Rules for the Homeschool

We are beginning our third week of school in our sixth year homeschooling, five of those formally. You would think by now that the rules and expectations we have set in our homeschool routine would stick, but instead I am finding myself constantly reminding them that even though we are at home this is still school and there are rules that must be followed. I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

Something had to change this year.

We are extremely fortunate to have a dedicated school room. This allows me walls that I can hang reinforcement posters on, art projects, dry erase boards, etc... One thing was missing though. School rules. Today I had the kids sit down with me and create a list of 10 rules that we feel are the most important to our homeschool time. They seemed to really enjoy being a part of choosing what rules were important enough to go onto our list. We decided rules like "keep your hands to yourself" and "no pushing" at this point are common sense rules in our home. Instead we chose ones that while they are common sense are also sometimes hard to remember.

Now, whenever a rule is broken I can direct them to the number on our rule sheet to point out that indeed that is one of the rules we decided on TOGETHER. Therefore, they are not only breaking our school rules, but breaking their own rules. Letting them create the list gives them ownership and accountability.

Here's to hoping this is the change we needed for a more positive (and less naggy) school year!