DITHOR: Beneficial or busywork?

[Sue G in PA]

I bought DITHOR 4/5 for my dc and *tried* to implement it. I wanted something a bit more structured for reading. Realized my ds8 & 9 are NOT the ravenous readers that my dd11 is, I didn't expect this to be met with jumps for joy. Well, we did a week of it and it fizzled...mostly b/c I got tired of hearing the complaints. I'm looking at it again. Yes...I want my boys to *like* to read and ds9 will read Star Wars by choice...but one cannot live on a diet of just Star Wars for literature, KWIM? I've been feeling convicted that I'm "coddling" them in this area. I have a very low tolerance for the whining and crying and attitudes these day. My patience is shot to you-know-where. So, now I'm back to DITHOR. Is it really beneficial for a child OR is it just busywork disguised as something beneficial? As for book discussions...they rarely happen at this point unless we are traveling somewhere and strike up the conversation so I do feel we need something where I can access comprehension. TIA for your thoughts.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

depending on how you implement it.

My dc complained at first about it as well. I usually get that reaction to new things I want to do with them and I just forge ahead tweaking as I go. In the end, they usually either love it or resign themselves to the fact that this is important enough that I'm not letting it go!

DITHOR can be busy work. I didn't use all of the worksheets. Some of them I just used as narration sheets and the opportunity to discuss with my dc (we had some great debates and discussions!) and some of them I had them do on their own, while still others, I just skipped altogether. I really liked it for the opportunity for them to look at a book in a way they wouldn't have before.

I would encourage you to take a look at your goals for DITHOR and tweak it to fit your goals.

[Sue G in PA]

I think I will take another look at it and "tweak" as you said. I have heard of others using some of the worksheets but not others. Our "timing" was not great w/ lessons b/c my dc would read and then I'd realize the lesson would call for a pre-reading activity and we had already read! Oh well. Thanks for your reply. Any others?

[Lori D.]

Sue, I have 2 boys who would always prefer to do anything that is OTHER than school, and are not the voracious readers that I was/am. While I'm not familiar with DITHOR, I do find that what has helped draw my boys more towards *good* books is:

- us doing family read alouds at night a few times a week
- reading good books that are at or just above their reading level *together* during school, "popcorn" style ("you read a page, I read a page")
- having good books at or below their reading level scattered around the house

In the case of together reading, it gives the boys a chance to ask questions, be "drawn upwards" with good literature and themes, and especially gives us time to discuss the book together. Going over the occasional good study guide with one of those books is good, too.

And to "wean" them from the "snack food" reading (you mentioned the Star Wars books), see if you can figure out what's appealing about those books -- the adventure? a boy hero of their own age? ships/guns/lasers? the magic of another world? -- and try having *good* books around that contain some of those elements. Maybe challenge them to write their *own* Star Wars story!

Some ideas for good books that appealed to my boys at a similar age. BEST of luck in your family's reading journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.



ADVENTURE -- REAL LIFE

- The Sign of the Beaver (Speare)
- My Side of the Mountain (George)
- The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns, Island Stallion (Farley)
- Om-Kas-Toe (Thomasa)
- The Kite Fighters (Park)
- The Sword in the Tree (Bulla)
- The Door in the Wall (de Angeli)
- Twenty and Ten (Bishop)
- The Little Riders (Shemin)
- Number the Stars (Lenski)


ADVENTURE -- REAL PEOPLE

- Robert Fulton, Boy Craftsman (Henry) -- inventor of steam engine as a boy
- Naya Nuki: The Shoshone Girl Who Ran (Thomasa) -- real story of kidnapped Indian girl
- Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) -- real story of abandoned Island girl
- Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) -- real story of shipwrecked Japanese teenager
- Land I Lost; Water Buffalo Days (Nhuong) -- memories of pre-war rural Vietnam


ADVENTURE -- BATTLES

- Hittite Warrior (Williamson)
- God King (Williamson)
- Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (French)



ADVENTURE -- TALKING ANIMALS

- The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharpe)
- Trumpet of the Swan (White)
- The Mouse and the Motorcycle (McCleary)
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien)
- Rikki Tikki Tavi (Kipling)


REAL LIFE MIS-ADVENTURES

- The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill)
- From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg)
- In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord)
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Robinson)
- Five on a Treasure Island (Blyton)


FANTASY ADVENTURE

- Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis)
- Half Magic; Magic by the Lake, Knight's Castle; Time Garden; Seven Day Magic (Eager)
- The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson)
- City of Ember; People of Sparks (Du Prau)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Fleming)
- Charlie & the Chocolate Factory; Great Glass Elevator (Dahl)


FANTASY ADVENTURE READ-ALOUD

- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken)
- The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster)
- The Never Ending Story (Ende)
- The Hobbit (Tolkien)
- Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Amulet (Nesbit)


FUN TALL TALE

- The Whipping Boy (Fleischman)
- By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman)
- Pippi Longstockings; Pippi in the South Seas (Astrid)
- Holes (Sachar)
- The Great Turkey Walk (Karr)


REAL LIFE ADVENTURE -- READ ALOUDs

- Snow Treasure (McSwigan)
- Adam of the Road (Gray)
- The Master Puppeteer (Paterson)
- Johnny Tremain (Forbes)
- The Great Wheel (Lawson)
- The Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois) -- Jules Verne-like story, 1800s inventor

[Sue G in PA]

I'm not too, too concerned about the Star Wars reading. I don't put them on the same level as Goosebumps or comics or some other junk book. They are okay with me. BUT, I do want him to enjoy some other classics as well. Thank you for all the great suggestions for books. We have many of them and they do fit nicely into the genres of DITHOR...if I choose to revisit that. Ds9 isn't much of a read-aloud type kid (meaning he does not like to read aloud to me...he gets really nervous). We are reading aloud from my ds8's favorite series...Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Carribbean. Okay, so it's NOT classic lit but it IS holding their attention :) Hopefully, we can move forward from there. AGain, thanks so much for the book list. I've copied it into a word doc. for future reference.

[Sue G in PA]

Such grand plans, I had. SUch great expectations. And then...moans, groans, attitudes, etc. I'm reviewing it again and vow to be better prepared this time so hopefully that will help. This will be our required reading as opposed to pleasure reading...which is what Star Wars should be. Thanks for you super-positive review. Off to do some re-evaluating and planning! Thanks again...everyone!