Omnibus by Veritas Press

There are so many high school curriculums out there to choose from. We have tried and used many of them, but our all time favorite is the Omnibus program by Veritas Press. This is a 6 year challenging curriculum that covers grades 7-12. Advanced 7th grade students study Ancient History, Literature and Theology, earning one high school credit in each subject.

The 8th grade program moves on to Medieval History, Theology II, and Reformation Literature. In 9th grade they study Modern USA and British History, Theology III, and British Literature. As the program progresses, in the advanced high school grades, these subjects are repeated in a more detailed and challenging manner. It is an excellent program for your college bound student.

I love the way the authors use fine works of art for the illustrations. It's like getting a lesson in Art History at the same time. Here is a sample chapter off the Veritas Press website:



The pages are beautifully laid out. Each chapter in the text corresponds to a classic piece of Literature that the student reads daily. The text explains things about the author, historical time period and setting of the literary work. There are both primary reading books, and secondary books. We used the Primary books during the school year and assigned the Secondary books as summer reading. Here is the Primary list for Omnibus I:

Semester I:
Aeschylus 1
Odyssey of Homer
Codes of Hammurabi and Moses
The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
Plutarch Vol. 1
Oresteian Trilogy
Gilgamesh

Semester II:
Aeneid
Julius Caesar
Early History of Rome
Last Days of Socrates
Twelve Caesars
The Theban Trilogy by Sophocles

I had never heard of many of these books at the time, but these books are common reading for many college courses. Our son once joked that he had read the entire Penquin Classic bookshelf at Barnes and Nobel. Not too far off. I love how educated he is.

Your Omnibus student will average 75-100 pages of reading per day in addition to their time spent reading the text and answering the questions at the end of each chapter. It amounts to 3-4 study hours per day, depending on the students skills. The program includes learning composition, logic, and aesthetics with additional papers, tests, and recommended field trips. It is a heavy work load, similar to a college course, but well worth it. Not sure if your student is ready?

Sign your child up for the Veritas Press Online Academy. Omnibus classes are held two times per week.  Our son did this program for 3 years. He loved it! We saw him learn and grow in ways we would have never imaged possible. He went from being a non-reader, to reading over 100 pages per day. He couldn't type when he started, but became a lightening fast typist in a very short time. He met home schooled kids from all over the country. He LOVED the teachers at Veritas. They were incredibly knowledgeable, professional and made learning fun. The visual presentations made during classes were so helpful! He learned time management, how to read a Syllabus, and prepare his home work ahead of class time.  He also learned to write papers, study for comprehensive tests, and was involved in debates that were held during class time. I loved that I didn't have to grade his work because Veritas does that for you.

Any student will be well prepared for higher education with this program. But, there is still more! At the end of the school year Veritas hosts a class trip to Lancaster, Pennslyvania. Families get to tour their facilities, to meet the teachers and the kids from their class. The year we participated, the group headed on to Washington, D.C. where we spent a week on field trips relating to what we had learned during the school year. We visited the Smithsonian and the National Gallery where we studied original works of historical art. We toured the International Spy Museum, the Washington Monument and the Capitol. We had lunch delivered to us on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial where we listened to the kids give speeches they had prepared on Lincoln's life during class. It was incredible to see how talented these kids are. It also gave us a vision for what we expected our children to accomplish in high school. We enjoyed making friends and meeting the teachers and people behind the scenes at Veritas. They are very gifted in what they do. Our kids can't wait to go back again.


Omnibus is a book you will covet for it's beautiful photos and insightful knowledge. I highly recommend this program for any student, although you may have to scale things down for your student if they have learning disabilities. Our son with dyslexia was successful by listening to the books on audio tape and doing the questions from the book verbally. Or you could just study the secondary books. 


The online classes are fantastic, well worth the $595.00 price tag for the year. The Omnibus texts run $100.00 each, with the Primary or Secondary books running about $80.00 per semester. You can get the additional reading books from the library or buy them used, but they must be the same editions used with the text to get the full content of the program. 


Our son only did 3 of the 6 years of Omnibus, but he learned an incredible amount during that time. Before he began public high school, he recommended to me that I make sure his younger brothers do at least one year of Omnibus before they graduate. The wisdom of children is amazing!


You can read more about the Omnibus curriculum and online classes at the Veritas website below:


http://www.veritaspress.com/products.asp?dept=1071
http://resource2.veritaspress.com/Resources/Scholars_Online/Scholars_Online_Main.html


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