Why School Family Jobs Are Important

Another crucial part of the Conscious Discipline system is a structure of school family jobs.  We are getting in a pretty good routine now ( That was QUICK! This group is awesome !)  so I decided this is the week we would add our school family jobs.

I have tried over the years to make sure our jobs are meaningful and not just a job that fills in a blank.   Classroom jobs promote unity and family responsibility.  Research proves that meaningful jobs that are used successfully  reduce misbehavior, builds self esteem and teaches responsibility.

This is a great success story about a highschooler who had a teacher using conscious discipline . She gave him a job. It changed his life forever.

I hope you said.. wow.

Your child was introduced to his or her job for the week today.  Some of the jobs are used at certain times every day. Some jobs may not be as busy or needed as often but they are all important.  The job cards are on your child’s cubby. 

Here are some examples :

This week Gabe is the plant manager.  He helped to water the plants.

This week Nathan is the table setter . He prepared the table for lunch.

Another important thing we did today was self portraits and writing our name for the first time.   I can tell over the summer some of my friends have forgotten they knew how at the end of the year.  No worries. We will have many opportunities to practice as we sign our art work or write on our clipboards for fun.  Self portraits show us a lot about a child’s development.

A child normally only draws what they are aware of .  A great example is Alan. He is a young four. When he draws his self portrait he draws a large head with glasses on . He is very aware of his glasses !  Today when Molly drew herself she was very concerned that she was able to draw the bow on her head. Molly loves to be fancy . Her bow is important.  Many times yo will see three year olds draw a head and legs and arms as tiny sticks from the large head . That is what they are aware of . They are not yet are of their body. As they get older they add details