If you’ve followed Omnibus thus far, you’ve completed three years of this curriculum, from Ancient times to the Modern era. Now it’s time to do it again, with more challenging materials, deeper analysis, and in general a more thorough overview of history. It’s been three years since your students studied ancient history, and they have grown in their understanding and are capable of greater comprehension than they were three years ago. Omnibus repeats itself because your students can go back to these eras and learn more and understand at a higher level. History is something that you can never study too many times, and Omnibus IV repeats Ancient Times with new works and materials Omnibus I didn’t have time for.

Omnibus IV ends the Logic (understanding the reasons behind the events of history) stage and begins the Rhetoric (beginning to voice your own opinions) stage. In addition to a higher level of difficulty in the works and sessions in general, Omnibus IV adds a new kind of Session, the Student-lead Discussion, which helps the Rhetoric-stage student express their opinions on and take charge of specific topics. For this year's Primary booklist, your students will take on works like Homer's Iliad, Plato's Republic, Euclid's Elements, Cicero's Speeches, and Josephus's Jewish War. The Secondary booklist includes classics like Aesop's Fables, novels like George MacDonald's Phantastes, and Christian works such as Knowing God by Packer and Desiring God by Piper. For each book, there is an introductory essay explaining the background and basic ideas of the book. This is followed by daily sessions the student can work thorough, consisting of questions, activities, and assignments that help the student learn to understand and communicate ideas thoroughly, eloquently, and from a solid Christian worldview. In the new Session, the Student-lead Discussion, the students create their own questions on a given topic instead of answering questions given in the book.

For those have journeyed through the Ancient World with Omnibus already, be prepared to see it with new eyes, eyes that have read this before and know where the story is going, eyes that re-read this story with the knowledge, skill, and experience you’ve gained over the past three years. For those of you just starting the Omnibus experience, be prepared to be challenged like you’ve never been challenged before, to think things you’ve never thought before, and to learn to hold up everything to the light of scripture.

Note:

The booklist below consists of the editions recommended by Veritas Press, though different (often cheaper) editions of these books are available.