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Afterschooling on a loop schedule?


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Hi everyone,

 

I have recently come across some posts concerning a loop scheduling for homeschooling. This idea seems very interesting and I can see how it might work in an afterschooling setting. Right now for my dd's pre-K and K year I plan on using a full homeschooling curriculum as an afterschooling program since she is so advanced and loves to learn. My dh will not allow homeschooling so we are afterschooling. dd just turned 5 but is doing both reading and math at a end of 1st beginning of 2nd grade level. I am planning on using a mix of Sonlight, WTM suggestions, Ambleside Online and other various supplements like read alouds from Living Books Curriculum as well as HOD since we go through read alouds like water! I also want to do Elemental Science and History with her. Do you think putting all of this on a loop schedule since I'm using so many components of various programs would work to get everything done? I realize that we probably won't finish in a year but that's okay with me. I'm just doing it all so she doesn't get bored! Has anyone ever done a loop schedule for afterschooling? I'm not sure I understand completely how it works and I'm looking for more guidence, so if you have any please let me know.

 

Andrea

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We are finding our way into a two year loop for SOTW. That is, every two years we are going to listen to the audio versions for volumes 1-3. I plan to do this all the way until my kids are taking AP tests in high school. I'm hoping the SOTW jogs their memory.

 

As for everything else, I just try to follow my kids' natural interests and curiosity. I find that I have the easiest time teaching my son new things on an Afterschooling basis if it is something he is really interested it. Good luck!

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Forgive me. What do we mean by "loop" schedule?

 

 

I can't answer for the OP, but I see two meanings of loop. One is the traditional public school meaning which is when teachers take the same class two years. You start with first graders, and then teach them in second grade too.

In terms of Afterschooling, I would mean loop to say that we intend to do some things, like SOTW, over again in the future.

Good question!

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I think loop schedule means she does 5 different things-math, reading, spelling, history, and science, but on any single day she only does 4. So you loop through them. (or the numbers could be different, but that's the idea)

 

Monday--math, history, spelling, science

Tuesday--reading, math, history, spelling

Wednesday--science, reading, math, history

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In PS loops I've seen are done aka "specials"...for example on Wednesdays for one hour they'll do science in week 1 from say 1-1:30.

 

The 2nd Wednesday of the month, same time slot, maybe "character development" shows up...

 

and so on....

 

It can mean blocking off one set time period one day per week with topic that changes.

 

------------

 

It can also mean a range of subjects covered lightly at first, the returned to at a little deeper level (loop 2)..and so on. This is the way Story of the World is set up. Nice design.

 

----

 

Looping can also mean a vast array of subjects which are not repeated throughout the year, but are built into a schedule or course of a year just so that they are practiced...

 

--

 

Looping subjects can afford the room for more depth of study over a longer period of time, or mean that the subject is brought up on purpose just for exposure or interest.

 

Everyone has a slightly different way of using it depending on what they want out of it at the end.

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It can mean blocking off one set time period one day per week with topic that changes.

 

------------

 

It can also mean a range of subjects covered lightly at first, the returned to at a little deeper level (loop 2)..and so on. This is the way Story of the World is set up. Nice design.

 

----

 

Looping can also mean a vast array of subjects which are not repeated throughout the year, but are built into a schedule or course of a year just so that they are practiced...

 

--

 

Looping subjects can afford the room for more depth of study over a longer period of time, or mean that the subject is brought up on purpose just for exposure or interest.

 

Oh, ok. We do all those. I guess we loop.

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I think loop schedule means she does 5 different things-math, reading, spelling, history, and science, but on any single day she only does 4. So you loop through them. (or the numbers could be different, but that's the idea)

 

Monday--math, history, spelling, science

Tuesday--reading, math, history, spelling

Wednesday--science, reading, math, history

 

This is my understanding of it (reading the thread going on the the K-8 forum anyway). Only it's more like you have your 5 (or however many) subjects, and you do as many as you get through that day, and the next day you pick up where you left off and go however far you can, etc. So you might only get through 2 of the five on Day 1, but get though 3-5 + 1 again on Day 2. Or one or more of the subjects might change, like this:

math, history, character, art

math, history, character, poetry

math, history, character, music appreciation

 

And not all subjects have to be on the loop--for example, math might get done every day first, and then you start the loop.

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This is my understanding of it (reading the thread going on the the K-8 forum anyway). Only it's more like you have your 5 (or however many) subjects, and you do as many as you get through that day, and the next day you pick up where you left off and go however far you can, etc. So you might only get through 2 of the five on Day 1, but get though 3-5 + 1 again on Day 2. Or one or more of the subjects might change, like this:

math, history, character, art

math, history, character, poetry

math, history, character, music appreciation

 

And not all subjects have to be on the loop--for example, math might get done every day first, and then you start the loop.

 

Given that definition, I guess we loop too. But more informally.

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This is my understanding of it (reading the thread going on the the K-8 forum anyway). Only it's more like you have your 5 (or however many) subjects, and you do as many as you get through that day, and the next day you pick up where you left off and go however far you can, etc. So you might only get through 2 of the five on Day 1, but get though 3-5 + 1 again on Day 2. Or one or more of the subjects might change, like this:

math, history, character, art

math, history, character, poetry

math, history, character, music appreciation

 

And not all subjects have to be on the loop--for example, math might get done every day first, and then you start the loop.

 

Yes, this is what I meant by afterschooling on a loop :-) This is what I sleaned it was in the K-8 board, although I can see how the other loops would be beneficial.

 

I was thinking of doing more of a schedule like this:

 

Elemental history

Rightstart Math Games

Sonlight Language Arts

AO Readaloud

Singapore Math

Elemental Science

Sonlight Readaloud

Poetry

Character Study Workbook

 

with Bible, normal bedtime readaloud and Reading to Mommy being done every day. This of course is not my exact schedule I was just throwing it out there off the top of my head. Do you all think it would work? This way we could cover lots of stuff at the same time without overwhelming her. At this young age I would rather her be exposed to a lot of different viewpoints (different concepts in math to figure something out, traditional history and science vs. Christianized history and science, "old fashion" read louds as well as more modern stories, etc. Am I crazy for hoping this would work? Keep in mind my dd is 5 and in Pre-K but complaining she is bored and is way ahead of her peers. She thrives on learning and being challenged and loves to do "Mommyschool". She is also only in Pre-K for 2.5 hours a day so I do have lots of time at home with her even though i work at night. What do you all think? And if you do something like this, how do you schedule it? 1 lesson at a time? Or plan 2 days into 1 etc.?

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Yes, this is what I meant by afterschooling on a loop :-) This is what I sleaned it was in the K-8 board, although I can see how the other loops would be beneficial.

 

I was thinking of doing more of a schedule like this:

 

Elemental history

Rightstart Math Games

Sonlight Language Arts

AO Readaloud

Singapore Math

Elemental Science

Sonlight Readaloud

Poetry

Character Study Workbook

 

with Bible, normal bedtime readaloud and Reading to Mommy being done every day. This of course is not my exact schedule I was just throwing it out there off the top of my head. Do you all think it would work? This way we could cover lots of stuff at the same time without overwhelming her. At this young age I would rather her be exposed to a lot of different viewpoints (different concepts in math to figure something out, traditional history and science vs. Christianized history and science, "old fashion" read louds as well as more modern stories, etc. Am I crazy for hoping this would work? Keep in mind my dd is 5 and in Pre-K but complaining she is bored and is way ahead of her peers. She thrives on learning and being challenged and loves to do "Mommyschool". She is also only in Pre-K for 2.5 hours a day so I do have lots of time at home with her even though i work at night. What do you all think? And if you do something like this, how do you schedule it? 1 lesson at a time? Or plan 2 days into 1 etc.?

 

It looks good to me. I think you could schedule it several ways. Something like EH or ES you could do one lesson per time. You could have a general time limit on something like math or language arts (10-15 mins maybe depending on her attention span, unless she's really enjoying it and then you could go longer). You could aim for a certain number of chapters or a general time limit for a RA.

 

My loop schedule is going to look like this (to start anyway):

history-character-Spanish-read aloud

history-character-Spanish-read aloud

history-read aloud

 

With Miquon 3 times a week but not on the loop. Hopefully we can get through the loop each week, and maybe I can add poetry or art appreciation in there if all goes well.

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Hmmmm. I like the idea. I am sort of looping around here as well. Basically every day we start afterschooling with different subjects intending to do it all. It used to be always math, so math and English always got done, but other subjects suffered. Now twice a week we start with history, twice a week with French, etc. This way no subject gets neglected.

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This is my understanding of it (reading the thread going on the the K-8 forum anyway). Only it's more like you have your 5 (or however many) subjects, and you do as many as you get through that day, and the next day you pick up where you left off and go however far you can, etc. So you might only get through 2 of the five on Day 1, but get though 3-5 + 1 again on Day 2. Or one or more of the subjects might change, like this:

math, history, character, art

math, history, character, poetry

math, history, character, music appreciation

 

And not all subjects have to be on the loop--for example, math might get done every day first, and then you start the loop.

 

That's my understanding of "loop schedule" on the WTM boards. I hadn't thought about doing it for afterschooling, but I think its a great idea for the subjects you don't tackle everyday. I'm realizing that is what I do with my Ker without thinking about it, but it would be a good schedule change for my older ds.

 

You didn't ask for feedback on this, but I'll share anyway. We are using Elemental Science Chemistry this year and if I had to do it over I would only buy the teacher's guide, not the student handbook, especially for afterschoolers. If we were homeschooling and needed the writing practice, the student book would be good, but we do mostly verbal narration since ds gets *plenty* of writing at school at it would take the joy out of science for him. The teacher's book is helpful for organizing the reading schedule and cutting all the prep work. Just my 2 cents. Not sure if that applies to the other Elemental Science topics.

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