I also play recorder and am largely self taught. I did have lessons more recently and I attend workshops fairly regularly.

I practice by playing tunes. I play music to enjoy myself so I play tunes. That is what I enjoy. If I come across a tricky bit, I will work at it until I can get it reasonably correct. I find this will transfer itself when I come across similar passages in other tunes.

As someone said earlier traditional dance tunes have a lot of scales and arpeggios in them anyway, so playing tunes helps albeit in a limited number of keys.