Omniology can be used for home-leaving, adulting, transitioning, parenting, homeschooling, or downsizing. The activities are designed to guide the Omniology "student" in creating a) an effective lifestyle for himself in the present, as well as b) a system for gathering and organizing information that he will need for life stages that he has yet to reach and master. This manual consists of four parts: **Part I is a personal organization program for organized, responsible adulthood, which still allows for time to "play" and to grow. (Cycle Themes include: Body Care, Paperwork, Possessions, Shelter and Transportation, Beliefs, Education and Career, "Weird People" (community), "Neat Things" (recreation and new experiences), "Mind Peers" (finding intimates), and Growth. **Part II Is the MMT (Maximizing My Time) Series, a journaling and DIY life coaching program, for those who are seeking to find a purpose or a new direction in life. **Part III are the Letter Days, each one suggesting activities that are designed to develop: (A) creativity, (D) learning skills, (E) the ability to share knowledge and talents, (F) the ability to socialize with healthy recreation, (I) the ability to have in-depth discussions, and (J) the ability to self-evaluate and self-direct. **Part IV gives instructions for using this program in a wide variety of settings, and for courses of varying lengths. *It may be a DIY course for anyone of any age, seeking an organized, perhaps minimalist, lifestyle. *It may be used by parents in preparing their children for independent adulthood. *It may be used in programs for the Gifted and Talented (who sometimes like to get "lost in their work" and who seek an efficient system for managing the "everything else" in their lives). *It may be used a) in preparing those who are reintegrating into the greater community after substance abuse treatment, or b) as a substance abuse prevention curriculum (as this is a lifestyle model that has been used in large, therapuetic communities). *Instructions are given for use in public schools, as a quarter, semester, or full year course, with suggestions for grading within the confines of the public school evaluation system. (It may be used as an outline for a new program or, perhaps, as a "Home and Career" or a Gifted and Talented course.) *It may also be used by men's, women's, or youth groups, in churches, in which a small group of people meet to work through the materials together, for mutual Education and Encouragement. (These are called "E-Groups"). Omniology is the "study of everything", because adults, who are no longer in school, often do not have teachers, or even mentors, to guide them in knowing what is important. And, as we each grow and change, and as the world is constantly changing, adults are responsible for educating themselves on "everything"! (And, of course, the problem with everything is that there is just so much of it!) Omniology seeks to "break it down", because, while so much is changing, there are some basics that remain the same for all of us, through time. Whether we write paper checks or pay with a phone app, are setting up our first apartment or downsizing the empty nest, there are certain basics to which we all need to pay attention. Throughout Part I of the course, there are quotes from another course called "Travel Education", (indictated by the letters "TE" in italics), also written by the author, and from which she took many of the "basics" that would become Omniology. Interested travelers might decide to use these quotes to put together a travel journal for their next trip! Also included throughout the course are tips for parents, or others, who are working with young people and doing this course in a family-like setting. These are indicated by the word: "Parents: " in italics.
About the Author: Laura Dell is a retired teacher, living in suburban New York. She began traveling abroad, on study programs, when she was just fifteen, and caught the "travel bug". When she returned home to teach, at age 23, her parents retired and left her to manage the family home. She had to learn how to clean out the gutters, get the car inspected, and manage her finances, along with a thousand other things that responsible adults are expected to take care of. But, until the age of 35, she still managed to spend every school vacation "on the road", with her backpack and her hammock. She spent time in Paris, rural Mexico, Kathmandu, on Easter Is., and in the Galapagos. And, at times, she took her students along with her, introducing them to world capitals and peasant life, burro rides and parasailing, haggling in the Casbah and riding the rails through the Pyrenees. As a young teacher, she became concerned about the use of illegal drugs by some of her students. She started to spend some of her school vacations visiting therapeutic communities (TCs), in hopes of discovering what they were doing for their residents that could be used in public schools for drug abuse prevention. By age 32, she was growing out of her traveling years, and she decided that, instead of trying to "re-parent" young people, as the TCs were doing, she would just "parent". At age 35, she brought home her son (age 4.5) from an orphanage in Bolivia, and, when she was 38, her older daughter (age 7), and at 44, her youngest daughter (age 3). Omniology is a synthesis of what Ms. Dell has discovered about the essential components of a balanced, satisfying, lifestyle, from her years of traveling, of independent living, of studying therapeutic communities, and of trying to create a stable and secure lifestyle for her three children. It is her hope that this do-it-yourself lifestyling course might benefit, not only those young people just starting out (as she was, when she wrote the first edition), but also those who are managing households, raising children, busy with their work and creative projects, feeling lost and "out of sync" and needing a way to "ground" themselves, and those who, like herself, are now downsizing and simplifying their lives. As she often says, "May it serve the purpose!"