Parent Responsibilities and Expectations

(Parents are expected to enforce and abide by the following:)

• Register for Connections:  Submit a Family Registration Contract once a facilitator confirms you have secured a spot in a class.  Pay the non-refundable family registration fees to help cover administrative, insurance, and facility expenses. 
• Provide for ONLY Your Family:  Register only children for whom you are the legal guardian.  Do not bring anyone else's children to Homeschool Connections on a regular basis.  This includes day care children, children you are babysitting, grandchildren, and homeschoolers who are not in your immediate family.  Student visitors are not allowed.  Do not take responsibility for another family’s children except in the event of an emergency, and then only be responsible for one family at a time.
• Plan for Your Entire Family:  Plan for ALL of your children.  Siblings (except nursing infants) are not allowed to attend classes for which they are not registered and will be asked to leave.  Study halls and a Monday playroom and nursery are available for your convenience; contact appropriate facilitators to make arrangements.  They may only be used in between your students' classes or when a sibling is in a class.  You may not come earlier or stay later than your classes deem necessary.  Utilization of study halls and/or the playroom requires your assistance/supervision on a rotating basis in addition to your regular job assignments.  Connections has a closed campus policy prohibiting graduated students and Running Start students who are not registered in Homeschool Connections from being on campus.
• Commit:  Enroll in a class with the intention of remaining in it for the entire school year.  If it is necessary to drop a class after Homeschool Connections' classes have begun, you are bound to satisfy payment of tuition for the next pay period from the date notice of withdrawal was given unless someone on the waiting list immediately fills your spot.
• Help:  Agree to complete at least one organizational job for each day you participate in Connections’ classes.  You may be asked to do additional jobs during the year.  If you are unable to fulfill your assigned job due to an absence, YOU must find a replacement.  Each week you are responsible to do your job and be available and willing to help.  Families with students enrolled in classes at the beginning or end of the day should plan to arrive early to help set-up or stay late to help clean-up.  You will be contacted concerning your job.
• Communicate:  Check the information table and your mailbox folder weekly for updates or news concerning Homeschool Connections.  Notify us if your email address changes.  Our policy is to email only information directly related to Connections.
• Honor Other Families:  Parents should set and enforce appropriate boundaries for their own students regarding attire.  Clothing should reflect modest hemlines and necklines and not be a distraction for the other students or teachers.  We desire an atmosphere of consideration and gentleness in our dealings with one another.  Students are to refrain from using or displaying knives, lighters, or any other such implements in Connections’ classes, study halls, or anywhere else on campus.  Any parent who witnesses use or display of these items are advised to instruct the student to put these items away, remind them of this policy, and notify the parents if deemed necessary.  Use of a knife during the lunch hour is limited to preparation of food, and parents will assume responsibility for any injury that may occur.  Also, sick/contagious family members may not attend classes.
• Honor Teachers:  Pay tuition on time.  Parental attendance in classes is encouraged.  Keep visiting among yourselves quiet and to a minimum.  Limit your coming and going during class time.  Silence cell phones during class.  Enforce rules with your child if a teacher contacts you concerning a disciplinary issue.
• Honor the Church Facility:  Stay out of rooms we are not using.  Stay out of Northlake’s lobby.  Do not interrupt the secretaries at the church office.  In an emergency, call our Homeschool Connections' cell number:  425-471-8777.  Call the church phone only in an extreme emergency.  Eat lunch in the designated lunchrooms.  Eating is not allowed in the classrooms or hallways.  On nice days, you may eat outside.  Supervise your children and clean up after yourself.  Only working service animals are allowed inside the church.  Dogs are not allowed on church grounds.
• Illegal Acts: We will not condone and will report any illegal acts on campus. 
• Honor our Insurance Required Policies:

  Stay On-Site:  Parental presence is mandatory.  Parents are expected to stay at the church, in class (when space is available), or in a study hall with their children every week.  Homeschool Connections is a parental supervised activity, not a private school.  Dropping off your children is not acceptable.  If a situation arises and you must be absent temporarily, ask another Connections' parent to be your parent-in-charge.  Let your children know, and put a Parent Off-Site note in your mailbox.  These notes are available by the mailboxes.  For parents of teens only:  If you have only teens (ages 13 and up) on campus, you may have other parents take responsibility for your teens on an ongoing basis; put a Sharing Responsibility for Teens form in your mailbox.  Give a medical release form to any parent assuming responsibility for your teens.  If you take responsibility for another family's teens, becoming their parent-in-charge, you may be responsible for only one family at a time.

  Food:  Be aware of the policies listed below.  On Mondays, only prepackaged, nonperishable foods may be served in a classroom with teacher permission.  On Wednesdays, no eating is allowed in classrooms without board permission, and then it must be prepackaged, nonperishable foods (ask your facilitator, who can get permission from a board member).

  The following is allowed:  pre-packaged cookies or crackers, soft drinks or juice not requiring refrigeration, store bought cakes or cupcakes, and bagged chips or candy.

  
  

  The following items are not allowed:  any protein based food requiring refrigeration (meat, cheese, milk, eggs), salad or side dish requiring refrigeration, all homemade baked goods (cakes, cookies, cupcakes), and fresh fruits or vegetables.

  
  

  Field Trip:  Class field trips are not endorsed, sponsored or sanctioned by Homeschool Connections.  Our liability insurance does not cover activities outside of class nor transportation to or from any such activities.  If you participate in an event outside of Connections' classes with other Connections' families, it is not considered a Homeschool Connections' activity.

Parent and Student Responsibilities and Expectations

(Parents are expected to read and enforce the following with their children:)

• Plan Ahead:  Arrive five minutes before class starts with sharpened pencils, notebooks, paper, required books and materials, and completed work.
• Follow Your Class Schedule:  Be in class, a lunchroom, or in the study hall at all times while at the church.  Do not run or talk loudly while walking to and from your classes.  Do not loiter in the hallways or outside.  Connections has a closed campus policy prohibiting students from making trips to 7-11 or elsewhere during the day, unless accompanied by an adult.
• Behave Respectfully:  Treat teachers, parents, other students, and church staff with respect at all times.  Do not use or display knives, lighters, or any other such implements in Connections’ classes, study halls, or anywhere else on campus.  Physical displays of affection between couples are not appropriate at Connections.  Greeting hugs between male and female friends should be brief and respectful. 
• Dress Appropriately:  Prefer modesty over making a "statement" with your clothing, make-up, and jewelry.  Clothing should reflect modest shorts/skirt hemlines and necklines (no cleavage) with no visible underclothes and not be distracting to other students or teachers.  Shirts must cover backs and midriffs.  If not dressed appropriately, a board member may tell you to cover up or return home to change.
• Honor the Church Facility:  Stay out of rooms we are not using.  Stay out of Northlake’s lobby.  Do not interrupt the secretaries at the church office.  Use the church telephone only for emergencies.  Eat lunch in the designated lunchrooms.  Eating is not allowed in the hallways.  On nice days, you may eat outside.  Clean up after yourself.  When outside, stay off fences, out of trees and bushes, and off the landscaping.  Reserve the park for children 11 years of age and under.  Bicycles, roller shoes, skates, skateboards, scooters, or roller blades are not allowed in the church building or parking lot.  Driving teens must drive safely and slowly through the parking lot.
• Play Ball in Designated Areas:  The coned-off area in the south parking lot at both churches is for supervised games.  Play ball only in this area.  Only play ball if a parent is actively supervising (not from a car) including lunchtime.    

Failure to comply with these polices will jeopardize your privilege to participate in Homeschool Connections' classes.  TALK WITH A BOARD MEMBER IF YOU HAVE EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES REGARDING THESE POLICIES.  The board reserves the right to deny participation to any family or student.

Last Updated: Thursday, April 11, 2013, 3:16:50 PM