Jane (Elling) Haas ’69 shares Studia Vitae continuing education course experience

Jane (Elling) Haas ’69 describes herself as a child of God through baptism and also a wife, mother of two daughters and grandma to five beautiful grandchildren. 

“All answers to my prayers,” she enthused. “We all live within 30 miles of each other and enjoy weekly family gatherings and celebrations. I'm most grateful that all our immediate family members are [Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod] members actively serving in our three different congregations, including the children who help lead music and Sunday school activities. It's a joy to witness everyone's faith growth by the Spirit's work!” 

Haas grew up on a farm in northwest Ohio near Napoleon, Ohio, and was a member of the third class in the history of Concordia Junior College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has a bachelor’s degree and Lutheran Teaching Diploma from Concordia Nebraska. Her first teacher call was to St. Timothy Lutheran School in Detroit, Michigan. She also served as a teacher at Zion Lutheran School in Cleveland, Ohio, and Immanuel Lutheran School, St. Charles, Missouri.  

“I married my favorite blind date, Don, in 1970, and we taught together for a few years in the inner city locations,” she explained. “We were blessed with two daughters, and soon after I was called to be associate editor of day school curriculum in 1984 after mailing lessons I wrote to Concordia Publishing House and the educational resources department." 

She later moved into a called editor position with Concordia Publishing House's Sunday School and VBS team and also edited LCMS Children's Ministry, School Ministry and Family Life Ministry materials from the LCMS International Center.  

“After 40 years of church work, I've transitioned to volunteer work and spending time with grandchildren, three of whom are homeschooled,” she said. 

Haas recently enjoyed a children’s literature focused course in Concordia Nebraska’s non-credit continuing education and lifelong learning program Studia Vitae. The course - “Choosing and Using Children’s Literature with Christian Discernment” – allowed participants like Haas to explore best practices for choosing novels for grades 3–8 with intentional Christian discernment. The course showed participants how to evaluate texts through a Biblical lens, how to recognize and utilize moments of faith intersectionality and how to guide students toward thoughtful reflection grounded in Lutheran theology.  

“My Studia Vitae experience taking this course was super fun and helpful as it motivated me to research appropriate books and themes and see them in a new and better way,” said Haas. “I enjoy suggesting books to grandchildren and neighbor children more than ever now. Laura's background in teaching literature provided solid reading and discussion suggestions for various age levels. I especially enjoyed the poetry and short story sections!” 

Haas said she enjoyed not only the course content but also the interaction and instruction with other course participants. 

“I learned from the teachers who participated and shared their experiences with the literature they have used with the students in their schools and homeschooling experiences.  

Haas said she is definitely considering taking additional Studia Vitae courses. 

“I'm always ready to learn and also excited to tell teacher and parent friends about this online opportunity to easily enroll and participate in continued learning,” she said. “My most important take away from this first course has been intentionally determining a book or poem's focus on our life, God's message, a Scriptural connection, our relationship to Jesus and to others and identifying the law and gospel through the content as a clear message, if it's present.” 

Studia Vitae offers Christ-centered continuing education opportunities in a variety of focused areas through an online scheduled and self-paced learning platform.  Each CEU course is $150 and is delivered in six one-hour sessions. Discounts are available for program participants who are members of preferred partner organizations. The short, focused sessions are available as scheduled webinars that will also be recorded for future viewing. Enrollment is flexible and open to anyone with no prerequisites required, and no commitment is needed to take additional classes.   

Registration is available at ceu.cune.edu.   

For more information about Studia Vitae, please visit cune.edu/ceu.   

For more information about preferred partnerships, please visit cune.edu/partners.