Is anyone still using a loop schedule?

[melissel]

I know there was a lot of discussion awhile back, and I'm wonder how it panned out in the longer term for those who implemented it. Did you stick with it? Did it simplify your life/schooling? Can you tell me a bit about it?

 

TIA!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

What is the loop schedule? (Just curious!?)

[melissel]

Hmm, let me see if I can find a good description (my head is pounding and I know I won't do it justice)...

 

ETA: Here's some reading for you. Very simply put, you work each day for a certain amount of time and get everything done that you can in that time. When the time is up, you stop, even if there are subjects you haven't completed. The next day, you just pick up where you left off and keep going. People have made lots of modifications to the concept though. I'm wondering how it has worked for people--if the novelty wore off, if they found they were getting slowly behind over time, if their kids caught on and started dragging their feet more than they were, etc.

 

Ugh, I must go get some ibuprofen. Enjoy the links :lol:

Edited July 3, 2010 by melissel

[rafiki]

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[Guest aquiverfull]

I've never heard of a loop schedule. I'm checking the links. :lurk5:

 

ETA: I'm not sure I understand this. What's the point of a loop? How is it any different than having a schedule for each child's work and going from there? Are you stopping at a certain time for each subject, say 30 minutes for math and then just quit? It seems like we'd be forever behind in everything. I would worry about getting it all finished in 36 weeks as we don't school year round. So I'm interested in hearing how this works for others. I've had just one student so far, I'm adding in two more this fall, so I've always wondered how our days would flow and how I'd juggle the mom time.

Edited July 4, 2010 by aquiverfull

[rafiki]

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[dragons in the flower bed]

I'm getting on board with the concept of making everyone sit at the table and do school for a certain amount of time, no breaks, no snacks, just work and wait for the whistle. It's in direct opposition to the way we've homeschooled before, but our lifestyle has changed a whole bunch too.

 

So, I've been considering looping. I too would be curious to know if anyone besides Michele is still doing it. Also, Michele, would you mind e-mailing me your Excel document? I'd like to see how it works. I can picture a loop schedule in 3D in my head, spinning, but I can't figure out how to put it on a flat screen.

Edited July 4, 2010 by dragons in the flower bed

[dragons in the flower bed]

What's the point of a loop?

 

There can be two different points.

 

Sometimes, the point of a loop is to keep the same subjects from repeatedly falling off the end of the day. If you don't have a problem with that, you won't likely find it useful.

 

For example...

 

You school from nine to twelve every day, starting and stopped at those times because you have to in order to keep the rest of your life working. You have a routine for this time; let's say it's math first, English next, science after, then memorization, then art. But when you look back at your week, you see that you never got to art three times, and you missed both memorization and art once.

 

If you implemented a loop schedule, you could fix this.

 

You get to noon on Monday and you haven't done art. But since you're on a loop schedule, on Tuesday morning at nine, you'll start with memorization, then do art, then go on to math, then English, then science. And, hey, if you still have time before noon, you'll do more memorization today.

 

That brings me to the second point of the loop. Sometimes, it allows everyone to get more work done. Joyce Swann was the inspiration for it. She used this method with her children, and they ended up doing more than one cycle through the loop each day, and, in fact, all graduated early. Way early.

 

That's the way I understand it anyway.

[Guest aquiverfull]

Thanks Michele and Rose.

 

Now I see the point of the loop and see how it can work for a family. Yes, I can completely relate to not getting a subject done for whatever reason. I have little ones around and therefore we are accustomed to lots of interruptions. Getting back to work after lunch is tough. I wasn't realizing that with the loop you just pick up with the subject you left off with, instead of starting back at the beginning. I suppose this could work for us. We are really very relaxed mostly. We need to be flexible because someone always needs to go to the bathroom, wants juice, the little ones are bickering, or the baby needs a diaper change..lol.

Generally we mix our subjects up... we don't do Math first, then English,etc everyday. We just pick and choose. However, I do see this changing.

 

I had a long talk with my dd today about how school will be different in the coming fall and following years. Now that we are officially adding in two younger sisters we are going to need more structure. We need a stricter schedule and try our best to cut out interruptions. So many times, we'd be interrupted and then it was pure drudgery to get my dd back into the flow of school. I know it will be an adjustment as I learn how to juggle 3 in school. I can see the appeal in loop scheduling. I'm going to be following this thread and contemplating on what do to for our family. Thanks again!

[AudreyTN]

I tried it and *I* just don't function that way, but here's my blog post from when we tried it.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Now that we are officially adding in two younger sisters we are going to need more structure. We need a stricter schedule and try our best to cut out interruptions.

 

Yes, that.

 

I've had my oldest in p.s. and half unschooling for a lot of the time I've been homeschooling the middle two, but now we're doing one hundred percent parent-led homeschooling with him. I am adding my baby in for kindergarten (wah!) this year too. I need a stricter set up.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Hmm, let me see if I can find a good description (my head is pounding and I know I won't do it justice)...

 

ETA: Here's some reading for you. Very simply put, you work each day for a certain amount of time and get everything done that you can in that time. When the time is up, you stop, even if there are subjects you haven't completed. The next day, you just pick up where you left off and keep going. People have made lots of modifications to the concept though. I'm wondering how it has worked for people--if the novelty wore off, if they found they were getting slowly behind over time, if their kids caught on and started dragging their feet more than they were, etc.

 

Ugh, I must go get some ibuprofen. Enjoy the links :lol:

 

 

Thank you!!! I might be doing some thinking!!!! :D

[melissel]

Thanks Michele (I emailed you) and Rose! I'm mainly sort of surveying to see who managed to keep it up and who didn't, and why it did or didn't work. How did it benefit you? What were the sticking points? How do you implement it (which you answered already :D)?

 

I tried it and *I* just don't function that way, but here's my blog post from when we tried it.

 

Oh Audrey, that's too bad! I've seen several posts where people link to your blog entry because they found it so useful. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. Can you tell us why it didn't work out?

Edited July 4, 2010 by melissel

[SophiaH]

I implemented it the last nine weeks or so of school, and it dramatically reduced the stress in our school--both my dd's and mine! I'm not sure if we'll need it next year* due to a curriculum change, but if I have a few "little" subjects, I definitely will use it again. I'm actually hoping to be able to do it again. :tongue_smilie: Dd especially enjoyed it.

 

*I still structure our days LCC-style, so Math, Latin & Recitation are done everyday--no excuses. Plus I'm adding in Trail Guide to Learning, which will be done everyday. Anything else I decide to do (French, Spelling, Handwriting, daily editing, etc.) could likely be put into a loop. But I'm still trying to streamline our days and cut out extraneous subjects...

[kalanamak]

Hmm, let me see if I can find a good description (my head is pounding and I know I won't do it justice)...

 

ETA: Here's some reading for you. Very simply put, you work each day for a certain amount of time and get everything done that you can in that time. When the time is up, you stop, even if there are subjects you haven't completed.s

 

Say, that is what I do! I didn't know it had a name. Since we hs after I get home from work, my rate limiter is my endurance. We go until I start to see cross-eyed or get short. This could be 1 hour and it could be 3.

 

I have an amount I want to cover per year, I divide it into 12, and cover that much each month. If we have kept up, we have a whole weekend off at the end of the month. If we haven't, we don't. We also "fit and start" quite a bit. We might do 8 hours of science on a weekend, and none for 2 weeks (although I kept pointing out and bringing up things, and kiddo participates in this game as well). The other day we got to looking at The Story of Monet and Renoir by Lisa Alexandra Frey, and next thing I knew, we'd spent 90 minutes on this thin book, just talking and comparing. For the first time he was mature enough to tell me WHY he liked one painting over another. So, no math that day.

 

I've said it before, but there might be a new reader among us: I just added up the hours advised in WTM for each subject for the level he's on, and divided by 12. Gives me a guide, and the estimates seem reasonable.

[AudreyTN]

Oh Audrey, that's too bad! I've seen several posts where people link to your blog entry because they found it so useful. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. Can you tell us why it didn't work out?

 

I'm glad my post helps. :)

 

I don't really know *why* it didn't work. It just seemed that we got less done than when I had it scheduled to get done on a certain day. I think that I (as mama/teacher) work better with short term (daily) deadlines. If I know that everything just has to be done by the end of the week then it gets a bit overwhelming.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Interesting, I think I kind of do this. Instead of writing out lesson plans (that was a dismal failure to me) I make a chart with 180 days for each curricula (by curricula because often multiple curricula make a subject - like spelling, grammar, etc make up English). I divide the curricula among the 180 days but with no dates. I fill in the dates as I complete the curricula. I log the dates we do school so if we are on "day 11" I know about where I should be in each subject but am not committed to be there (we could be ahead, behind or "on schedule"). We complete every lesson for each curricula, moving through each curricula independently (where we are with one curricula has no bearing on where we are in any other curricula). We tend to stay pretty even but not always. Sometimes it takes us 5 days to get through what should be 4 days of work but sometimes it's 3 days to get through 4 days of work (we do 4 day school weeks). This way nothing gets missed and all lessons are completed. I have little ones so I don't have a set schedule. My older children would do things they are independent in when the littles need me and things that required me would wait until nap time (if they both needed me at the same time because they do some courses together) or they'd take turns watching the littles so I could work with the other.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

There can be two different points.

 

Sometimes, the point of a loop is to keep the same subjects from repeatedly falling off the end of the day. If you don't have a problem with that, you won't likely find it useful.

 

For example...

 

You school from nine to twelve every day, starting and stopped at those times because you have to in order to keep the rest of your life working. You have a routine for this time; let's say it's math first, English next, science after, then memorization, then art. But when you look back at your week, you see that you never got to art three times, and you missed both memorization and art once.

 

If you implemented a loop schedule, you could fix this.

 

You get to noon on Monday and you haven't done art. But since you're on a loop schedule, on Tuesday morning at nine, you'll start with memorization, then do art, then go on to math, then English, then science. And, hey, if you still have time before noon, you'll do more memorization today.

 

That brings me to the second point of the loop. Sometimes, it allows everyone to get more work done. Joyce Swann was the inspiration for it. She used this method with her children, and they ended up doing more than one cycle through the loop each day, and, in fact, all graduated early. Way early.

 

That's the way I understand it anyway.

Our goal wouldn't be to graduate early. If we are left with extra time we will fit in more advanced classes before graduation.

[rafiki]

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[rafiki]

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[rafiki]

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[rafiki]

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[mama25angels]

Michele this is totally OT, but I just have to know if those are pug puppies in your avi? Thanks

[mama25angels]

ok, I have a question: would I put the stuff that I won't done daily at the top of all 5 columns? One other question, is anybody using this method for highschoolers? I think i'm finally starting to wrap my brain around the way it should/could be done. What happened to the yahoo group? I searched for it but couldn't find it. Thanks

[rafiki]

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[JadeOrchidSong]

Do you do loom with all subjects or only the subjects that are not done every day?

For example, do you NOT loop math, language arts, and DO loop art and other less 3 R subjects?

J

[rafiki]

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[rafiki]

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[mama25angels]

I use Excel, make up a spreadsheet with 6 columns. On the first I type out each material I want to use. Columns 2-6 represent an ideal 5 day school week. I then decide the frequency for each item and plug in the assignment in general terms - read for 30 minutes, 2 worksheets, hands on, next lesson, etc. From there we complete one column, then move onto the next, then the third, etc until all 5 are done, then we start back at the beginning. I print off a sheet, put it in a page protector and my kids use wet eraser to keep track. I loop my entire ideal week load.

 

 

Michele, thank you, i'm going to give it a try for one term 12wks. and see how it works, look at what needs tweaking.

Edited July 5, 2010 by mama25angels

[Joyofsixreboot]

I guess we do this but I didn't know it had a name. I just thought we were free spirits. If I didn't do it we would read history and myths all the time and not do math. This way I know we're being consistent. I don't do lesson plans we just have an order we work through and when we hot the wall on what they can stand we're done. I feel better knowing we're just not victims of poor stamina.

[jeri]

I have four at home and I can't see how this would work when the "teacher" has to give "lessons," and when two kids work pretty much on the same level. For example, I need to teach a "lesson" in SM to three of my kids (two on the same level). would I somehow code the subject (an asterisk or something) so that child knows that before they can do the work, they must seek me out to actually teach them that? Also, if two of my kids are working at about the same level, would i tell them that they then have to do the topic at the same time? (Otherwise I teach the same lesson twice)? KWIM? Thanks.

 

Jeri

[rafiki]

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[campmom]

I'm surprised to find out that is what i have always done! If I didn't we would never get to those last few subjects. It works for me alot better than always starting at the beginning and not getting to art.