You get to choose exactly what words enter your children’s hearts and minds.

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One of the strangest things about moving into a house as old as ours was figuring out which rooms to use for which purpose. Almost all of the downstairs rooms were just rooms. Our ideas were different from those of the most recent residents. We made one of their bedrooms our dining room and turned another one into our kitchen. We changed their kitchen into a bedroom and their dining room into a library.

Finally, all of Ray’s books and my books were in one room — a dream come true. That was 17 years ago. I confess that our library doesn’t quite hold all of our books anymore—after all, we’re homeschoolers—but it still holds the majority.

A common question when someone new comes to our house is, “Ray, have you read all of these books?” He answers “No” — but he’s read many of them!

A few years ago, we bought shelves from IKEA and turned the under-the-stairs nook on one side of the library into Notty and Little’s Children’s Library. We sent the picture above to our kids when we finished installing the shelves.

I recently read an article that asked parents if certain books were in their child’s school and then went on to warn them about the books’ content. As homeschoolers, you don’t have the same worries about the books in your child’s “school.” Though you must exercise prayerful discernment about what books go into it, you get to choose each one of them. By doing that, you get to choose exactly what words enter your children’s hearts and minds. What a privilege it is to watch over your children’s hearts and minds.

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23

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