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Can DITHOR be used with a 7yo (turning 8 in October), who will be starting HOD in either Beyond or Bigger? I'm still trying to decide where to place my son, and I'm not sure if Beyond or Bigger will suit him better. But he's a great reader, and loves to read. He's finishing 2nd grade at a Christian private school, and then I'll begin homeschooling him in August. I was hoping to add on DITHOR with the level 2 readers. Does his age/grade seem appropriate for this level of DITHOR?

What kind of books is he reading now? The Emerging Readers start at a later first grade level and end with early third grade level. DITHOR Level 2 is more third grade reading level. My daughter enjoyed the books, but we didn't try to do DITHOR with Bigger as storytime includes many of the same skills. We did a genre around the baby's birth and just completed another one this week while we are trying up loose ends before starting Preparing in July.
Do my recommendation would be to determine what grade level he is reading at (easily without frustration) and pick a book pack from there. If it is the ER books, use the pacing and questions in the appendix of both guides. If it is DITHOR, consider doing narration and book projects with the book packs instead of full blown DITHOR. I think DITHOR can wait until Preparing at least.

Absolutely. My youngest started using DITHOR as soon as she finished the Emerging Readers. She had just turned 7 when she started. If writing is difficult for your child, some parents will help their child with the writing (meaning they actually write down the answers for them or do half of the writing). My youngest never minded writing and so she was able to do all of the writing herself as well.

You COULD, but it would probably be best to wait. I wouldn't do DITHR until after you have gotten to full speed Bigger and it's going smoothly. It's so easy to see all of the wonderful things to do and get a little too ambitious. I'm speaking from experience!! I do the same thing EVERY year. I've been doing this for about 23 years. Better to start slower and succeed than try everything and it goes bad. It's okay for him to just read great books and to not put more on your 'to do' list.

I think I started my oldest on DITHOR 2/3 when she was 7.5 years old, and she could read the books, but the analysis was a bit heavy for her, and she couldn't write well enough to do any of the workbook on her own so I was helping very heavily with that also. With my 2nd born I put it off a little longer, she was half way through Bigger Hearts and I think almost 8 before I started DITHOR (I did supplemental titles in the ER set and then even added on a few that had more in the series, we read more books to continue with ones she really liked). It went much more smoothly. The Storytime box does cover some of the same skills, but DITHOR really helps them analyse what they are reading and is great literature learning and analysis. I recommend waiting a little bit, especially if you are also new to HOD, get going well with that before you add DITHOR, I love DITHOR but it was a little hard to figure out at first (definitely not as easy to use as the HOD guides). The other factor is it can be time-consuming, especially at the lower levels where the child is reading all of their book to you and you are helping with the workbook pages/activities. DITHOR does have you doing a little something with children at all levels, but my daughter in 6/7/8 does all the reading to herself and can complete the workbook pages on her own.

My dd started it last fall for 3rd at 8 1/2 years old. She is a very strong reader and has done very well with it. Since she hadn't read the level 2 books she started with those, which being easier for her helped with the analysis. We have been more on a book every week or two schedule so she also did level 3 books this year.

It really depends on the child. The writing would have frustrated my boys before age 9 or so, even though the reading would have been fine.

I would look at samples and try and think if it will fit.

Since it is your first year homeschooling waiting 6 - 12 months to start DITHOR is also a good option so you can ease in.

I hope it is a great year for you.

P.S. I just noticed that he is a very young second grade. I agree with the others that I would find out his reading level. If you look at the DITHOR books Carrie lists the reading level in the description. She also has the grade level listed for the emerging readers. You also will want to look at where his writing is and how much he can write in a day. If he at all resists writing I would start with Beyond and wait on DITHOR for a year.

Another thing you could look at is the samples of the Eggleston spine (two main history books) in Bigger to see how your son would do with it at ages 7/8. My children really enjoyed the history books in Beyond at age 8, but wouldn't have done as well with the Bigger books that young. This also depends on the child.

Hi! There are several levels of reading instruction in Beyond... and in Bigger... From what you've described, he would need either the Emerging Reader's Set (ERS) or DITHO 2/3. The ERS spans Level 1 to Level 4 readers, and it has a reading plan and daily oral comprehension questions in the back of both Beyond... and Bigger... It begins with about a "Frog and Toad..." level, with a picture on every page, around 3 sentences of fairly controlled vocabulary, with short books. If a student can read this type of book fairly quickly and smoothly, only pausing to sound out a longer more difficult word every page or every other page or so, that student is ready to begin the ERS. The ERS ends with short chapter books that have multiple paragraphs on each page, a much smaller font size, but still pictures on portions of quite a few pages.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php

DITHOR's Level 2 Book Pack spans reading levels from 3.0-4.1 (third grade through fourth grade first month). Generally, it includes chapter books that have students reading around 4-7 pages a day or so, with a picture each chapter or so. The font size is generally smaller than the ERS books, and the books are generally longer with chapters that are longer, than the ERS. The vocabulary is not as controlled as the books within the ERS. DITHOR includes oral discussion question that are more difficult than those in the ERS. It also includes prereading, genre kickoffs and 5 day projects, vocabulary work, and instruction in genres, story elements, and Godly character traits. The 2/3 DITHOR Student Workbook is assigned 2 or 3 times out of every 5 days of instruction, and it is the written component of DITHOR. At the 2/3 level, the student is helped by the parent for a good portion of these written assignments, but students do need to be able to write several sentences at a time at least to complete them.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php

If you find your son falls somewhere between the ERS and DITHOR 2/3, you can start him in the middle of the ERS with Level 3 books, purchasing just the last 2/3 or half of the set, and then he can move into DITHOR 2/3. Or, you can have him begin DITHOR 2/3, but you can do the writing for him as he dictates his answers for his DITHOR 2/3 Student Book at first, then move into writing half the answer for him and writing the other half on a marker board for him to copy himself in his student book, and finally move to him writing his own answers and you being available to help with spelling,etc. with marker board in hand as needed.

For our oldest son, DITHOR was a perfect fit at 7 1/2 yo. He was reading and writing well. For our other 2 sons, 8-9 yo was a good fit, with the helps described above for one of them. Either way, it is critical to choose to teach reading each day at this age, whether it is with the ERS, with DITHOR 2/3, or with the latter portion of ERS and the beginning portion of DITHOR 2/3. I'm so glad you asked!!! Also, a big thank you to all of the rest of these amazing ladies who answered and gave great insight to ponder as well!!!!

In Christ,
Julie

For DITHOR (and the Emerging Reader set, which is basically an oral DITHOR to a certain extent) you want the books to be easy for them to read. You can find a lot of the books on those book lists at the library so you could check out some from the Emerging Reader set (maybe one of the first ones after the Bible, one in the middle, and one toward the end) and let him read it to you and see if those are all easy for him to read. If he can read all of them with zero trouble, then DITHOR is probably your best bet. The good news is that you really don't have to have where you are in the ERs or DITHOR lining up with the rest of the guide because they pretty well have their own schedule. So you can wait a few weeks to get into the swing of things before adding either one in. Or you can start in the middle of the ERs... my kids have all done great until about the Buffalo Bill through the nature reader, those are difficult for them, but by the time they are done with the nature reader they are fine again with all the rest of them. We just have to slow down our schedule during those four books to give them time to grow into that level.

And for a young second grader, with both of you new to homeschooling, I would suggest going with Beyond. That way you will have time to enjoy the day, but not enough time to get frustrated with school and learning a new routine. And you can add in grammar, cursive, DITHOR, etc if you find out that he is further along than Beyond, and that doesn't really affect following the guide too much.