Di3kids Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Need ideas for 9th grade. Just finishing SL100 American history and really enjoyed it. I like the idea of combining history, lit, and Bible/worldview which we would get with Omnibus. Is it in any way like TOG (I'm a TOG flunkie!)? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 You might like to see some of the numerous threads reviewing Omnibus--just do a search and I think you'll be surprised how much has been discussed! One thing--it can be tweaked--we are not Reform in theology, but found Omnibus very doable. We didn't read the theology portions (mostly the secondary readings) but substituted our own. Of course, some is intertwined, I just mean the obvious theo books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 After using both, I am using Omnibus again next year for my rising 9th grader. I agree that their theology is heavy to Reformed but we actually read many of the selections and discussed our differences. Sometimes, we found we had to dig hard ourselves and my dh is a pastor!! LOL. For instance, we had a wonderful week long discussion on pre-destination among ds, dh and myself. Just reading another viewpoint isn't bad because it really makes one have to define what we really believe. I switched to TOG because of multiple ages but I am not convinced it is the best. I am going back to Omnibus for next year because I just love the depth, explanations, readings, etc. I have relaxed a little and now realize it is really OK if I don't finish everything perfectly. It's only taken me about 10 years of homeschooling to realize that, ha. I have always found Veritas Press extremely helpful if you call them. Also, I agree that you should look at all the posts out there. I will however say that they are both excellent programs. You will have to see which one appeals to you and your dc's style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 I am going through OI with my oldest now. I love the way they teach history, worldview, and theology. The teacher's manual is fantastic. I've read several of the books, but not all of them, and we manage just fine. That being said, we are switching to TOG for next year, simply because I have 5 younger kids and there is no way I can manage to teach 2 different levels of Omnibus at the same time - my two oldest are too far apart in age to combine them. And then I have to teach my four younger ones, and they are always somewhere else in history. For my own sanity, I need to keep my kids at least on the same topic. Omnibus is easy to use and teach, IMO, but is very teacher intensive because of the daily discussion sessions - many days it takes well over 2 hours to cover primary and secondary readings. We do split them up and cover one in the morning and one in the afternoon. That said, if you have the time, Omnibus is fabulous. I will probably continue to buy the texts to have on hand for extra reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Same here; I agree completely with Chris. We are not Reformed either, but found Omnibus very doable. I would recommend a search on the threads to see what has been discussed previously. If you can't find what you're looking for, though, feel free to ask away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 We are Reformed and we tried Omnibus 1 this year. It was a total flop. Other than Bible, I couldn't even see the history in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 We are Reformed and we tried Omnibus 1 this year. It was a total flop. Other than Bible, I couldn't even see the history in it. We did not do as Omnibus suggested for history. They suggest only portions of reading through Western Civilization by Spielvogel. That didn't make sense to me. Why not get the whole picture? Because my middle daughter was a big younger when we started Omnibus, we did World History: A Human Odyssey instead. We also bought the study guide and did tests; in fact, I beefed up the practice tests provided in the study guides. Overall, I felt like that approach gave them a better background in history than they would have had if we had just done the suggested Omnibus readings. If you use Western Civilization as your text, read the entire chapter. I believe Western Civ. might have a study guide available; if so, purchase that. They also have online resources on the Wadsworth Publishing website, but I don't care for those. They're fine for review, but not the same as having the student actually sit down and write out a test. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 We could not afford Western Civilization and from our understanding, it wasn't supposed to be necessary, but rather a supplement. When told it's a supplement, to me that means that the bulk will be in the main readings. We're going back to MFW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I did TOG Year 1 with Omnibus I, that was a wild year. :D:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I did TOG Year 1 with Omnibus I, that was a wild year. :D:tongue_smilie: *That&* sounds like a fascinating story! Do tell ... (pretty please with sugar on top?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I did TOG Year 1 with Omnibus I, that was a wild year. :D:tongue_smilie: I can only imagine! Both TOG and Omnibus are full schedules in and of themselves. Did you do TOG with your younger ones and Omnibus with your older dc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) *That&* sounds like a fascinating story! Do tell ... (pretty please with sugar on top?) I can only imagine! Both TOG and Omnibus are full schedules in and of themselves. Did you do TOG with your younger ones and Omnibus with your older dc? I did TOG with the younger students and TOG & Omnibus I with my older son. Actually we did Omnibus over two years. We did Year 4 of TOG when ds15 was in 7th and he read Screwtape, CoN, Kreeft, Sproul, ect. that year. We did TOG year 1 in 8th grade and that's when he read the ancients included in Omnibus I. I plugged in the readings as they seemed to fit. He pretty much just did the TOG history, geography, and some of the writing assignments. Omnibus I replaced TOG literature and worldview assignments for the most part, there were occasions when I added in TOG assignments for those subjects too. He did the progym assignments and a lot of the essays in Omnibus. Edited March 20, 2009 by Karenciavo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I did TOG with the younger students and TOG & Omnibus I with my older son. Actually we did Omnibus over two years. We did Year 4 of TOG when ds15 was in 7th and he read Screwtape, CoN, Kreeft, Sproul, ect. that year. We did TOG year 1 in 8th grade and that's when he read the ancients included in Omnibus I. I plugged in the readings as they seemed to fit. He pretty much just did the TOG history, geography, and some of the writing assignments. Omnibus I replaced TOG literature and worldview assignments for the most part, there were occasions when I added in TOG assignments for those subjects too. He did the progym assignments and a lot of the essays in Omnibus. That's really impressive, Karen. I admire you for being able to put all of that together. We just did Omnibus I (and not very efficiently) and then Omnibus II (which was more of a success story); just doing that alone was a lot. Coordinating TOG and Omnibus is quite a skill, but knowing you, I'm sure that you did an excellent job! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 That's really impressive, Karen. I admire you for being able to put all of that together. We just did Omnibus I (and not very efficiently) and then Omnibus II (which was more of a success story); just doing that alone was a lot. Coordinating TOG and Omnibus is quite a skill, but knowing you, I'm sure that you did an excellent job! :) Thanks. :blush: I only did it because at the time I was not satisfied with Classic TOG's lack of great books at the rhetoric level and I was going to switch to Omnibus. I was frustrated by the history portion of Omnibus though so my solution was to do both. I don't really recommend it :001_smile: Now I'm happy with Redesign and all is well. I do still think Omnibus is wonderful though and beautiful. It's hard not to buy the other years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Need ideas for 9th grade. Just finishing SL100 American history and really enjoyed it. I like the idea of combining history, lit, and Bible/worldview which we would get with Omnibus. Is it in any way like TOG (I'm a TOG flunkie!)? Thanks! We are also going thru SL100 this year. I have my 8th grade dd & 7th grade ds doing this and my 3rd grade ds listening in on the Hist Of Us read alouds and Q&A time. My younger ones are doing Classical Conversations - Foundations so they will be starting another cycle next year. Thus I'm also considering Omni I for my oldest as it will really keep everyone on a similar timeline. (they both do basically a 3 year cycle). The only reason I keep hesitating is because most say that Omni takes about 3 hrs a day, which is a lot when I want to add the full chapters of Western Civ plus everything else (algebra, Biology, CW-Diogenes, logic, foreign lang., piano?, art?, ...) . So at this point I'm looking at Omni, going directly with WTM/WEM, or using Streams of Civilization over 2 years and then another yr of Am Hist. This will give my oldest some time for Government and/or Economics etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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