When do the rules apply in math?

Today, I gave the student an expression to evaluate. I was working on doing math with the appropriate order of operations. So while the students were working on the expression

28-30+6

I had a student ask if this was integer work or order of operation work. I told him I didn't understand his question. I replied that yes, these are integers and that we always use the rules of order of operations. He said, "No, I mean do I still follow the integer rules?" I probably dropped my jaw to the ground.

I guess I hadn't made it clear that once we learn something we use it everytime. Interesting. He had compartmentalized and thought when we are learning a topic, that's the only time we use those rules. Could not believe it. It was truly a moment of understanding that I needed to have.