AI Homework Rules Template

The core principle

The question isn't whether your child should use AI — they will, and they should learn to. The question is whether using AI in a particular way builds their capability or replaces it. Using AI to check your writing after you've drafted it builds editing judgment. Using AI to write the draft skips the part where you learn to think through a problem and communicate ideas — which is actually the point of the assignment. This framework makes that line visible and concrete before the habit forms on the wrong side of it.

Three-Tier Framework

TIER 1 — Always OK (no discussion needed)

Your child can use AI for these without asking first:

Using AI to check spelling and grammar after writing something themselves Using AI to explain a concept they don't understand Using AI to brainstorm ideas (they still choose which ones to develop and how) Using AI to translate between languages Using AI to find sources or articles to read (not to summarize those sources for them)

TIER 2 — Talk to us first

These are legitimate uses — but they need a short conversation before doing them:

Using AI to help structure an essay or argument they're already working on Using AI to help debug code for programming classes Using AI to explain how to approach a type of problem they're stuck on Using AI to review and give feedback on a draft they've already written

What "talk first" means: a quick "I'm going to use AI to help structure this essay, is that okay?" is enough. The point is the conversation, not permission.

TIER 3 — Not allowed

These uses aren't about getting help — they're about substituting AI's work for your child's:

Using AI to write any first draft Using AI to answer questions they're supposed to answer themselves Submitting anything AI wrote as their own work Using AI to take online tests, quizzes, or timed assessments

A note on getting caught

AI detection tools exist and schools use them — but they're imperfect and neither perfectly accurate nor perfectly foolproof. That's not the real argument here.

The real argument: if your child uses AI to write their essay, they don't learn how to think through a problem and communicate their ideas clearly. That skill has compounding value. The essay grade is temporary. The ability to write, reason, and argue will matter for decades — in college, in work, in life. The cost of substituting AI isn't the risk of getting caught. It's not building the thing they were supposed to build.

That's the case to make — not "you might get caught," but "this is what you'd be skipping."

Sign-off

Student name: _______________________________________________

Parent/Guardian: _______________________________________________

Date agreed: _______________

Next review date: _______________

Notes — anything we want to add or change:

_______________________________________________