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X-post for those of you using a loop schedule


thowell
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how do you set up your lesson plans? There are so many things we seem to never get to that I have decided to give the loop a try. Here are my plans

 

Our school hours will be 8:30 - 1:00. DD8 and DD11 will do math, writing, Bible and reading daily. Bible is done together first thing and reading is done in the evenings. They should have their daily subjects finished by 10:30. For our loop I have it set up like this.

 

Geography

Science

Grammar

History

Art

French

Cooking

Lapbooking

Composer Study

Nature Study

 

So I am trying to get a jump on the New Year by writing up my plans for the next 12 weeks. If we do not have time limits on each loop subject how do I write out my lesson plans. Do you just divide them by lesson and complete each lesson per session? Just looking for some ideas. Thanks!

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No, a loop schedule is where you basically rotate through your loop. You don't set a time limit on each subject but instead decide your hours of school. You would begin your loop with your first subject and go until the lesson is either complete or the end of the day. The next day you pick up in your loop schedule where you left off. Example, if on Monday we get Geography and Science done then on Tuesday we would start with Grammar and go from there. Make sense?

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I'm not sure that I'm the best one to ask since I've only been looping for 1/2 of last year and this year, but I'll jump in anyway.

 

Basically I plan out what I want to get done in each subject for the whole year before we start school. I really break it down into specifics. For example: Week 1 Day 1 p. 1-3 in Math in Focus, Miquon Red p. 5. We use HOD so most of our subjects are already planned for us, but I plan out our Math, Grammar/Writing, and electives because we don't use HOD's recs. Of course, if a concept takes longer to master than I had planned, then I slow down, but I'm usually pretty spot on because I know dd's hangups.

 

Next I come up with how I want our loop to work. I break into 2 teaching blocks and 1 independent work block. The teaching blocks run one hour each and the independent work block depends on how quickly dd8 gets it done :).

 

Then I put my subjects in the order I want them to be. We start with Bible box (in HOD), move to History box (in HOD), Math (Math in Focus lesson and MEP lesson), History Rotation box (in HOD), English/Writing, Spelling, Storytime, Read to Mom, Science box (in HOD), Electives (these rotate depending on the day between Art, Spanish, and Logic).

 

I set the timer for 1 hour and start our loop wherever we left off the day before. Sometimes we make it through the whole schedule in one day, sometimes dd really gets into her History project or science experiment so we move slower. After the first 1 hour teaching block, dd gets a 45 minute break (while I do some pre-K stuff with dd4). DD8 comes back after her break for another 1 hour teaching block. After that teaching block I am basically finished with her, but she still has her independent work to do (Math in Focus worksheets, CWP/IP books, poetry copywork, handwriting, geography workbook). Sometimes she chooses to do her independent work immediately, but most days she takes another 45 minute break (she sets the timer herself), then finishes up. Later in the day (usually after supper), I go over her independent work with her to correct any mistakes together.

 

Most people do certain subjects every day before starting their loop, but I just loop every subject. I've yet to have a day that we don't get to math or grammar/writing at some point in the day.

 

HTH.

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If we do not have time limits on each loop subject how do I write out my lesson plans. Do you just divide them by lesson and complete each lesson per session? Just looking for some ideas. Thanks!

 

Ideally, I would have the whole semester planned by subject, and would just go until time/attention spans were exhausted or we got to a logical stopping point, and pick up there next time we got to that subject.

 

In actuality, I know we get through the whole loop 2 to 3 times per week, and I know how much has to be done in a semester, and I am usually barely a week ahead as far as planning!

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Ideally, I would have the whole semester planned by subject, and would just go until time/attention spans were exhausted or we got to a logical stopping point, and pick up there next time we got to that subject.

 

In actuality, I know we get through the whole loop 2 to 3 times per week, and I know how much has to be done in a semester, and I am usually barely a week ahead as far as planning!

 

So when you are planning do you break your subjects up into lessons or do you just do a complete semester breakdown with no schedule separation? Does this make sense?

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So when you are planning do you break your subjects up into lessons or do you just do a complete semester breakdown with no schedule separation? Does this make sense?

 

Depends on the subject. For most, I know that it takes x number of pages to finish by the end of the year, so I took that number of pages, divided by the number of remaining weeks, and then I know what we need to get done each time.

 

So during the week, I know I need to do pages 42-48, and I know I have 2-3 sessions to get that done in, and depending on how busy our day is, how kids' attention spans are, etc., is how far we make it through those pages during each of the 2-3 sessions.

 

You could just as easily break it up based on chapters or lessons. (27 lessons left and 18 weeks means you need to do 1.5 lessons per week, so if you expect to get through your loop 2-3 times, you need to get 1/2 to 3/4 of a lesson done each time). Then you think about your kids' attention spans, how much time you have, etc. If you think it is easy to get one whole lesson done each time, you either bank on finishing that subject before the end of the school year, or you start coming up supplemental stuff to deepen each lesson. If you think you need to get 1.5 lessons done per week and are struggling to get 1 whole lesson done, you either assume it's OK not to finish by your designated time, or you start cutting stuff to get it done.

 

Bear in mind that my kids are just 6, so I may not be the best one to be giving advice! I go a lot more by attention spans and how much they seem to be getting than by page number - if something needs to be pushed out, so be it. And if I cut some history or science, at this age, it really isn't a big deal! I'm sure I wouldn't be quite so liberal in slashing if I had older kids!

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okay this sort of sounds cool. So for instance I'm always moaning the fact that we skimp on history and science, art and music---so with a loop I could just do language arts activities one day until done and then move on to math until done etc. And the next day instead of doing more LA and math first, start with a history lesson/activity and maybe not stress if anything else gets done that day? We always do so much LA and math that other things get pushed aside too often.

 

I have a few things that work best daily--Sequential Spelling, Daily Language Review and Reinforcers. Also wanted to do more journaling activities this year. So I could still start with those few things that work best daily, but change the order of things as we work through them.

 

Do you just sit down and maybe list your subjects/programs etc in order of priority?

 

I think I'm seeing how this could work and be tweaked to fit for us.

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Do you just sit down and maybe list your subjects/programs etc in order of priority?

 

I think I'm seeing how this could work and be tweaked to fit for us.

 

Like you I wasn't getting to the extras in our homeschool as much as I wanted to. I was spending all my time doing math and LA.

 

To get started looping I just took my dream list week (aka in a perfect homeschool world this is what would get done each day of the week in order). I try to intersperse intense subjects (math, grammar/writing, spelling) with more "fun" things.

 

I'll use our current 2nd grade schedule as an example:

 

Monday: Bible, History Reading, Math, Rotation Box (HOD thing), Grammar/Writing, Poetry Study, Spelling, Storytime, Read to Mom, Science, Art

 

Tuesday: Bible, History Reading, Math, Rotation Box, Grammar/Writing, Poetry Study, Spelling, Storytime, Read to Mom, Science, Spanish

 

Wednesday: Bible, History Reading, Math, Rotation Box, Grammar/Writing, Poetry Study, Spelling, Storytime, Read to Mom, Science, Logic

 

Thursday: Bible, History Reading, Math, Rotation Box, Grammar/Writing, Poetry Study, Spelling Test, Storytime, Read to Mom, Science, Spanish

 

Friday (our light day): Bible, History Notebooking, Math, Timeline, Grammar/Writing, Storytime, Read to Mom, Science

 

Once I did this, then I decided how long we would do school each day. I pretty much follow the rule of 1 hour of school per grade, so we are doing 2 hours of school together, then dd does some independent work on her own (math worksheets, daily geography workbook, etc.).

 

Then on Monday, you start with your perfect week setup. Let's say the first day we only get through "Read to Mom" on my schedule because my dd was really enjoying her HOD Rotation Box activity and it took a while.

 

On Tuesday, we would start with Science and Art from Monday and then move on to Tuesday's work. Tuesday doesn't have as much hands-on planned so we make it through the whole day's work.

 

On Wednesday, we would just start with Wednesday's work and go until our time was up, then pick up where we left off the next day, etc.

 

I like looping because it stopped me from constantly saying, "Hurry up and finish that art project, science experiment, history activity, or whatever. We've got to do math." I know that we will get to it the next day or later that day.

 

Some people worry that they will get too far behind and not finish the year's work. So far with us, it's evened out. Some days we don't finish our work, but then the next day we get it all done. Sometimes we even get ahead for the next day (dd loves this part of looping. She brags about her mad skills :D).

 

Anyway, HTH.

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I am about to start doing a loop schedule starting Monday!!! I am very excited about it because we will get to things like art, music, etc that seem to always get skipped. For my DS5, we will do these daily: circle time (calendar, memorization, poetry), Singapore math, reading lesson, handwriting, phonics games and German. On the loop, we will have ETC (this is review for him), religion, Miquon and RS games, history, science, music, art, and critical thinking. I am thinking that we will get through a lot of these each day since we do short CM style lessons. That said, we can just pick up with the "extras" where we left off the day before. This is how my loop is going to look:

 

ETC, Religion, Miquon, History, Science, Music

ETC, Religion, Miquon, History, Science, Art

ETC, Religion, Miquon, History, Science, Critical thinking

 

While we should be able to get those all done with our short lessons each day, it really takes the pressure off to know that Music, Art and Critical thinking won't continually get knocked off the schedule!!!!!

Edited by kristinannie
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okay this sort of sounds cool. So for instance I'm always moaning the fact that we skimp on history and science, art and music---so with a loop I could just do language arts activities one day until done and then move on to math until done etc. And the next day instead of doing more LA and math first, start with a history lesson/activity and maybe not stress if anything else gets done that day? We always do so much LA and math that other things get pushed aside too often.

 

I have a few things that work best daily--Sequential Spelling, Daily Language Review and Reinforcers. Also wanted to do more journaling activities this year. So I could still start with those few things that work best daily, but change the order of things as we work through them.

 

Do you just sit down and maybe list your subjects/programs etc in order of priority?

 

I think I'm seeing how this could work and be tweaked to fit for us.

 

 

I am not sure if this is the "right" way to do it, but I have divided our subjects into 2 sections - things I want to do every day (the 4 Rs - religion, reading, handwriting, & math), and the other subjects which I consider less essential. We do the essentials daily, then start on our loop list at the place where we left off last. We work through the list until we are out of time/patience, then quit for the day. The next day, we do the essentials, and then pick up where we left off previously on our loop schedule.

 

I would consider the skills (reading, 'riting, & 'rithmetic) + religion to be the essentials and the content subjects to be the ones that go on a loop. I think foreign languages & musical instruments go on the skills list as well.

Edited by MeganW
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to the OP - your desires sound EXACTLY like mine, except I have boys plus a 5 yr old too! Your desired subjects match mine almost exactly except no cooking and a few other things like electronics.

 

I'm going to try this loop idea starting this week. We're doing LA, math, Bible and history daily and will loop the other things. I'm liking the block idea and may try it that way!

 

Good luck!

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We're very loopy around here! My Ker and 2nd grader have their own loops, and we also have one combined loop! I started doing it this way because sometimes they really just get into what they're doing (and the things they don't, I just stipulate the amount of time or work they have to do). I found this even for the daily subjects. Sometimes they play math games for longer than I'd alloted, or my dd wants to do extra ETC sheets. So, each kids works on their individual loop for about an hour and a half, with the Ker just getting plenty of extra breaks, then we do an hour or more of our combined loop.

 

I had started with planning a strict daily schedule of what I'm doing with each, but I guess i just find that it took away from their ability to learn more by discovery and of their own volition, and I believe that kind of learning is the most joyful and best retained.

 

I don't know if we'll get all we wanted done by the end of the year, but I'm not worried about that. If we go into the summer a bit that's okay with me.

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I am not sure if this is the "right" way to do it, but I have divided our subjects into 2 sections - things I want to do every day (the 4 Rs - religion, reading, handwriting, & math), and the other subjects which I consider less essential. We do the essentials daily, then start on our loop list at the place where we left off last. We work through the list until we are out of time/patience, then quit for the day. The next day, we do the essentials, and then pick up where we left off previously on our loop schedule.

 

I would consider the skills (reading, 'riting, & 'rithmetic) + religion to be the essentials and the content subjects to be the ones that go on a loop. I think foreign languages & musical instruments go on the skills list as well.

 

After reading this thread, I think I want to try this. I have 48 hours to figure it out, lol! I have slacked quite a bit since September since we moved at the end of August, went on vacation the 2nd week of September, then had a baby the first week of October. Then of course the holdiays came so AHHHH!:willy_nilly:

 

We have been missing the four R's! I would like at some point to be able to do a complete loop, but I think this would be the style I would start with for now since I feel like we have been lax.

 

So I would do it this way: Bible, exercise (starting Leslie Sansone), math, reading, handwriting, then looping history, read-alouds, spanish, science, logic, art, music, etc. I have some tweaking to do do our curriculum in the next 48 hours, too. Not a lot but maybe dropping something. I may not have to with looping though!! I can easily get a week of SL history in 2-3 sessions, and sometimes we do the read-akouds as bedtime stories.

 

Okay, off to think about this a bit, and maybe start writing it down. I want to write the Abeka lesson plans as a list with checkboxes and add them to my "mom binder". I need a checklist, it makes things go so much better for me! Ooo, I get to mix up my mom binder a but as well, how exciting! Just ordered the WPD binder to go with my WPD planner. I will store six weeks of SL in there as well......

 

Talking to myself on the forum = time for bed!

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Can someone experienced with loop schedules take a look at my loop and tell me what you think? I visualize this as a "two-week" loop--meaning I HOPE to get through the loop every two weeks.

 

Here goes:

_________________________________________________________

 

Daily: (Begin at 8 am)

__ Reading (45-60 min)

__ Math (45 min)

__ Latin (30-45 min)

__ Writing (20 min)

__ Xtramath.com (10 min)

__ Memory Work (10 min)

__ Piano (10 min)

 

Finish by 11:30. Have Lunch. 12:00 noon begin Loop.

 

Loop:

__ Science

__ Grammar

__ Geography

__ Yoga

__ Free Writing

__ History

__ Typing Practice

__ Grammar

__ Yoga

__ Composer Studies

__ Science

__ Typing Practice

__ History

__ Grammar

__ Yoga

__ Science

__ Geography

__ Free Writing

__ History

__ Artist Study

__ Typing Practice

__ Yoga

 

Finish by 2:30 on Afterschool Days, later on Home Days.

Edited by Halcyon
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