So, I'm trying the Loop Schedule....

[....]

and I've tried this once before, but I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels or something??  I feel disorganized.  Do I just have too many subjects?  Am I accomplishing more than I think I am?  We started Morning Basket and it's been wonderful ? but I feel like we're not making much progress throughout the week.  Maybe my expectations are too high for how much we should be getting done during the week.  My kids are actually enjoying everything - a lot.

Does anyone do a Loop Schedule?  Do you have any tips?  

This is only our second week with our new stuff, so I feel disoriented anyway.  Also, one kid graduated high school and another started Kindergarten, so my brain is just really confused.  It's hard for my brain to switch from teaching 12th grade to teaching Kindergarten.

Does anyone want to see our schedule?

Kindergartener is doing Morning Basket + My Father's World.  But, he's not the problem.

Older kids are doing:

Daily: 

• Morning Basket (read-aloud, composer study, artist study, geography, hymn study)
• Math

 

Then, here's our Loop:

• Bible
• Literature
• Writing
• Grammar/Spelling
• Science Biography
• Chemistry
• German and/or Latin
• Art

 

Fridays we do PE and music.  

Why do I feel so disorganized and disjointed with the Loop Schedule??  Part of the problem may be Chemistry.  It takes us forever.....  I'm running two chemistry kits at once - the Intro to Chemistry kit (for the 12 year-old) and the MicroChem Kit (for the teens) from Home Science Tools.  The MicroChem labs take a lot of time.  We spent two hours just on the chromatography lab last week.  I think I stupidly expected to get through these chemistry labs in about 8 weeks and now I think it's unrealistic.  The Intro kit has 27 labs  and the MicroChem kit has 17 labs, so that's almost 50 labs that I'm running in 8 weeks.  Maybe I'm being unrealistic.

Thanks for any advice/tips on the Loop Schedule thing.  I don't understand why I'm never able to pull this off!

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

When we tried to do a long loop like you have listed, it failed epically. Too much time passed between one lesson of a topic & the next lesson of that same topic. It was too unpredictable for me to feel well-prepared day to day. What we are trying now, which appears to be working beautifully (though we’re only a week in so time will tell) is a combination of a block schedule & looping. 

Our blocks are Language Arts, Mathematics, Reading, Game-Schooling, & Elective.

Within those blocks, there are loops. The Language Arts block rotates through spelling, cursive, & composition. Occasionally I will change what is in the loop (for example, swapping cursive for grammar) but at one time only a few things are going on & we always cover Language Arts in some form.

Mathematics may switch from our primary curriculum to our secondary curriculum if DS needs a break from the high challenge level, or to a special topic as the opportunity arises - but math is always a part of our day.

Reading & Game-Schooling are consistent.

Elective is our biggest loop, though it still only includes four subjects: science, history, studio arts, & practical arts. Right now our science is a survey course, our history is late ancient to early Middle Ages, our studio arts are history-linked, & our practical art is culinary. Like the Language Arts loop those subtopics may change later, but they would be swapped for other items rather than tacked onto the end of the list. 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

2 hours ago, Evanthe said:

Daily: 

• Morning Basket (read-aloud, composer study, artist study, geography, hymn study)
• Math

Then, here's our Loop:

• Bible
• Literature
• Writing
• Grammar/Spelling
• Science Biography
• Chemistry
• German and/or Latin
• Art

So if I were to take your subjects & Fit them into a mixed block/loop system it would look more like this: 

Morning Basket

Math

LA Loop (literature, writing, spelling / grammar)

Science Loop (biography, chemistry)

Elective Loop (Bible, German, Art, Latin)

Edited January 12, 2020 by Expat_Mama_Shelli

[Rachel]

I agree with Mama Shelli, instead of one long loop I’d break your list into two or three smaller loops. 
 

For the chemistry I think I’d schedule one day for it per week, then maybe once a month have a “light” week in your other subjects and immerse yourself in the chemistry for the rest of the day. That way your kids are getting regular exposure but you also aren’t worrying about not getting it down. I think 50 labs in 8 weeks is a lot unless the labs really tie together and you can do several in a day. 
 

A friend who is a bit further in her homeschooling journey doesn’t do any science during her “normal” school year and then focuses on it during the summer. It works well for her family and she feels like they are able to go deeper that way. 

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On 1/12/2020 at 1:16 PM, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

So if I were to take your subjects & Fit them into a mixed block/loop system it would look more like this: 

Morning Basket

Math

LA Loop (literature, writing, spelling / grammar)

Science Loop (biography, chemistry)

Elective Loop (Bible, German, Art, Latin)

 

Ok, I actually had to think about this for two days for me to figure out what this would look like.  Thank-you!!  I'm going to try something like this.

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So, for some reason....the MicroChem labs really wear me out.  I don't know what my problem is.  I don't think I could do more than one of these per day.  The Intro to Chemistry kit labs are much lighter and I'm able to do a couple in a day.  So, I'll probably have to keep chemistry in the loop somewhere.

[maize]

One option would be to put chemistry in the loop twice if you want to get to it more often than your loop otherwise allows.

[vonbon]

Listening in because this is exactly what I run into every time we try a loop schedule too.  Love the theory; can't make it work in reality.  It's possible I have too many items on my loop list.  Hope you can update with more info as you try more tweaking--

[Emily ZL]

Another option is to think of your loop schedule items on more of a "weekly checklist" level, if you want to hit them all at least once in the week. So every day, you say "I'm going to choose 2 or 3 of these to work on based on how I feel, and what else we've got going on," and as long as you hit them all at some point in the week, you can feel good. This works well for me. I'm spontaneous and I hated having to "do the next thing" when it didn't perfectly fit the day. Sometimes no one felt like doing Latin and wanted to do Bible, and I just got sick of trying to deal with the loop. So we did the weekly checklist instead. 

[....]

10 hours ago, Emily ZL said:

Another option is to think of your loop schedule items on more of a "weekly checklist" level, if you want to hit them all at least once in the week. So every day, you say "I'm going to choose 2 or 3 of these to work on based on how I feel, and what else we've got going on," and as long as you hit them all at some point in the week, you can feel good. This works well for me. I'm spontaneous and I hated having to "do the next thing" when it didn't perfectly fit the day. Sometimes no one felt like doing Latin and wanted to do Bible, and I just got sick of trying to deal with the loop. So we did the weekly checklist instead. 

 

This is kinda what's been happening the last two weeks.  And we actually have made a lot of progress with what I've wanted to accomplish.  I think I'm so used to homeschooling with the daily checklist/independent work routine that my new schedule feels very inefficient and it's making me insecure.

I wonder if I just made a weekly checklist for myself and then just worked on things over the week as we felt like it -  if that would make me feel better.   

[....]

On 1/14/2020 at 11:35 AM, vonbon said:

Listening in because this is exactly what I run into every time we try a loop schedule too.  Love the theory; can't make it work in reality.  It's possible I have too many items on my loop list.  Hope you can update with more info as you try more tweaking--

 

Somewhere on these forums from about 3-4 years ago....we used Ambleside Online and I was trying to use the Charlotte Mason method in our homeschool.  We loved everything about it, except I couldn't wrap my brain around how to schedule everything without schooling 6 days a week....and I couldn't wrap my brain around how to assign high school credits using the CM method.  I started some threads about it at the time as we were struggling.

*sigh*. I actually regret giving up on Ambleside and Charlotte Mason.  

Have you seen this blog?  https://ourhabitathome.com/try-something-new-in-your-homeschool-an-introduction-to-loop-scheduling/

I'm spending some time reading the posts.  There are multiple posts about the loop schedule on there.

[Emily ZL]

On 1/15/2020 at 7:56 PM, Evanthe said:

 

Somewhere on these forums from about 3-4 years ago....we used Ambleside Online and I was trying to use the Charlotte Mason method in our homeschool.  We loved everything about it, except I couldn't wrap my brain around how to schedule everything without schooling 6 days a week....and I couldn't wrap my brain around how to assign high school credits using the CM method.  I started some threads about it at the time as we were struggling.

*sigh*. I actually regret giving up on Ambleside and Charlotte Mason.  

Have you seen this blog?  https://ourhabitathome.com/try-something-new-in-your-homeschool-an-introduction-to-loop-scheduling/

I'm spending some time reading the posts.  There are multiple posts about the loop schedule on there.

I also feel that way about CM. She scheduled her schoolkids for mornings only -- but 6 days per week. We have an excellent drop off program we do on Fridays, so we school only 4 days. I just couldn't see us getting to all of those lessons. And with lots of kids, and babies, I don't have the ability to do what some people say ("It's easy, we just do these subjects from 9-12, then take a break for lunch and play, and these other subjects from 2-4, and we're done!" Yeah, I do not have 5 full hours of instruction time in me to give). I need to be done in 60-90 minutes max for my young kids K-2 and maybe 30-40 max for my older independent kid. I can't be reading out loud with toddlers and babies screaming at me and throwing themselves on my books, which they do.

We do a "daily checklist" of items with my young two in K and 1st: poetry and memory verse (both take 3 minutes or less), math, and handwriting. Then everything else gets done once per week on a checklist. I keep everything on a single sheet of paper with the pages and lessons we must cover.

For my older independent kid in 4th, he does do loops. I have changed them around a lot to fit what I wanted to cover better.  He does a language arts loop that started with copywork, grammar, and spelling. Now it's one week of 3 days Writing and Rhetoric and one day spelling, then an alternate week of 3 days grammar and one day spelling. Poetry, memory, math, and religion are daily (with religion on its own loop). He has a loop of typing and Latin, and a loop of history, science, and geography. So he may only do Latin twice weekly, but I'm happy with his progress. Sometimes we do history twice weekly with science and geography once, while other times we switch it to alternating weeks and just do one full week of geography or science, etc. I think loops are best used like that, per "subject" or per "slot." I know we can only have so many "slots" of subjects on my son's schedule before he really gets overwhelmed with school. Plus he reads so much outside of assignments that I don't think he needs 4 hours of official school work.

[vonbon]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:56 PM, Evanthe said:

Have you seen this blog?  https://ourhabitathome.com/try-something-new-in-your-homeschool-an-introduction-to-loop-scheduling/

I'm spending some time reading the posts.  There are multiple posts about the loop schedule on there.

I guess I've been on the forums over the last few weeks (many times) but didn't log in...Just saw this.  Thank you!  I'll check it out and dive in for a bit to see what I can learn!

Every year (for 6-8 years or so--starting in the preschool years with "Year 0") I print off Ambleside Online's "Year X" for each student, pull read-aloud titles from it that go with what we're studying, and review it throughout the year, checking off what we do.  Love that site!  We never finish a year and I keep all of the years printed and even go forward or backward, seeing what we might pick up.  Hope that makes sense?

I learned early on, however, that I couldn't follow AO's "Years" exclusively because, well...  we are eclectic in that I weave in a ton of varied "strands" into our homeschool: Classical (writing, grammar, penmanship, math), Waldorf-ish in a couple of targeted areas, always with delight-directed strands woven throughout, "tidal" in certain seasons in terms of intensity and pace, focusing on a couple of unit studies each year that culminate in field trips, some homemade/home-written assignments when I just can't find what I'm looking for...with a dash of taking advantage of awesome learning opportunities when they come along - usually science opportunities or fine arts due to the nature of our lives... 

In addition, we're part of an independent, private co-op that gets into really rich studies, so sometimes my best-laid plans (Ambleside, for example) take a backseat for a bit of time to capitalize on opportunities (usually science-or-history-based field trips / studies)...I circle back around to those AO titles at some point and our non-schooly parts of life look a lot like the CM approach, so we're not lacking in that part (nature study, etc.).  Also part of a public charter so there are requirements and assignments with due dates...  And outsourced a few "a la carte" classes to a private program with good results one year (may return to those at some point)...that year, the volume of work was more Classical / traditional in nature, so my AO titles and ideas had to take a backseat or play a minor role...

I won't go into exactly what all this looks like; I don't want to bore you or get too far off the topic of loop scheduling.  Overall, I'm really happy, 7 years in, with what this has accomplished.  There are times I just want to throw up my hands and do the checkbox approach, in which I'd follow some -- one!  simple! even containing a loop schedule! -- curriculum out there.  The reality is, I know myself and my kiddos...there is no "one thing" out there that ties all of our *best learning strands* together.  

Looping back around to loop schedules 😉🙄 ...I think everything I've described here is probably why those neat little loop schedules I've typed up at the beginning of a new schoolyear are just destined to fail.  Love the concept, but, with this many moving parts, I just have to keep returning to my standby, which is to write out assignment sheets each day, and keep mentally  checking in with our various "loops".  I'm not really satisfied with that - feels a bit like surfing, with constant balancing and adjusting, looking for good waves, reacting to what comes up - but it's what is working right now.  If I want to keep this really-textured tapestry going, that's what it looks like scheduling-wise. 

[vonbon]

OP, re-reading your original post and wondering how things are going?  

Just a few thoughts from the outside, not really knowing exactly what your household / homeschool looks like...just mulling: 

- You are working with a large swath of ages (even if you graduated your eldest and aren't working at that level right now, I would think mentally swapping back to Kinder would take some time and grace to to adjust)...that in itself (various ages) seems like it would take a lot of energy?

- The chem thing sounds rigorous and like it would take a ton of energy?  I find that when we dive in on something to that level, I don't bring the same quality or level of energy to other subjects.  There is only so much to go around in a given day.  Diving in can be a good thing; just pointing out that you might not be on your "A game" in all areas while you are devoting that much time + energy to that specific subject?  Perhaps you'll feel differently if/when you complete your plans with the labs?  

- Our daily must-do is Math.  It's our first year using Beast Academy and, while I think it is rich, good, interesting, and I'm happy overall with it...it is challenging for my DD11.  It takes a lot of time and energy on my part to keep her going at a good pace.  Some of this might be developmental.  Part of it is related to her personality and habits that we're working on (perseverance; tackling the hard stuff first).  But it just doesn't feel like a subject that is easily "checked off" this year.  It's the opposite for my DD8 with BA; she's happily, easily progressing.  Anyway, I guess I'm saying that, at certain points in time, certain subjects just take a lot of energy, regardless of the reasons. That = less energy, less time to put towards other subjects for all of us.  Don't know if any of that resonates for your chem plans in relation to all the other subjects you have listed--

- Also wanted to add that I think I'm finding it easier to take a list of subjects like you have listed in your loop and just have a mental goal of completing them X times per week.  So, for example, Grammar: 2-3x/week.  Another example: I'm currently teaching a block of Art with our co-op, so we're diving in on that subject in a big way, even though it looks like 1x/week on paper.  When the block is finished and we go on to a different subject with the group, I'll have to mentally make sure Art doesn't get lost in the mix.  On a practical level, these goals of getting X done X times per week looks like me taking time every weekend to think / review / plan / look big-picture and write out everything on one piece of paper, then write out each student's individual assignment sheet per day.  It takes less time than it sounds (<1 hour) and is easy/cheap with printer paper and spiral notebooks ( https://readaloudrevival.com/spiral-notebooks/).

I've gone through rotations of making my own complex planning sheets in Excel, planning things with folders, making loop schedules, etc....what I'm doing seems to be the only thing that works consistently for me without being high-maintenance...  I've thought / read about what others have done in OneNote or online apps...but I don't want to go digital.  Though I keep refining and searching to see if I can find new ways to do things better-- 

[....]

On 1/31/2020 at 1:15 PM, vonbon said:

OP, re-reading your original post and wondering how things are going?  

- You are working with a large swath of ages (even if you graduated your eldest and aren't working at that level right now, I would think mentally swapping back to Kinder would take some time and grace to to adjust)...that in itself (various ages) seems like it would take a lot of energy?

- The chem thing sounds rigorous and like it would take a ton of energy?  I find that when we dive in on something to that level, I don't bring the same quality or level of energy to other subjects.  There is only so much to go around in a given day.  Diving in can be a good thing; just pointing out that you might not be on your "A game" in all areas while you are devoting that much time + energy to that specific subject?  Perhaps you'll feel differently if/when you complete your plans with the labs?  

 

We're still struggling a little with our schedule.  The good thing is that we only have about another month of what we're doing and then I'm planning something else (we're doing something that looks like 8 week unit studies, but this one had way too many parts to it).  I'm going to try to plan a little less.  50 chemistry labs in 8 weeks is a bit much.  lol

You mentioned a couple of things that I didn't think of.  Yes, part of my issue is our large spectrum of ages.  I mean, 4 up to 18 - Whew!  I feel like a crazy person!  The 18 year-old actually takes up a lot of my energy (even though she started college) and the 4 year-old takes up a lot of my energy.  18 year-old is doing a wonderful job with college, but it took a huge effort to get her launched into college.

OK.  Chemistry.  In hindsight, no one in their right mind runs 50 labs in 8 weeks.  I'm running two separate lab kits - one for the 12 year-old and that MicroChem kit for the high schoolers.  I'm not just doing the labs, we balance chemical equations that show what's happening in the experiments, I spend a lot of time going over conceptual things with them, we have molecular models, Happy Atoms, etc.  The chemistry stuff mentally tires me out.  After doing the labs, we're kinda done.

I don't like it when I can't get into a groove with our new school year.  😞

[maize]

50 labs in 8 weeks is, indeed, insane.

If it were me, I would reminded myself that a curriculum (including a science kit) is my servant not my master and pick only those labs I thought would be of most interest and benefit.

[vonbon]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:56 PM, Evanthe said:

Have you seen this blog?  https://ourhabitathome.com/try-something-new-in-your-homeschool-an-introduction-to-loop-scheduling/

I'm spending some time reading the posts.  There are multiple posts about the loop schedule on there.

Just checking in to say that I read quite a few posts on this blog...and loved them!  Well-written and thought-provoking.  Best info / perspective I've seen or heard on the subject.  

On 2/2/2020 at 6:40 AM, Evanthe said:

 In hindsight, no one in their right mind runs 50 labs in 8 weeks.  I'm running two separate lab kits - one for the 12 year-old and that MicroChem kit for the high schoolers.  I'm not just doing the labs, we balance chemical equations that show what's happening in the experiments, I spend a lot of time going over conceptual things with them, we have molecular models, Happy Atoms, etc.  The chemistry stuff mentally tires me out.  After doing the labs, we're kinda done.

{Humorously]: You sound like some kind of homeschooling superhero!  😄  Next time someone makes a comment that I'm ambitious for choosing to homeschool or remarks that we do rigorous schooling, I'm going to think of the lady who set out to do 50 labs in 8 weeks!  😄  That's just on some other level!  

Thanks for giving a glimpse...

After reading those blog posts, it was just toooo tempting...   I set out to...duhn, duhn, duhn...dare I say it?  Make the perfect loop schedule!  😉 {Hopefully not another exercise in futility or madness!}  This time, it will work, right?

[....]

4 hours ago, vonbon said:

{Humorously]: You sound like some kind of homeschooling superhero!  😄  Next time someone makes a comment that I'm ambitious for choosing to homeschool or remarks that we do rigorous schooling, I'm going to think of the lady who set out to do 50 labs in 8 weeks!  😄  That's just on some other level!  

 

Lol!  And I told myself this afternoon that it might be ok if I extended this unit out to about 10-12 weeks, instead of 8.  So, 50 labs in 12 weeks.  I STILL sound like I've completely lost my mind!  My poor children.....trapped here in my kitchen doing chemistry....

In all seriousness, I want to give the teens some kind of credit on their transcripts for this chemistry - like Honors Chemistry or Advanced Chemistry.  We basically did chemistry all year last school year and I decided just to do a "little bit more" and now our chemistry has taken on an unstoppable life of its own.    

[....]

22 hours ago, maize said:

If it were me, I would reminded myself that a curriculum (including a science kit) is my servant not my master and pick only those labs I thought would be of most interest and benefit.

 

If I had that ability, I wouldn't be in this situation!  😂