Loop Scheduling and Unschooling?

Sue Patterson

Podcast/Video Transcript

Have you heard about Loop Scheduling? It's something I think many of us have done instinctively - but it’s a thing. It’s not like Block Scheduling... where you think Mondays you do certain things, Tuesdays other, and then different or repeating patterns through the week. Sometimes block scheduling is what you think when you do college classes or maybe you even did them in high school.

The pitfall of Block scheduling, is that if you miss a day and you’re on a weekly Block schedule, you have to wait a week for it to roll back around again. That can be a really big gap.

But Loop scheduling handles that - and is especially good if you have a chaotic life! It allows for so much more flexibility.

Someone asked if Unschoolers use Loop Schedules and I don’t see why not! It just depends on what you’re putting in the Loop, whose interests or activity choices they are.

People always think that unschooling is a Free for All, but it doesn’t have to be.

Flexible? Yes! Absolute chaos - no.

Welcome!

I'm Sue Patterson and this is the Unschooling Mom2Mom podcast. If you’re new here - welcome!

Be sure to subscribe to the channel or the podcast platform you’re using so you can be notified when I do another little Unschooilng Peptalk for you! Usually about 10 minutes - because I know you’re busy.
And I try to get in here once a week!

My own three kids were unschooled - all in their 30s now - and I’m circling back to help families see that Unschooling Really DOES work!

And no, you don’t have to be some extremist. We weren’t.
School just didn’t work for us.

I share what I’ve learned over nearly 30 years in the community - what seems to work and what doesn’t. If you want more from me, join me in my Membership group where we talk twice a week on a group coaching call and have an ongoing WhatSApp channel for help in between the calls. Plus a fabulous community of unschooling parents.

Oh! And if you’d like to talk with me privately, I have $50 coaching calls for the rest of June - be sure to grab those if that’s more your speed.

Ok... on to Loop Scheduling and how that can work for unschooling parents.

So let’s talk about how Loop schedules can work and how you could use them if you’re having a hard time remembering everything.

With Loop scheduling, you make your list of what needs to be done.
Maybe you’ll use it for household tasks, or meals, or personal care.
Then you simply work your way down your list. If you miss a day, no worries, you just pick up where you left off. Then LOOP back up again - hence the name.

Loops for Art

Your kids may like to create Loop schedules of their own - maybe it has to do with exploring certain topics like.. art. They could make a list of all the different media they want to experiment with, then work their way through the list and loop back again.

Maybe it’s

charcoal drawing,
pastels,
textile art of some kind,
painting,
coloring with pencils or markers.

Then they loop back to the beginning of their list.

This gives them some organization to their own ideas and helps them not forget what they were considering.
Remind them that their Loop schedule can be modified at any time.
Something can simply “rotate off the list” and they can pop something else in.

Loops for Excercise

Maybe it’s more like varying exercise activities.
Instead of setting them up by day, you make your list and work your way through it.

Hiking,
swimming,
tennis,
neighborhood walking,
Dance Party

- then repeat.

This could be activities you and the kids decide you want to be sure to “get around to” or maybe it’s just for you yourself.

Through the Unschooling Lens

So let’s look at all of this again from an unschooling perspective.

Loop scheduling works if you’re trying to remember to get to everything on your list. A list that YOU’VE created. That doesn’t mean you can’t look at these lists I’ve made or someone else has created and NOT duplicate them. It just means that you CHOOSE to use these other lists because they make sense for you and the kids - not because someone said, "This is what Good Unschoolers Do." Or Good Parents. Or organized people. Or whatever.
No more broad sweeping generalizations - we’re individualizing around here!

If you find some particular aspect of the loop that you love, but you feel like you have to move to the next thing and keep doing the others until it rolls back again - that’s more like a school system.
You want to be able to pull it out of the loop and do it at the regularity or frequency that fits.

If Zumba classes are on Monday Wednesday and Friday- loop scheduling won’t work for that.
If you decide evening walks after dinner are really great, then that probably won’t fit on a Loop schedule either and can just be penciled into your weekly calendar on it’s own. You can do it - it just doesn’t need to be in your Loop Schedule.

So what else COULD work for a Loop Schedule?

We hear homeschooling families talk about loop scheduling as they’re trying to “cover” all the subjects.and all the individual topics within the subjects. If you’re a traditional homeschooler, Loop scheduling may work better for you than the Block Scheduling that’s more familiar.

But as Unschoolers, we aren’t trying to check those boxes and cover those subjects each week.
We are approaching all of it from the Learner’s perspective.

The system - whether it’s the School, the curriculum, or even the Loop schedule you’ve created, they can interfere with the self-directed process of the Learner. While it might seem good to rotate everything through, that may only be good as an introduction to the variety of topics in whatever category you’re organizing.

Once the kids want more of a certain thing, don’t tell them,

“No, we have to keep with the system we’ve all created!"

That’s prioritizing the System over the Learner - and as Unschoolers, we are moving away from that.

Same goes with keeping something in the Loop Schedule

Meals and Chores on a Loop

Where I really think Loop Schedules can work in Unschooling Families are when you’re tackling

Meal Menus or Household Chores.

Creating a rotation removes the extra time devoted to trying to remember what’s next or what needs to be done. A lot of us have Decision Fatigue because we haven’t planned some things out - things that don’t require flexibility or could be just mindlessly checking the box and moving on to the next when you have time.

Like:
1. Dusting, 2. Vacuuming, 3. Laundry, 4. Bathrooms, 5. Kitchen clean-up.

I did this when my kids were growing up - not really aware it was a Loop Schedule - but it was.
1. Pasta, 2. Tacos, 3. Stir-fry, 4. Casserole, 5. Grilling 6. Pizza

Then if we ate out, we’d just pick up where we left off.
I’d always know what needed to be on the grocery list and what was going to happen - no decision fatigue about food.

Personal Growth for Unschooling Parents

Another way Loop Schedules might be useful for Unschooling Parents is to use it for Personal Growth.
You can list out what you’ll do to keep learning more about Unschooling and Deschooling.
Just like the kids though, you may discover that you have a preference. Maybe you start with

Podcast
Video
Blogpost
Section of a course youve bought
Then loop back again.

But if you discover that you keep zoning out during podcasts, pull them off the rotation.
Or maybe you discover you ONLY like podcasts and videos, so you might add in more and let the others go.

Looping Your Self-Care Ideas

Loop scheduling can work when you want to add variety to your Self Care routines without taking up mental space to decide what to do..it could look like:

Reading something for fun
Making a seasonal craft
Doing aDeep Breathing technique
Journaling
Giving yourself a mani/pedi

And even with these, you may decide,
“I Like reading or journaling before bed every night”
- so go ahead and do that!

And then pull those out of the rotation and replace ut with something you’d like to try in the Loop.

Kid Connection or Family Time - as a Loop

And while I want you to remain flexible in being available to the kids, you might set up a loop schedule for Kid Connection or Family Time:

Card games (or whatever game they like)
Read aloud time
Messy science stuff
Movie Night
Going on a bike ride together
Playing whatever they want you to play for 10 minutes - no interruptions allowed!
Going out for ice cream

Obviously you’d pick things that work in your family, but setting it up on a Loop Schedule may help you stay on top of it all if you find yourself saying,

“Oh yeah! I forgot we were going to try to do that!”

Another Reason to Join the Private Membership Group!

Over in my Creating Confidence Membership Group I talk with them about making time for certain things, planning for One Week at a Time. These could actually be set up on a Loop Schedule.

Learn a little about Unschooling or Deschooling (read/listen/watch) whatever works
Connect with the kids
Touch base with the unschooling community
Find something fun locally
Do Something for Self Care

You can set your loop in whatever frequency you want.

Maybe it’s daily for 15 minutes or so.

Or maybe it’s a few of these, but not necessarily the whole list - then you just keep looping.

I'm Ready to Join!

So if you’re the kind of person who likes to make a plan but either it’s too long range or you just forget about it because of Life’s interruptions, a Loop Schedule could work for you!
It’s an adaptable structure that even unschoolers could use if they wanted.

If you’d like to hear more about structure, I have another podcast,
#23 called Structure, Schedules, and Unschooling .

You might want to go there next

.
So that’s it from me for now - be sure to subscribe and leave me a comment if you’ve used Loop scheduling and how it worked for you!

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Unschooling Red Flags

By Sue Patterson • January 14, 2025

Unschooling Red Flags January Signals You Shouldn’t Ignore Quite a few people didn’t send their kids back to school after the holiday break! For some, this is brand new. Fall didn’t go well and they’re just going to sit this one out. I get that. Others are continuing with what they’ve been doing. They weren’t in school last semester and they’re not going this semester either. And then some - a lot of you, from what I can tell - are inching more toward unschooling. Maybe you tried a modified homeschooling effort before the holidays, but it wasn’t great. Today I want to talk about Red Flags. And I want to encourage you not to ignore them! Ok! Whether you’re just here for a little inspiration (your weekly unschooling peptalk!) or it’s all new and you’re kinda nervous - I’m glad you’re here! I’m Sue Patterson, your host here on these Unschooling Mom2Mom podcasts. My kids are all grown - all in their 30s now - and I’m circling back to let you know that unschooling really does work. Door won’t close because you choose this unconventional path. You may have questions or worries - and that’s what I try to tackle here in the podcast. And then if you want to dive deeper or get more support, I have courses, and guides, ebooks and calendars. I do private coaching and have a FABULOUS membership group where you can talk with other parents on this path too. I’ll put links to all of this in the notes for you. We all go through different phases when we’re on this unschooling journey. Some are harder, some are easier. It’s one of the reasons I do this podcast. I want you to know that it’s worth it. It’s worth plowing through the confusion or even the criticism. Maybe your kids aren’t acting the way you thought they would. It’s a process for them too, you know. I always tell my membership group that parents have to undo all that schooled conditioning, all those ideas of what’s legit learning and what’s not, all those People Pleasing traits we picked up along the way. And the kids… they have to figure out how to handle all this freedom. And, let’s face it. We’re all human. And most of us, don’t get things right on the first pass. We inch along, a few steps forward, a few steps back… but when we stay with it, we make progress. So that’s what I want to help you do now. It’s January. A New Year. And a few of the questions are popping up: Especially, How are they learning what they need to know? It’s a bit of a loaded question… because sometimes, when we ask this, we already have a pre-set idea of what THINK they need to know. The Basics, right? Or some particular subject? And then, interestingly, we seem to move the goalposts as the kids master these things. Like, now they can read, but can they write? Or now they can divide up their cookies evenly, but what about their times tables… or even Algebra? Because then, as they get into the teen years, we have new goals, right? As I was talking on this week’s coaching call in my membership group, I was mentioning Red Flags. Because even if we have been unschooling a while, these little red flags pop up. Like “Are they learning enough?” “Are they behind other kids their age?” Am I Doing enough?” These are examples of red flags for you. It’s not the checkered flag that’s giving you the signal to push more on your kid or up the ante a little, or Go Go Go!. It’s your red flag telling you something is off. Truth is, you already know that. You feel it. It’s your nudge to do a little more deschooling. Or at LEAST bring these worries out into the open so you can look at them clearly. Where DO these fears come from? Are they based in facts or based in those feelings of familiarity? Because familiarity does not necessarily mean Truth. It just means you’ve heard it or thought it a lot - often enough that it FEELS familiar. But it really may not be the truth. That’s why shining the light to see - do I feel defensive about it? Justified? Have I thought it through with this unschooling lens, so to speak? Could they learn it later? Is the timing truly significant? Do others learn it later and they turn out ok? That’s why it helps to have a community of Unschoolers to bounce these ideas around with. You MAY stick with the original idea - but it will be deliberate and intentional. And if you’re only around mainstream people or traditional homeschoolers, it’s very possible that they’ll just reinforce the fear because THEY’d prefer that you get back into the conforming mode. They have a lot of reasons to do this - and it’s not always because it’s what’s best for YOUR child. That’s why it helps to strengthen your ideas about all of this. You don’t want to just blow whichever way the strongest wind blows. You want to make good solid choices that fit YOUR child. What would some other red flags be? If you are either feeling like my kid's not motivated, my kid's not doing anything, my kid doesn’t know math - or history or science… That's a red flag. If you think, I'm overwhelmed. Why are they asking so much of me? Nobody appreciates me. I’m feeling disengaged. That's a red flag. If you are thinking, the neighbor's kid is National Honor Society and my kid doesn't even know how to set up a division problem. Or, we just need more structure, this is too chaotic. More red flags. So what are yours? They’re not insurmountable. And, actually, Red Flags are helpful. They let you know what you need to work on. They’re your guideposts for what you need to tackle next. Identifying them is the first step. You can do it in a DIY way - Identify the issues that are your Red Flags, and then search the podcasts or the YouTube playlists for these topics. When you go to the blog associated with it - or even the descriptions for those audios or videos, I have additional resources linked that can help you dive deeper. If DIY isn’t really your think, and you’d like a little more help so you can move through this more quickly, I help parents do this in the Creating Confidence Membership group - and I have a lot of tools to help with this. You can always join us. And remember, podcast listeners and YouTUbe subscribers don’t have to pay the sign up fee. Just month-by-month. I’ll link to that too, because it may be a good time for you to get more help. I think I know a lot of the red flags, because I've probably had them all. Or I've certainly seen them all. I've definitely seen a variety of ways people can red flag themselves into a darn near panic attack. So don’t look away. They usually don’t resolve themselves and you deserve to have kinder voices in your head. If yours is particularly obnoxious, it’s important to look closely at the specifics. This will be the only way to know if the voices are right, or just nagging. Maybe it’s People Pleasing or Perfectionist traits that you need to dismantle. It’s important to do this, because it’s going to prevent you from having any Joy or enjoyment in these adventures. But also because your kids are watching how you cope… you may have removed them from the school setting, but did you bring home some of these attitudes YOU learned in school about performance and measuring or comparing, criticism and disappointment? Let’s get this out of the equation so you can assess the situation more accurately. So when you have a lot of fears popping up, see them as the red flags that they are. And take some Steps to work through them. Think about whether you really believe what you’re hearing, or is it someone else’s take on things? Can you think of any examples where this thought isn’t true? Specific examples. Then it’s time to do a little rewiring to stop that thought process. Do something that will interrupt the flow. Go for a walk outside. Listen to some music. Put on some headphones. These kinds of activities can stop you from spiraling into more negative self-talk. I have a lot more ideas as well as examples of Red Flags in the membership group - if this feels like something you’d like to work on. There are also 2 Guides that might be helpful: One is called “Am I Doing Enough” and the other is “Deschooling.” Both really good options. They’re still available in the shop for a couple more months, but they’re always in the Membership resources. So... Red Flags. Let’s learn to look for them. And make some changes so we don’t have to live with these worries. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop all the second-guessing? I remember that phase so well! Feel free to let me know how you’re doing with this over in the Facebook Group. I’ll post the link to this podcast and we can talk about it there! Tell me what YOUR Red Flags are and how you’re working through them. You can do this. I’m over here rooting for you! So learn more about unschooling and deschooling, get the support you need -including self-care, and, most importantly, connect with your kids! Have a great week and I’ll be back to talk with you again soon.