Our Commitment to Christ
We are a Christian home school group, and the leaders and staff are all committed Christians who love Jesus, and our faith is part of our lives and our teaching. We represent many area churches and are all part of the Body of Christ, but we are not under any specific church leadership as a group.
Commitment - What we do expect...
Academics: You need to understand that we are an academic group and socializing comes second to getting the work done. Our teachers and administrators work hard to provide a quality educational experience that requires cooperation and response from the students and their families. We are certainly not anti-social, but if your family is primarily looking for a social outlet, we are not the group for you! Here is a link to a more thorough explanation of our Academic Expectations and Grading.
Finances: We do expect people to follow through with their commitments to pay for classes or events for our planning purposes and to enable us to cover our financial commitments to teachers and businesses. There will be a $100 fee for a full day student drop out and a $30/class fee for an elective drop out. Upon request, first time families in our group are allowed a trial period for the first quarter which would waive the fees if they drop out. Here is a link to a thorough explanation of our Costs.
Commitment - What we do not expect from you...
Families are welcome to participate in any of our classes without any other commitment beyond the HSA registration fee, class fees, and LEAH membership, but they must be willing to sign a statement acknowledging and agreeing to respect our statement of faith below. You do not have to agree to the statement of faith, but you do need to agree not to try to influence others and be combative with your disagreements. We are not a co-op, so parents do not have any obligations other than to drop their children off and pick them up on time and to support them in their assignments during the week.
The LEAH Connection
We have the privilege of being part of New York State Loving Education at Home (LEAH) which is a Christian organization dedicated to supporting and promoting home education throughout New York. As a LEAH group, all families participating in the classes become LEAH members for a one time fee of $30 per family. (The fee will be part of your first bill from us, and we will sign up all families that are part of our classes. If you are already a LEAH member with another group, and have paid your fee through them, list your other group as your “Primary LEAH group” on your registration, so you will not be charged a second LEAH fee.) If you do not want to take classes, but you would like to be a member of LEAH through us, simply fill out the Home School Academy family registration ($25 charge) and choose "For LEAH membership only". For more information on the goals and benefits of being in a LEAH group, check out LEAH.org.
Special Needs Considerations
Families are welcome to participate in any of our classes without any other commitment beyond the HSA registration fee, class fees, and LEAH membership, but they must be willing to sign a statement acknowledging and agreeing to respect our statement of faith below. You do not have to agree to the statement of faith, but you do need to agree not to try to influence others and be combative with your disagreements. We are not a co-op, so parents do not have any obligations other than to drop their children off and pick them up on time and to support them in their assignments during the week.
Statement of Faith provided by LEAH and adopted by HSA:
Statement of Faith provided by LEAH and adopted by HSA:
Section 1. Preface
(a) Our Statement of Faith includes truths upon which Christians historically agree. It concerns the Authority of Scripture, the Deity of Christ, and the Person and Work of Jesus Christ (the Gospel) as revealed in Scripture. It is the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3, Ephesians 4:1-6) which distinguishes believers from non-believers. There are many other precious truths taught in the Bible over which godly men have differed in understanding. Therefore, this is not a statement of all that is important to believe, but simply what is essential for Christian fellowship and unity (Romans 15:1-6). The Statements on Gender, Morality and Family (Section 3) define the principles upon which LEAH Chapters are expected to function in society.
(b) We affirm the spiritual unity of believers through our common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that individual doctrinal or practical differences which may exist, outside of the succeeding (Article II, §2 and §3), should not hinder the unity of Christian home educators.
Section 2. We Believe.
(a) The Bible to be the inspired, infallible, divinely preserved Word of God, the supreme and final authority for all faith and life.
(b) That there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(c) In the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, and His imminent bodily return in power and glory.
(d) That man was created in the image of God, but fell into sin and is therefore lost, and only those who put their faith in Jesus Christ alone, not trusting in any personal works whatsoever, can be saved.
(e) That salvation is the free gift of God brought to the sinner by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose substitutionary death on the cross paid the penalty for man's sin.
(f) That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict mankind of sin; and to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
Section 3. Statements of Gender, Morality and Family
(a) That God created mankind in His image: male (man) and female (woman), sexually different but with equal personal dignity. (Genesis 1:26-28, Romans 1:26-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
(b) That God created and ordered human sexuality to the permanent, exclusive, comprehensive, and conjugal “one flesh” union of man and woman, intrinsically ordered to procreation and biological family, and in furtherance of the moral, spiritual, and public good of binding father, mother, and child. (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:5-9, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:7-9, Revelation 21:2)
(c) That the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated by Scripture. (Genesis 2:18-25) God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4) God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.
(d) That any form of sexual immorality (including but not limited to: adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. (Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.)
(e) That the term “family” means either a married couple as defined in 3(b) and 3(c) who are usually blessed with one or more biological and/or adopted children or grandchildren; or a single adult with one or more biological and/or adopted children or grandchildren.