halfway through their DITHOR book packs at the end of the homeschool year, I often let them read the remaining half for fun over the summer. Then, the next school year, I ordered the next DITHOR book pack level and just started with the genres left in their DITHOR Student Books. (Note: DITHOR is scheduled just 3 of the 4 days a week in HOD’s Creation to Christ through Missions to Modern Marvels. So, students get through half their book packs each year.)
Get ahead in Drawn into the Heart of Reading by doing a few genres in the summer!
If there is one thing I love, it is that feeling of ‘getting ahead’ somehow! That is why I have sometimes enjoyed doing a genre or two of DITHOR in the summer. I remember one summer in particular. Looking at the genres, I decided Adventure would be a wonderful genre for the summer! For each of my sons, I chose a different Adventure book from their upcoming homeschool year of DITHOR books. Then, we did the kickoff up really big! I had the time! Likewise, we did the final project up really big! Again, why not? I had the time! I remember actually burying pirate hats, pirate eye patches, and pirate swords in a tote in our garden. At the end of their treasure hunt, they got to dig up the tote. What fun!
In Christ,
Julie
