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How do you decide how many days to spread out the reading to fill in that chart? You are supposed to make a choice of 3 books for 5 days, etc., is there something that helps you determine that?
Nancy

I'm definitely not an expert, but I try to judge from my dd's capabilities. Most of the time, if I use the books from the DITHOR book packs, I pretty much follow Carrie's suggestions. If there are two books for a genre, I decide whether to use our 15 days of reading evenly for both books or take an eaiser one in 5 days or a longer one for 10. Sometimes it just comes down to dividing the number of pages over 15 days. For instance, we are doing Level 2/3 Historical Fiction right now, and my dd will be reading Sarah, Plain and Tall and Matchlock Gun. I checked both out from the library before-hand to make my schedule (budget doesn't allow us to buy as many books as we'd like!) The two books were relatively of the same length and same level, so I split our reading days almost in half. A few times so far, we've chosen other books besides the book pack list, and then I have to look much more closely at the difficulty level and length to make sure it is appropriate for her independent reading level. Reading levels are assigned in so many different ways, so I really appreciate Carrie's suggestions and lists!

That helps! I missed that she had given days for the book packs. I'm sure I saw it before, but I've looked at so many things I get lost!

Blessings,
Nancy

Just to give you a guideline, you can look at the books and the number of days HOD has planned for them to be read on this chart here:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php

If you are using HOD's DITHOR Book Packs, you can just follow HOD's plan for the noted # of days of reading for each book (which is what I personally am quite relieved and happy to be doing ). But even if you are putting together your own books, looking at how HOD paces books will be helpful to use as a guide. HOD does this planning for all DITHOR Book Packs, and they are amazing books to boot! This is why I take advantage of them, but for those that love to choose their own books and do their own pacing, that is a nice option too. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie, I have missed that. Does a list come with the DITHOR pack, or is the pacing somewhere in the guide that I overlooked?

8arrows - The pacing is on the HOD website behind each listing of each book, as well as in the HOD catalog. The pacing is planned out for all HOD book packs, but not for the multitude of books in the Suggested Book Ideas List, as often the combination of 1, 2, or 3 books makes a difference in the pacing. Here is a link to each of the lists that note the pacing:
Level 2 and Level 3 Book Packs:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php

Level 4/5 Book Packs:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional4-5.php

Level 5/6 Book Packs:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional5-6.php

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie