For the last several years, I have been privileged to be involved in editorial and writing work on the Omnibus project. Some of you may have noticed the books as they have appeared in the right hand column here. Just yesterday I received Volume III in the mail, and thought this would be a good time to explain the project briefly, pushing it along a bit.
The books are designed for use in homeschooling and classical Christian school settings. Each text is designed to accompany the student’s reading in primary sources. For example, Omnibus I, which covers Biblical and Classical Civilizations, is a companion volume to books like The Odyssey, Genesis, Herodotus, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and some of Plato’s Dialogues. This first volume accompanies 38 books, and the coverage includes background information, classroom exercises and suggestions for work, and a comprehensive worldview essay for each book. Each volume also has a teacher’s guide on CD. Omnibus II goes from the Church Fathers through the Reformation, and covers 27 books. Examples would be The Confessions, The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. Omnibus III, still smoking from its time on the presses, covers 36 books or writings from the Reformation to the Present. Sample books would include The Westminster Confession, Frankenstein, Philemon, The Great Gatsby, Christianity and Liberalism, and Animal Farm.
The series is designed to work through our cultural history twice. The cycle is basically Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and then through those time periods again. With the publication of the third volume, this means that we are halfway through the project. The first one is designed for seventh grade, and Omnibus VI, Lord willing, will be for the seniors. Each book is an integrated textbook, covering the subjects of Theology, History, and Literature all together, with weighted values assigned to each subject in each book studied. A student who works through all six years will also have studied each book of the Bible in depth.
For those who are thinking about starting a classical Christian school, and need a resource for your teachers, or you want to get into classical homeschooling and you want a resource for you as the central teacher, this is something you probably need very much. We have recruited capable writers from all over tarnation, but most of them in some way cluster around, or are associated with, Veritas Academy in Lancaster, Logos School in Moscow, and New St. Andrews here in Moscow. When the classical Christian school movement was first getting off the ground a quarter century ago, this is the resource that we all wished we could have. If you are in the market for this kind of thing, please check it out.