VP Omnibus

[Staceyshoe]

I've been looking at the VP website, and I'm still so confused about these courses.  Maybe I need to look at the information when I'm not so tired, but I've spent 30 minutes on the VP website and am not understanding these courses.  I have no familiarity with Omnibus but am seeking rigorous online humanities for next year, and this seems like an option worth considering.  Please be patient with my questions and feel free to chime in on any/all of them and to share your own opinions as well.  Thank you!

- Ds will be ready for early modern history in his history cycle next year.  Is it possible to do Omnibus 3 with a 7th grader, or is that a high school level course?

- What are the writing requirements that go along with the Omnibus courses (e.g., paragraphs or longer essays)?  

- The "primary" course examines what VP considers the major literary works (e.g., a core course), while the "secondary" course is more of a humanities elective? 

- If you can compare VP Omnibus with WHA's The Great Conversation, I would love to hear what you have to say.

[ByGrace3]

Listening in!

[Lori D.]

No personal experience, but just a very quick overview of what I do understand about Omnibus:

 

It is two 3-year chronological cycles (Ancients, Middle Ages, Modern). Each year of Omnibus has three options:

- primary (major works of History, Lit. and Religious studies)

- secondary (additional major works in History, Lit. and Religious studies)

- survey (shorter book list, with selections from primary and secondary, largely Literature works)

 

If, in high school, and if you do both primary and secondary, the student earns 3 high school credits per year: 1 credit each in History, Literature, and Theology.

 

JMO, from watching homeschoolers at a local university model school attempting to do Omnibus: the program is quite rigorous and advanced. If you have a strong reader/writer/thinker, then you could attempt Omnibus I in 7th grade.

 

JMO, but some of the works in Omnibus III are very heavy, dark, intense, or very complex and difficult -- I personally would not use about half of the works in Omnibus III with a student under grade 10, even if the student were advanced. There is also a lot of Government and Philosophy as part of Omnibus III, which you might wish to wait on so it can be included as part of a high school credit of Gov't, which is often required by colleges for admission.

 

Another reason I would not want to start the Omnibus cycle with III is that  the student would not have previously taken Omnibus I and II in order to learn the program and be familiar with the type of analysis and thinking required to wrestle with these works. Again, just me, but I personally would heavily lean toward using 7th grade to introduce the student to beginning Literary analysis, and beginning "how to think about / discuss"  Humanities subjects and how these subjects are integrated (History, Lit., Worldview, Philosophy…) Then in 8th or 9th grade, once the student has developed those thinking / analyzing / discussing skills, jump into the heavy hitter classics used in Omnibus. For a weak or struggling reader/writer/thinker, perhaps consider an alternate classical program of integrated History / Literature / Religious studies, esp. for middle school.

 

Hope that helps, and hopefully someone with direct experience with Omnibus can jump in with their thoughts and advice! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

7th = Omnibus I = ancients

8th = Omnibus II =  = Middle Ages thru Reformation

 

9th = Omnibus III = Early Modern through 20th Century

 

Omnibus III Primary  = 1/2 Hist. & Gov't & Philosophy, 1/4 Lit., 1/4 Religious

(Lit = Pilgrim's Progress, Tale of Two Cities, Uncle Tom's Cabin; Great Gatsby; 1984)

(Hist/Gov't/Philosophy = Plymouth Plantation; Social Contract; Federalist Papers; Anti-Federalist Papers, Reflections on Rev. in France, Abraham Lincoln; Communist Manifesto; Mein Kampf)

(Religious = Westminster Confession)

 

- Omnibus III Secondary = 1/2 Lit., 1/4 Religious, 1/4 History

(Lit = Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, Gulliver's Travels; Tom Sawyer; Little Women; Killer Angels; Old Man and the Sea; Animal Farm; Death of a Salesman)

(Hist = Autobiographies: Ben Franklin, Charles G. Finney;  

(Religious = Fox's Martyrs; Christianity and Liberalism; Postmodern Times; How Should We Then Live?)

 

- Omnibus III survey (selections from primary & secondary)

(Lit = Pilgrim's Progress, Pride and Prejudice, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tom Sawyer, Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, Old Man and the Sea)

(Hist/Gov't = Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist Papers)

(Religious = How Should We Then Live)

 

10th = Omnibus IV = ancients

11th = Omnibus V = Middle Ages thru Reformation

12th = Omnibus VI = Early Modern through 20th Century

Edited February 20, 2016 by Lori D.

[Staceyshoe]

Thank you so much, Lori D!  I can't tell you how helpful your post is to me!!

[Punks in Ontario]

We've used omni 1 in 7th grade with an edited book list.  My understanding is that books 1, 2, and 3 are all about the same level.  My experience with omni 2 would support that.  This would make it a good fit for 7th grade.  We will be modifying book 3 quite a bit since we're not American.

 

I would agree with Lori that some of the selections are too much for a 12 yo.  That is part of the reason we pared it down.  There is not much of the mechanics of how to write, but there is lots of opportunities to write within the courses.  I've found that my student's writing ability has greatly improved over the last year and a half.  This does involve a fair amount of teaching time from me though.

 

 

[h2bh]

I've been looking at the VP website, and I'm still so confused about these courses.  Maybe I need to look at the information when I'm not so tired, but I've spent 30 minutes on the VP website and am not understanding these courses.  I have no familiarity with Omnibus but am seeking rigorous online humanities for next year, and this seems like an option worth considering.  Please be patient with my questions and feel free to chime in on any/all of them and to share your own opinions as well.  Thank you!

 

- Ds will be ready for early modern history in his history cycle next year.  Is it possible to do Omnibus 3 with a 7th grader, or is that a high school level course?

- What are the writing requirements that go along with the Omnibus courses (e.g., paragraphs or longer essays)?  

- The "primary" course examines what VP considers the major literary works (e.g., a core course), while the "secondary" course is more of a humanities elective? 

- If you can compare VP Omnibus with WHA's The Great Conversation, I would love to hear what you have to say.

-One option you might consider is the new WHA 20th century course if you want to stick with this point in the history cycle.  You could contact Julie Etter, the teacher.  Lori D gave you some good insight into the Omni III books.  Generally speaking the rigor level should be similar from I-III but the themes are definitely something to consider as a parent.

-I can't comment on the writing required through VPSA, but at WHA Omni I required weekly discussion board posts that are one to two paragraphs and interactions on the board along with an essay each semester of about 1000 words.

-The primary books are the "great books" whereas the secondary books flesh out topics brought up in the great books with modern selections.  The secondary books also help to round out the course in terms of distributing the credits between theology, literature and history.

-I have a child taking WHA classes but don't have personal experience with VPSA.  The main difference as far as I can tell between VP Omnibus classes and WHA Great Conversation is that WHA integrates the primary and secondary courses into one so that the topics are discussed as interrelated.  I appreciated the reduced screen time (3 hrs online/week vs 6/wk).  The overall reading list is also reduced slightly.  My child has enjoyed rotating the great books with easier secondary readings this year.

[Staceyshoe]

-One option you might consider is the new WHA 20th century course if you want to stick with this point in the history cycle.  You could contact Julie Etter, the teacher.  Lori D gave you some good insight into the Omni III books.  Generally speaking the rigor level should be similar from I-III but the themes are definitely something to consider as a parent.

-I can't comment on the writing required through VPSA, but at WHA Omni I required weekly discussion board posts that are one to two paragraphs and interactions on the board along with an essay each semester of about 1000 words.

-The primary books are the "great books" whereas the secondary books flesh out topics brought up in the great books with modern selections.  The secondary books also help to round out the course in terms of distributing the credits between theology, literature and history.

-I have a child taking WHA classes but don't have personal experience with VPSA.  The main difference as far as I can tell between VP Omnibus classes and WHA Great Conversation is that WHA integrates the primary and secondary courses into one so that the topics are discussed as interrelated.  I appreciated the reduced screen time (3 hrs online/week vs 6/wk).  The overall reading list is also reduced slightly.  My child has enjoyed rotating the great books with easier secondary readings this year.

Thank you!  Based on what you said, I think WHA might be a better fit for us than VP.  It always feels good to start closing in on a decision.  All the options overwhelm me!  I appreciate your insights.

[Paula in MS]

It actually looks like VP has a combined omnibus class like Wilson Hill beginning next year.  I would still go with Wilson Hill, though.  Our experience has been awesome!