Christian life

Living as a Christian

What Does the Bible Really Say? (Part 1)

/ Holly Stoner / 2 Comments
1–2 minutes

Have you ever heard a statement made that is claimed to be biblical and thought, “Where is that? Is that really what it says?” Have you then gone to the scripture to look it up? If you haven’t, you should. The only place to seek the truth is to read it, but be mindful that the translations we read are not 100% accurate. None of them. The men who translated the Bible, most would have done so with no ill intent ; however, it was impossible to translate the original Hebrew and Greek into, for example, English, in a one-for-one sort of way because the alphabet would be different and words would not have existed, and even the meanings of words could be different. Do the work ; look it up.

No matter how good you think your understanding is, I can almost guarantee you have heard and believed things thought to be from the Bible that are not in there. It doesn’t matter how good you think your pastor is or how much you trust him. He may also just be repeating these Christian sentiments that are not biblical out of tradition. I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years, and I’ve heard a lot of teaching and preaching in that time, and I’ve also been convicted of things over that time, and sometimes it’s, “Is that really what the Bible says? Where is that?” It’s not only good for you to question what you hear ; you should, and then look for the answer in the scripture , not man.

I’m not going to pretend I know everything ; I don’t. My goal here is not to make you believe me or convince you of my thoughts, feelings , and opinions. My goal is to help you think and ask the questions, but more importantly , to search for the truth so that you may grow in your knowledge and relationship with Christ.

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Goodbye 2023

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment

(Edited to add information January 5, 2024)

This year has been different to say the least. I began to homeschool both of my children in the start of their 5th and 7th grade school years. My oldest completed homeschool in the spring of this year and in the summer of this year he began college. My youngest is working through her 11th grade school year. I used to be a lot more involved in their school day, as in, I would do several of the classes with them. Bible, science, and history were three I typically did along with them, or taught them, not to mention the years I taught them art or cooking and sewing to my daughter. As they advanced through their ages and grades, I began to be less hands on in favor of them doing more studies on their own to teach more independence and accountability. I still enjoyed teaching them art but sadly they both lost interest and wanted to study other things. My homeschool mentality has always been to create a program that suits their individual wants, likes, talent, and interests. As such, I developed programs of study they wanted to learn, not what I wanted to teach them, aside from faith building and Bible reading which is a “required course” in my homeschool program. That is by far the most important subject they need to learn, continue to study, and build on.

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What are Highschool Credits

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment

It’s the end of September already. My home education program for my remaining child has been in full swing for a month. That’s not to say she didn’t have learning happening prior to beginning her curriculum work, because going to the gym 3 days a week, working 4 days a week, and church/youth group 2 days a week all counts. That doesn’t even take in account the work she does at home. Segway into the topic I see come up frequently about how much time needs to be spent on school; what counts, is it enough?

There is a misconception that once they reach high school you have to change your approach, or you have to complete so many hours of work for it to “count”. I always direct people to the law text. There is absolutely no mention of that information that people are passing around in homeschooling groups.

You’ll find the law text below:

“(c)  A child who is enrolled in a home education program and whose education is therefore under the direct supervision of his parent, guardian or other person having legal custody shall be deemed to have met the requirements of section 1327 if that home education program provides a minimum of one hundred eighty (180) days of instruction or nine hundred (900) hours of instruction per year at the elementary level, or nine hundred ninety (990) hours per year at the secondary level:

(1)  At the elementary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires; health and physiology; physical education; music; and art.

(2)  At the secondary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies, to include civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; and safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires. Such courses of study may include, at the discretion of the supervisor of the home education program, economics; biology; chemistry; foreign languages; trigonometry; or other age-appropriate courses as contained in Chapter 5 (Curriculum Requirements) of the State Board of Education.

(d)  The following minimum courses in grades nine through twelve are established as a requirement for graduation in a home education program:

(1)  Four years of English.

(2)  Three years of mathematics.

(3)  Three years of science.

(4)  Three years of social studies.

(5)  Two years of arts and humanities.”

1949 Act 14 Section 1327.1 Home Education Program
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2021/2022 End of Year

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment

We’re rounding home plate on this academic year, and yes, of course learning never stops. My children and myself do, however, take a pause on any sort of text book or workbook or formal type of learning for a couple months before we begin again. This gives them an opportunity to spend time doing other activities, for example, my 17 year old will be adding more hours and days to his work schedule. We have just a few weeks left to “officially” meet the 180 day requirement, though we will have more than 180 days by the time of the penciled in “last day of school”. Why is it penciled in? Because if we are completed before that date, we’re done, so long as we’ve met the law requirements. We won’t, however, go any longer past that date. So May 20th is the slated end of our academic year. The teens will be done with most of their work before that. It’s not a requirement to complete your texts or workbook materials, but I like to get it all done when possible. I’ve also implemented a “year end” science presentation poster project they will have the last few weeks to complete. This was an optional assignment from the Marine Biology course, but they are teenagers and if they decide to go on to more schooling, it could benefit them to work on such a project. The way we’ve chosen to “schedule” time for their work is by my teenagers request. They like to have goals (dates, time) by which to get things done.

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Home Educating Christian Teens

/ Holly Stoner

We have 62 days of required time to complete for the 2021-2022 school year to fulfill the law requirement. It amazes me every year how fast the time seems to go. Home educating teenagers has been quite different than when we started out in 5th and 7th grades. What do I mean by that? For one, they are virtually self teaching with little need for me, though I do still stay quite involved in what they are learning, as well as support for them and of course I grade their assignments. Their interests are really formed now to what they prefer to focus on. For example, my 16 year old’s focus is computer programming and my 14 year old’s focus is interior design. The 16 year old has been holding a job since last spring and passed his drivers permit and road test and is now a licensed driver. All this to say, they are growing up. The beauty of home education is that you can foster their interests and you know their skill level and can be flexible with when they get their assignments done so that they can hold a job or pursue other things. I encourage my kids to choose something they are interested in, not necessarily just something that’s going to earn the highest amount of money or require the highest level of education for a fancy degree. Anyone who’s followed my blog for any length of time knows that we are a born-again Christian family. As such, I have never taught my kids that career and money or degrees or education are important or something they need to obsess over. What is important is their relationship with Christ. Everything else is temporary. We need to live on the planet for whatever time God has us to be here, and in doing so, obviously, we need to earn an income to feed ourselves, our families and to use what God gives us for God’s glory, for His purpose. The Bible gives us quite a lot of insight on that actually. I want my teens to lay their treasures above, not on Earth. That does not mean they should have no interest in anything. They do need to realize, however, that often our plans for our lives are not God’s plans for our lives and that will eventually be revealed to us if we are willing to listen and heed the will of God. The plan I had for my life when I was their age certainly did not come to completion, but God’s plans are the best plans and the sooner you submit to them, the better.

I know I have not posted anything in a long time and I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to talk about now. These days I spend little time on social media and therefore I don’t know what’s been going on in the homeschool groups I am in. I do know that people continually ask the same question, “where do I begin?” The answer is simple. Begin at reading the PA Home Education law. You MUST know the law. Don’t rely on anyone else to tell you what’s in it. I have many posts on how to follow the law and help break it down if you have questions. You can check my Resources page to go to the law text and read it and print it. Keep a copy of it in print form. Put it in your files somewhere. Refer to it and read it every year. The other thing I know is being discussed in some groups is this idea of the government giving out tax breaks to homeschool families. I really pray that does not happen. You’re thinking, why? It’s simple. If the government gives you something they want something in return. I don’t want them inside my home education program. What will they want? That’s anyone’s guess, but for one thing it will probably be something along the lines of requiring you to teach or do something in your home that you don’t agree with. No, I don’t want the government in my home. I don’t co-parent with the government nor do I co-educate with them. If I wanted them to educate my kids they would be in public school. I don’t even like all the hoopla they make us (PA residents) go through just to have our kids learn at home. It may not be hard to do, but it’s pointless and just a way for them to feel like they have some sort of power or control over your home education plan.

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