I have just been working on setting up loop scheduling myself and we’ve only done it for a few weeks, so I’m not an expert, but for things that need to occur more frequently, I’m just putting them in the loop more often. So, for example, we have a free subscription to some video lessons called “Mystery Science”, but it runs out in June. My kids love it, so we are reducing our science living books for a few months and bulking up on Mystery Science to make the most use out of it. This makes our afternoon loop like this for the rest of this year:
Trail Walk/Nature Journal
Art Project
Mystery Science
Baking Project
Poetry Tea (eating the treats from the baking project)
Mystery Science
Freewriting
Mystery Science
Depending on the day, we might do 1 – 3 items from the loop each afternoon. We try to do 4 afternoons a week (the 5th is music lessons), so usually we should be able to get through the whole loop in a week, but if we take an afternoon off for a field trip or something, we will just continue on the next day with the next item in the list.
I also have a loop set up for what to work on in my one-on-one time with my 6yo daughter, who I want to do frequent reading practice with (her reading aloud to me for a few minutes.) Her loop is:
50 Famous stories
Reading Practice
Aesop
Reading Practice
Creative writing (she loves dictating stories for me to write down)
On the Shores of the Silver Lake
Reading Practice
Piano Lesson (I’m teaching her myself)
Paddle to the Sea
Reading Practice
Creative Writing
Reading Practice
Nature Reader
Reading Practice
This means she reads almost everyday, sometimes even twice if we have been efficient with other things that morning and have a few extra minutes. This loop will probably take 5-6 mornings to get through, but I’m okay with things coming up slightly less than once a week.
I also have a morning “together time” loop, a loop for things I do only with my older 2 kids (Shakespeare, dictation, etc.), and they each have a loop of things they do independently.
So far I like the idea. My plan is to finish this year like this and see what happens. We had taken a month off in late March/April for some out-0f-town visitors and a 2 week road trip, so I thought I’d try something different for the rest of the school year.
