When I was in eighth grade and my younger sister was in fifth grade, we discovered Veritas Press’ self-paced program, and my siblings have been using it since then.
What do they offer?
Veritas offers self-paced options for their Bible, History, and Omnibus classes. Bible and History are offered for 2nd-6th grade, and Omnibus is offered for 7th-9th grade.
While Veritas does have a Bible program for every year of 2nd-6th grade, they currently only offer 3 in a self-paced option. These are Genesis to Joshua, Judges to Kings, and Gospels.
The History courses take the student from the creation of the world to modern events over the course of 5 years. Their courses include Old Testament and Ancient Egypt; New Testament, Greece and Rome; Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation; Explorers to 1815; 1815 to Present.
The Omnibus self-paced option is only offered for the first three levels. They have both primary and secondary courses for Omnibus I, II, and III.
How do they work?
The Bible and History courses teach 32 events each, which correspond to 32 weeks. Each week in Bible consists of three lessons and a quiz, and they are meant to be four-day weeks. The History courses include four lessons and a quiz, giving a five-day week. You have the option to buy the cards that go along with each event. My parents have always bought these for my siblings because they are frequently referenced in the lessons, and it makes it so much easier to review.
The Omnibus courses have two parts: primary and secondary. I took the secondary course for Omnibus II in eighth grade. Secondary courses have 3 lessons per week, but it is assumed you will be completing the reading assignments on the days you don’t have lessons. Omnibus primary courses have 5 lessons per week with reading assignments. Omnibus Primary and Secondary are integrated by teaching similar things, but primary is the history course while secondary is the literature course. They also give a half credit of theology each.
What does a lesson look like?
The Bible and history courses are led by two characters who are meant to act like they live around the time period the student is studying. The lessons consist of videos and interactive reading that teach the material. There are also games to review past events, and in most lessons, they play at least a portion of the memory song. The first lesson of the week has a graded worksheet, and the last lesson has a graded quiz.
The Omnibus lessons are about an hour long and consist mainly of videos and interactive slides. There are occasionally a couple of review games as well. There are also two types of interviews: street interviews and interviews with a professional. The street interviews are usually done in a big city and random people are asked a question about their worldview. The professional interviews are done with someone who is an expert in that area. The lessons in Omnibus II Secondary also usually had a short, graded quiz. All the assessments (including the midterm and final exams) are multiple-choice.
The Veritas Press self-paced courses are a great option, especially for Bible and History. The lessons are straightforward and make learning easy and fun. My siblings both loved the courses they have done. The Omnibus self-paced courses are great options, especially for students who are just starting their study of the great books. Since Omnibus is very discussion-based, it can be more challenging to learn this in a self-paced setting, but as an eighth grader in my first year of the Omnibus curriculum, I really enjoyed the course and I felt like I learned a lot.
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