Homeschool Loop Schedule

If you’re looking for a way to make your homeschool schedule more flexible and simple, look no further than the homeschool loop schedule. A loop schedule focuses on whatever subject is next on the list, rather than having subjects fixed to certain days.

Why is this important? Because, as a parent, you know that life can get crazy. Kids get sick, you have a dentist appointment, a pipe froze and your bathroom is flooding, etc.

So, instead of missing a subject when life gets messy, the loop schedule makes sure you pick that subject up once things have settled down.

Read on to learn all the ins and outs of homeschool loop schedules and how to make your own!

What is a Homeschool Loop Schedule?

A homeschool loop schedule is based on a list of subjects, rather than on specific times. When it’s time for your lessons, you simply start the next subject on your list.

You’re probably used to a regular schedule: every day you cover certain subjects at certain times. The problem with this is that when life inevitably throws you a curve ball, lessons get skipped. Then you’re falling behind because your next day schedule is full and you don’t have time to make up the missed lesson. This gets especially hard if you’re homeschooling multiple ages.

If you’re a perfectionist like me, this is when the panic sets in.

This is why I love loop schedules. They ensure that subjects don’t get missed just because my two year old decided to do two year old things on Monday.

Daily Schedule

Your daily schedule is for what you consider non-negotiable.

For us, this is family reading time (Bible stories and/or another book), Language Arts/Reading, and Math.

Family reading time is important to start our day the right way. It’s also critical that Language Arts/Reading and Math are practiced every single day because they’re the basis for everything.

Loop Schedule

Other subjects that I want to cover get put on the loop schedule.

• Science
• History
• Geography
• Art
• Spanish

I typically schedule one or two loop subjects per day depending on the difficulty of the daily schedule lessons and other activities we have planned.

For example, on Tuesdays we’ll visit my sister-in-law and do homeschool lessons with her kids, so we won’t have the time to get two loop subjects done.

Example Homeschool Loop Schedule

Using the subjects above, here’s what my preferred loop schedule would look like:

If a kid gets sick or way too much fun is being had with the cousins, it’s no big deal. We’ll just bump the subject to the next loop time.

Some people may also prefer to have every subject on their homeschool loop schedule, rather than some daily activities. In this case, I’d recommend having your most important subjects listed more frequently than others.

For example:

• Language Arts/Reading
• Science
• Math
• History
• Geography
• Language Arts/Reading
• Art
• Math
• Spanish
• Science
• Language Arts/Reading

And so on…

Benefits of a Homeschool Loop Schedule

Homeschool loop schedules have two main benefits: flexibility and simplicity. They’ll give you peace of mind that you can keep your homeschool on track even when everything else in your house seems to be spiraling out of control. Why? Because you have room to adapt. You’re not trapped in the confines of a set daily schedule. This means less stress and more fun in your homeschool!

Using Multiple Loops

If you want to get super fancy, you can create a homeschool loop schedule that cycles through multiple loops.

Why would you want to do that? Because it gives you more flexibility in prioritizing your subjects.

Multiple Loop Example

Let’s take the list of subjects we have above plus add a couple more:

• Family Reading Time
• Language Arts/Reading
• Math
• Science
• History
• Geography
• Art
• Spanish
• Music
• Religion

We decide we want to do some subjects daily, some subjects at least twice a week, and some subjects only about once a week. So now our loops look like this:

Daily

• Family Reading Time
• Language Arts/Reading
• Math

Loop 1 (2x per week)

• Science
• History

Loop 2 (1x per week)

• Geography
• Art
• Spanish
• Music
• Religion

Subject Loops

Subject loops are a great way to give your children extra practice in the most important subjects.

Are you bold enough to try them?

You will take a subject where you want extra practice like Language Arts or Math, isolate individual skills to focus on, and make them their own loop.

Language Arts Loop

• Spelling
• Grammar
• Writing
• Decoding
• Blending

Math Loop

• Addition
• Subtraction
• Time
• Money
• Shapes

You would simply have your Language Arts or Math loop scheduled for each day and plug in the next individual skill to be practiced.

How to Create a Homeschool Loop Schedule

Using what we covered above, this should be very simple for you.

First, make a list of the subjects you want to cover.

Second, decide how you want to prioritize your subjects. Are there some you need to cover every day? (Language Arts and Math *cough cough*). Are there some that need to be hit less frequently?

Third, choose the type of loop schedule that fits your needs. Loop only? Daily subjects plus loop? Multiple loop? Personally, I most enjoy using a multiple loop schedule like the one I summarized above.

Wrapping Up

Using a homeschool loop schedule is a fantastic way to help take the stress out of teaching, and focus on educating your children while helping them have fun.

It is ideal to help things move smoothly when you have a busy schedule, you’re homeschooling with a newborn, or you and your kids are in a rough patch (terrible twos are real and so, so terrible).

If you read this whole article, you’re probably very interested in making your life as a homeschool parent easier. You should check out The Home Learning Kit. It’s a package of handy learning tools to make your homeschool more fun and engaging, curated by yours truly.

The Home Learning Kit

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Do you have any questions about putting together your homeschool loop schedule? I’d be happy to help! Hit me up on social media!

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