Loop Scheduling

[MrsWeasley]

Can someone explain loop scheduling to me? I don't get how you plan your week, make sure you are making enough progress, have the right materials, etc... while using it, but on the other hand, a lot of our more minor subjects (handwork, artist study, etc...) aren't getting done and I've heard this can help with this. Experiences, tips, etc???

[UrbanSue]

Our day has two stages which I call "Morning Time" and "Table Time."  Table Time is individual seat work (mostly skills-based work) and is the same every day.  Morning Time is for more content-based work, memory work, or anything that could be arguably done with mixed ages.  Mostly it is stuff that I want to do regularly but not necessarily every day.  The one part of my Morning Time that is non-negotiable is our read aloud.

 

If we're having a crazy day, I count it as an Official School Day if we've gotten in our read aloud and our Table Time.  But most days I have between thirty and ninety minutes to give to Morning Time.  So I save the last fifteen minutes for our read aloud and loop through everything else.  I have a written list and just do the next thing.  There are some items I want to do more often (like Shakespeare) so that appears on the list twice in the midst of six or seven other items.  I change out what is on the loop every five to six weeks between school terms.

[Rachel]

Following.  I've thought about using loop scheduling for science, art, and music next year.

[Coco_Clark]

I loop our afternoon studies.  We do History, Science, Geography, Music/Art, and Nature Study on a loop, one each day.  Because I have 5 days and 5 subjects its easy for me to know what's coming because we do each one once a week.  Other families have 7 or 3 things on their loop and just "do the next thing".  I imagine you'd want to have 1 or 2 days of each subject prepared ahead of time if you did it that way, depending on how long your loop is.  Sometimes I miss an afternoon and things get pushed back.  I either double up 2 subjects one day, or I drop something, or we do it on Saturday, or I double up whatever was skipped the next week.  Or the whole dang thing gets shoved one day.  I plan an extra week every quarter to account for things getting shoved back.  

Next year I plan on doing week-long loops.  A week of History, Science, Music/Art and Shakespeare.  

[Rachel]

I like the idea of week long loops, I hadn't really thought of scheduling subjects like that before.

[Mergath]

I've been thinking about giving this a try. Right now, it feels like we're doing a thousand tiny things every day. It would be nice to spend a longer period of time on each subject.

 

If the people who are doing this could post their schedules so we could see some examples, that would be fantastic. :D

[Mergath]

Our day has two stages which I call "Morning Time" and "Table Time."  Table Time is individual seat work (mostly skills-based work) and is the same every day.  Morning Time is for more content-based work, memory work, or anything that could be arguably done with mixed ages.  Mostly it is stuff that I want to do regularly but not necessarily every day.  The one part of my Morning Time that is non-negotiable is our read aloud.

 

If we're having a crazy day, I count it as an Official School Day if we've gotten in our read aloud and our Table Time.  But most days I have between thirty and ninety minutes to give to Morning Time.  So I save the last fifteen minutes for our read aloud and loop through everything else.  I have a written list and just do the next thing.  There are some items I want to do more often (like Shakespeare) so that appears on the list twice in the midst of six or seven other items.  I change out what is on the loop every five to six weeks between school terms.

 

So for the stuff that you loop, you have a checklist for each subject and move onto a new subject when you've completed it? I'm thinking about looping things like science, history, art, etc. and I'm trying to figure out how I'd know when to move on to the next subject. 

[FO4UR]

You can loop only the "riches" (handiwork, art, etc...).  Enjoy one of those things every school day, and maybe the other days too, and just cycle through in whatever order makes sense for you.  Keep the materials where they belong...an art box, music books at the piano, craft supplies in their own cabinet, etc... Keep this portion of the day homey (vs schooly).

 

I don't worry about doing enough or making progress in the riches.  We just enjoy.  They do more than enough.

[SnMomof7]

I'm planning to do a loop during our morning time after our core morning work to pick up the things that don't normally get done. I have a list of nine items. They are all content, none are skills based. So we'll do our core work, if we have time hit one or two content subjects. If we don't, no biggy - they weren't getting done anyway! 15-20 minutes then we are moving along. I hope it works!

[jaderbee]

I didn't know what we did was looping. :)

 

We rotate though biography, nature study, Shakespeare, and geography. So in the afternoons M-Th it goes Catechism, History, (biography, nature study, Shakespeare, or geography), read aloud, and silent reading (followed by tea and poetry if it's Thursday).

[Coco_Clark]

Schedule.

 

In the early morning (directly after breakfast) we do an hour of Morning Time all together.  It's Read Aloud, Memory Work, Bible, Poetry, Narrations ect.  I also have a few things that get snuck in once a week, like Saint Study.

After Morning Time DS7 has an hour of one-on-one with me.  We do math, then either grammar OR spelling (alternating).  I go over his checklist for the rest of the day.  It includes reading assignments, finishing up his math workbook, math fact drill, copywork, practicing spelling words, journaling, piano practice, ect.  Not ALL of that.  Just 3 or 4 things, depending on what we covered one-on-one.

 

Then its DS5's turn.  He gets between a half hour and an hour, depending on his attention span that day.  We do math and phonics, and I leave him with 1 or maybe 2 checklist items.  Simple <5 minute things like writing his name and reading a Bob book to the dog.

 

After a play break and lunch, when babies are put down for nap time, we do our Afternoon Rotation.  This year that's an hour of History on Monday, Science on Tuesday, Geography on Wednesday, Art and Music Appreciation on Thursday, and Nature Study on Friday (we do a nature hike in the early morning, and bring home pictures or specimens to sketch/record).  Like I said above, next year I want to stretch each subject out a week- so we have a full week of History, then Science, then Art/Music, then Shakespeare.  Nature sketching will probably either move to their checklist on Fridays or we will try doing it "live" again.

[UrbanSue]

So for the stuff that you loop, you have a checklist for each subject and move onto a new subject when you've completed it? I'm thinking about looping things like science, history, art, etc. and I'm trying to figure out how I'd know when to move on to the next subject. 

 

I just move on when we feel like moving on.  So, we do Shakespeare:  we'll review our memory work for a few minutes and then read a scene together.  Some scenes are super short, some are really long.  If it's a long scene and we're all having a good day, we'll finish it; if not, I'll break it up.

 

Then we'll go over to the piano and work on a song we're all learning.  Maybe we'll get through it once before my toddler tries to rip the music book maybe we'll sing it through a bunch and  almost get it memorized.

 

I wouldn't put things that needed checklist-level attention into Morning Time and I probably wouldn't loop those things, either.  In our house things either need to be done very day or they don't.  

[Cynful]

Just wanted to add, for my olders, we've always done loops.  But ours is just a list:

 

English

Math

Science

History

Etc.

Etc.

Etc.

 

and we do as little or as much as we want to each day.  Some days only get one or two subjects done, some all.  Doing this all school year, we get finished and they get to each subject consistently.

 

Now, with my preschooler, no clue.  But he's just playing for now and the next few years anyway.  :)

 

Good luck,

[rebcoola]

We have a morning time that is Bible, Math and Phonics/Spelling.   Than in the afternoon we work on a Geography/World Cultures unit study we do a read aloud than we loop in the just do the next thing way.

 

Map Work

Art

Cooking

Animals

Map Work

Documentary

Board games

Lapbook