Hi Mary! I am using Little Hearts..., Bigger..., and DITHR - so you just described my day! That covers all of the children I am homeschooling though, so I'm not sure if you have other children you are schooling as well. If not, I can say 100%, for sure, you can do all 3 easily. Our days are very enjoyable, not hurried, and full of times to go off on "bunny trails" if we want to do so.
Here's a nutshell of what our day looks like:
I posted a very general summary of our schedule at this post, and you can check that out:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=11
If you are asking more specifically about DITHR though, here's a nutshell of what we're doing with that:
*We do DITHR 3 days a week, and it takes about 30 minutes a day (although I only help with about half or less of the 30 min.). I use the Guide and Level 2/3 of the student books. We are going through 5 of the 9 genres this year. (Last year, we did DITHR 3 days a week with Level 2/3 as well, but we did the other 4 genres.) So, in 2 years, I will have taught all 9 genres of Level 2/3. (Many moms do DITHR daily, and do all of Level 2/3 twice, just using harder books the second year of doing it. So that is an option too.) I only have one child in DITHR this year, however, I will soon have one child in Level 2/3 and one child in Level 4/5.
*I tutored for 3 years using DITHR with multiple children in multiple levels as well, prior to homeschooling my own children. I had 45 min. sessions, and covered several levels during that time. We'd begin by filling out the reading pace sheet with each child. Each "level" of reader read a different book that fit their reading level, but we all did the same genre. The guide lists which level needs the teacher and when. Usually, I started with either Level 2/3 or 4/5, depending what the guide said. The 2/3 level always read out loud to me, and the 4/5 read a page or two to me and read the rest silently. The 6/7/8 only read a paragraph or not at all out loud to me and read silently. Then I gave directions for independent work in their different levels of workbooks, and also did the discussions at that point. On the "all together" days, which are noted in the guide, we all did the lesson together, each child bringing his own book for the lesson. These "all together" lessons come up once every 5 days of plans or so, except for at the end of each genre when 5 days can be done all together if the group project is chosen. We always chose the group project when I had children in all 3 levels - it was fun and easy to do together! Hope that makes sense, be sure to ask more questions otherwise!
How long have you used it:?:
I used it 3 years tutoring other children, and 2 years with my own family.
What do you love about it:?:
Ahhh, where to begin?!? Well, I realized when I began using DITHR that I was missing entire genres from my home collection of books. I guess I was buying genres I loved. I have 3 sons, so you can imagine the genres I love are not typically the genres my boys love! That was a big realization for me. The balance of reading from every genre consistently was a huge bonus for me. I also like to choose what my children will read and the pace we are going to read at. It is important to me that my children continue to LOVE reading. Through tutoring, I realized that many children start out loving reading, and begin to almost hate it over time if it is taught in a way that makes them do TOO much with a book (i.e. if they had to do their spelling, vocabulary, worksheet after worksheet, questions upon questions, creative writing, book reports... overload!). DITHR is NOT like that. The questions are well-chosen (according to Bloom's Taxonomy, I believe), but they are short and do not take forever to discuss. The worksheets are more like graphic organizers, and they are always different (you know how some curriculums reuse their workbook pages over and over - kids get tired of that just like we do!). The kickoff and the wrap-up activities are an awesome way to keep the love of reading flowing too. I had 6th. grade boys that I tutored that had begun to hate reading that grew to love it again because of DITHR and the kickoffs and wrap-ups! The character trait is another thing I love. I like linking everything I can to Biblical training, and DITHR already does that for me in a very natural, meaningful way. It gives us a plan for talking about book characters who make wrong choices. Finally, I enjoy teaching reading in a way that almost feels like how I'd talk to my best friend about a great book I was reading. It's conversational... sort of like a book club... only with all of the parts of the story, genres, etc. taught and woven into it. Sorry that got long!
Anything you don't like:?:
It doesn't go through high school.
Did you order the book packages?
Yes. I love the book packages. I have subbed in books if we've read some of the book packs already.
Mary, I'm not sure what reading levels your kiddos are at. Certainly reading levels are often very different than age levels. Without chatting with you about that, I would say that most moms I know using DITHR for the first time put all of their children in the Level 2/3 to give them a foundation to build on, especially since most moms haven't been teaching a lot of the parts of the story and genres before DITHR. Then, moms just choose different books for their different kids reading needs, making sure all of the books are in the same genre. Then, you'd just begin the plans looking at the Level 2/3 part only. You could just buy the Level 2/3 workbook, and you can copy it to use for your family. You can also buy each of your kids their own workbook too, if you don't want to copy the pages. On a side note, none of the pages say Level 2/3 in the workbook, so if you have "comparing" children, they won't be able to distinguish a level. I just always said this is the place everyone in DITHR begins. Next year, we're branching off. And then the next year, you could have your younger reader finish off 2/3, and your older reader begin 4/5. Also, the 6/7/8 workbook is written to the student and thus a little more difficult in that it is meant to be quite independent. Some moms do it in 9th. grade with their children too. So I don't think I'd ever start a child in DITHR at the 6/7/8 level unless they had a lot of prior learning about parts of the story, genres, etc.
WHEW! That got long... sorry! I'm sitting here quite sick in bed though, so thanks for giving me a great way to pass some time as I recuperate. Hope that helps some, Mary! If you think of anything else, please ask away. I'm passionate about DITHR, and it is a joy to talk about it.