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A loop schedule for the subjects that get skipped
If art, music or nature study keeps disappearing from your homeschool week, a loop schedule gives each one a fair turn without fixing it to a day.
In short
Put the subjects that keep getting skipped into a loop: a short ordered list where each school day you do the next one. A lost day no longer means a lost subject, because the loop simply resumes where it stopped.
Look back over a term and many families find the same thing: math and reading happened nearly every day, and art happened twice. Not because anyone decided against art, but because art was on Friday, and Friday is when the week runs out.
Fixed days create casualties
When a subject owns a day, it shares that day's fate. A dentist appointment on Friday does not move art to Monday; it removes it. Over a year the subjects scheduled late in the week lose the most.
How a loop fixes it
A loop removes the link between subject and weekday. Art, music, nature study and handicrafts go on a list. Each day you do the next one. If Friday disappears, Monday picks up where Thursday left off, and every subject still gets its turn.
Making it work
- Keep loops for subjects that do not need daily practice.
- Decide how many loop slots a day has, usually one.
- If a loop has too many subjects for each to get a weekly turn, add a slot or split it into two loops.
- Count turns at the end of the term to see that each subject got its share.
In the app
Give a child's subjects the loop rhythm with the same loop name and Homeschool Up offers the next one each school day, in your order. The loop's position comes from the last completed lesson in it, so missed days do not skip anything.
Keep the record while you teach
Add your children and subjects. Each lesson you tick counts toward attendance, hours and the year-end packet.