titianmom Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Hi, I've written people offline but no one is responding, so I'll try this on the forum. I've been researching and what little I can find in discussions, etc indicate that many people don't finish the book during the year. Also, I get the impression that many of the books aren't used. Also, that many are doing their own History on the side and not using the Western Civ book that is recommended. I also read on one thread that some versions of books recommended by veritas are nec, and some aren't, like Beowulf for ex. (I have another translation than the one recommended by Veritas, so that's good to know.) Questions: IYO, which books are really nec and which aren't? I know, the primaries are nec. But, how many of the primaries did you actually use? (I'd love to be able to plop down $350+ dollars for this one course, but I can't, so I need to find a way to use it without selling my house to pay for it, ha! ;) Can you do some chapters/lessons and skip others? I'm building my own history with lots of reading, which I would prob scale back to accomodate this text, but I might simply take lessons from the Omnibus this year and massage it into what I'm already doing, which has Church History already in it. Critically think about this one: How much do you really use the CD? I know Omnibus comes with a lesson plan, etc; how many of you actually followed it? How much time do you devote to the Omnibus during the week? Daily, but for how long? Did you actually make it all the way through the book? Thanks a bunch. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 You might go ask on the high school board, since Omni gets discussed regularly there. I've been reading through O1 myself and could offer a few thoughts. Omnibus is meant to take quite a bit of time, including have you do some of the readings orally together. I think it's good to have a history spine to pull it together, whether that's Streams or Spielvogel or what, but I don't know that you'd have time to do tons of history. If you just want to do a couple books from Omnibus, have you seen they sell select guides? I don't know if they have them for O2, but they do for O1. If you haven't read the books yourself, you're definitely going to need the answers on the cd to help you. This is parent and discussion-driven. Your best bets for doing this affordable are to find a used set, price match (VP will match other places if you call and ask), or buy the books as you need them through the year. That last option would spread your cost out and keep it reasonable. These books are classics, things you'll use a long time, so I don't think you'll regret the purchases. If you're not seeing sets used, that might be why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I will start off by saying you will want the CD (if you're talking about the CD that comes with the book, which has the answers in it. ) I don't think you can get the book without the CD, can you? The answers are a huge help with all of the book discussions, and I did read all of the books, but I still needed the teachers manual. We used the Western Civ book. I bought a used copy online. I think I paid $25 for it (just an older version). I had my daughter read it, and I used it as a reference. There may be another book you would prefer for that time period. We used and read all of the books (except the Luther one, we read a bio on him). Since you go through many of the books quickly you could see if your library has them. I do recommend the Shakespeare that they recommend. The summaries and notes are very helpful, but you could use any version. If you really feel you could not read all of the books, you could watch the plays that are on the secondary list, and read the ones on the primary list. We did skip TLOTR series, since my dd had read them and seen the movies. I spent at least 30 minutes a day working with my dd. That was time going over what she read, going over questions and working on any writing. There were days that those 30 minutes were spent in the car or at the dinner table.:) My dd spent maybe 2 hrs a day on Omnibus. Remember it covers history, lit and Bible, it should take a while. As for your question about skipping chapters, you can use it any way you like, but I think it would be frustrating to combine it with something else. The course is very good and complete. I know some don't think that there is enough history, but you can read the chapters in the history book. We really tried to immerse ourselves in the time period. We watched a few different history documentaries on TV. We also went to a Renaissance Fair, which was just for fun. It was a great field trip! After reading many of the plays, we watched them (I highly recommend having Netflix!). My dd got a good flow of the history, and it's not like we hadn't done that time period before. She might be able to still sing the Veritas Press song for the Middle Ages. :D I am thinking of doing the course over 2 years for my next dd. We went too quickly through most of the books. I would prefer to slow down and enjoy some of them more, as well as study them more in-depth. I will still use the Western Civ book. I also have a few other references for the time period that are very good. I got them from Veritas as well. Hope some of this helps.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I find the CD essential because is gives the answers to the discussion questions. I've read the books that we discussed, but honestly, I do not have the literature background or Socratic skills to do the Omnibus series without the guidance provided in the CD. My oldest son did Omnibus I last year. I planned a modified schedule of the literature and used Streams of Civilization rather than Western Civ for history. In addition, I did not link up our history studies with the literature books. Here are the books I plan to use next year for Omnibus II: Beowulf The Song of Roland Macbeth Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The Hobbit The Fellowship of the Ring The Gospel of John Winning His Spurs The Two Towers Henry V Ephesians The Return of the King These books have 114 sessions planned in the Omnibus book. Basically, we will do Omnibus 3 days a week with 2 "floating" days to finish up any reading or writing assignments. Each session usually lasts 1 to 1.5 hours. It depends on how much reading is assigned and how long we take during our Socratic discussion. The writing assigments can be challenging, so I usually allow an extra day or two depending on the assignment. When a book has been translated (ie. The Aeneid), then you probably need to get the version used in the Omnibus series. This mostly applies to Omnibus I. Please let me know if you have any more questions. I use this program differently from others because I don't use all of the primary books (in Omnibus I we focused on the secondary books), but I'm happy to help if I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titianmom Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 I do have netflix and yes, we've watched the BBC Shakespearean plays. We also have Shakespeare all over the house and MSND somewhere already. :) I've read where others have used, say, Mystery of History and it worked out just fine for them to just read the periods nec, etc. How much of that hour and a half to 2 hrs is history? :) If it's mostly a THeology/Lit class, I'll have to rethink things. My daughter gets tons of theology and Lit already. Hmmm....but it *still* looks good to me. THanks again, Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzannah Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 (edited) We still did SOTW for history and I roughly matched our reading to history but I also just tried to fit our schedule with some of them. We discussed the readings, mostly following the discussion questions. I managed to find my copy on Ebay for $50 (no CD.) The CD probably would have been a nice addition but we did get by without it. In fact I'm planning to try to get by with just the student book again next year with Omnibus 3. I will say that trying to rely on my memory of books I haven't read since college didn't work nearly as well as re-reading them, so schedule that into your personal calendar. These are the books we used for 6th grade this year. I chose them because they matched the WTM reading list for 6th grade...or I just wanted to do them. The Creeds Beowulf The Hobbit Song of Roland Fellowship of the Ring Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The Two Towers Canterbury Tales The Sword in the Stone (not Omnibus) Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Divine Comedy: Inferno Henry V Gospel of John Winning His Spurs Freedom's Cause (Henty, not Omnibus) A Midsummer Night's Dream MacBeth Edited June 21, 2009 by Suzannah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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