Omnibus Questions on use and purchasing

[Kathie in VA]

I'm considering Omnibus III for my rising 8th grade dd and rising 7th grade ds to use together. However they haven't covered this time-period yet, they have only touched on parts of it. I've heard that it's better for those who have a strong background in history... would this still be good for them? This would be their main access to history for next year. (I'm hoping to restart with Ancients the following year.) Oh and I'm also considering VP's online tutorial (for accountability) so we would then probably need to stick to the suggested schedule.... thus less chance to swap books around I guess.

 

Oh and would I need two student texts or is it something they can share?

 

This seems like a pricey choice if I'm adding it up correctly (that is, IF one was to purchase everything new and from VP. I know I don't need it all and I will probably need to check the library and sale/swap boards.):

 

1st student:

student text w/cd $100.00

semester 1 pri 93.50

semester 2 pri 82.71

Online course 500.00 per kid for primary readings

semester 1 sec 53.02

semester 2 sec 104.33

Online course 500.00 per kid for secondary readings

Reference pkge 232.15

 

2nd student:

student text 75.00

Online course 500.00 per kid for primary readings

Online course 500.00 per kid for secondary readings

[Karenciavo]

It's not a history program, Spielvogel is scheduled and there are extras you could get to beef up the history portion I suppose, even just having your children use the online portion of Spielvogel would help, but if my children hadn't yet studied that era in history I would either use a middle school/high school history curriculum with them and use Omnibus for lit and theology, or I would save Omnibus III and use something completely different this year and Omnibus I next year.

 

One student text should be enough, they just will have to work in shifts. If I wanted to do the online course I would only do the primary readings. Believe me, it's hard enough just keep up with those. I don't know how the students at Veritas do both, my local classical Christian school isn't able to. I'm not sure how sharing literature books will go, students read a lot, often, but I guess it can be done, maybe if one concentrates on Omnibus in the AM and the other in the afternoon.

 

HTH,

Karen

[Chris in VA]

If you wanted to go ahead and put them in Omnibus, I would get the books (not texts) at the library. There may be a little shuffling around with page numbers and such, but most of the books are divided by chapter, so you shouldn't have a huge trouble (just huge savings! lol)

 

But if I were you, I'd just wait one more year, and start with Ancients. If you want to do the time period now,I'd use Human Odyssey or one of the Glencoe World History books, and add in some lit, perhaps with Smarr or just using on-line Spark/Cliff's Notes. Barron's World History the Easy Way is a good history text also, with study guides and quizzes at the end of every chapter. You could do a quick survey of Am. Lit, then come back and read more later.

If you wait until high school, your children can squeeze a credit for Government out of Omnibus 3 and a little extra history reading. I honestly think your 7th grader would be better served to wait.

(We did Omni 1 and 2, fwiw)

[Kathie in VA]

Thank you Karen and Chris,

 

I think you two are right, so I just might hold off on Omnibus for now.

 

We have a few ideas for history that are failing right now ... I probably need to get them going again (instead of just dropping them) before really planing what to do next year. Then I'll take another look at Omnibus, TOG, and some simple text book approaches like Streams of Civilization. I really need to determine if we will do the great books (omni), combine history and lit (TOG) or do a separate history and lit (via a history text and Lightening Lit).

 

Thanks for your help.