shanezomom Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Can anyone comment on the pros and cons of using Omnibus I self-paced vs textbook only? Self-paced saves prep time but are we giving up anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Did you see some of the samples? They make me still doubting. Some of them will be better then I will ever can offer. The other side how to use it in our Belgian situation. A textbook will never expire... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 No direct personal experience, but my niece uses the Omnibus self paced and it is amazing! I can't wait to go through it all myself. For me it takes away a little of the "can I really teach that?" doubt I can sometimes have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeinMT Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I have not used the self-paced but have gone through all six years teaching my children (and a few others). I think the self-paced courses look amazing and I know people who have used them and are very happy with them. You're correct that it takes the responsibility for all that prep work off the parents' shoulders. Knowing myself, I know that I would not do all the reading and engage in the discussion with my child about what they had read when I knew a program would do it for me. There were hours and hours of reading to be adequately prepared to participate in discussion. The teacher guide gives you answers but it really can't anticipate the questions your child will come up with and you'll want to be ready to answer those. This was a huge undertaking but I think it is well worth it. My kids, and I, got so much out of the discussions and I so appreciate how much you get to really understand how your children think and understand the things they read. It feels like you are flying through these books but the lasting results are amazing! All of mine consistently brought up topics and authors from the first few years to compare to the people we were studying in the later years. If I hadn't done the work too I would have missed out on all of that as well as the appreciation of the thorough grasp on history that I know they have because they are eager to share with me when they encounter things that relate to the shared base that we have. I don't doubt that the children I know who used the self-paced program received as good, or even better, instruction, but they don't share that with their parents the way mine do. I don't know your reasons for homeschooling, but apart from quality of education, one of mine was to build strong relationships with my children. This has been one of the best things I've used to do both of those things at once. Now, having said all that, please don't think I'm putting down anyone who doesn't have the time or resources to devote to this type of project. I really loved the Omnibus program and I've seen that children get a lot out of it whether it is parent taught, self-paced, or using the Veritas Academy. The most important thing (IMHO) in choosing a curriculum is choosing one that will actually get done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 With the online self-paced Omnibus courses you're getting a master teacher who has taught the course many times who was then given the budget to TRAVEL and take you ON LOCATION. So the real question is the reverse: are you giving up anything if you teach it yourself rather than doing it with the self-paced lessons? If you want to be able to discuss, you'll need to do the reading. If you DO THE READING, then you have the flexibility to choose how much you discuss with him. Obviously if your dc does it in a vacuum, without discussing with you, you'll feel like you're missing out and he'll miss the opportunity to butt heads with his parents on those topics. But it's a question of whether you want to be driving all this or have some help. We ended up not doing Omnibus in either fashion, but for the elementary what I found is the self-paced courses were consistently richer than what I could have done on my own. The part that you want to have happen (discussion, balancing out their Reformed viewpoint with your own doctrinally, etc.) you have to make happen either way. You just have a little more flexibility to not be the only one driving things. There's some natural separation that occurs as their grade level increases, unless you make a lot of effort to read what they're reading and discuss. It's the discussion that matters, not who the teacher was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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