"In all our homeschooling efforts, let us not forget our children's hearts.  Let us tie many heart-strings -- the more the better -- through daily interaction, creating special memories, binding our children to us through love and caring.  And let us not forget to guide their hearts toward the Lord, to set their hearts and minds on things above.

The academics are important, but the heart-set is even more so.  That's why I like to say that we are "HeartSchooling" -- it puts my focus back where it ought to be and helps me keep my priorities straight.

Keep loving on your little people!"

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people.
1 Chronicles 16:8

So we Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth Thy praise to all generations. Psalm 79:13

 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. 
Psalm 69:30

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. Psalm 95:2

Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:7

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High. Psalm 50:14

O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 118:1

 

No children in the house to play —
It must be hard to live that way!
I wonder what the people do
When night comes on and the work is through,
With no glad little folks to shout,
No eager feet to race about,
No youthful tongues to chatter on
About the joy that’s been and gone?
The house might be a castle fine,
But what a lonely place to dine!

No children in the house at all,
No fingermarks upon the wall,
No corner where the toys are piled —
Sure indication of a child.
No little lips to breathe the prayer
That God shall keep you in His care,
No glad caress and welcome sweet
When night returns you to your street;
No little lips a kiss to give —
Oh, what a lonely way to live!

No children in the house! I fear
We could not stand it half a year.
What would we talk about at night,
Plan for and work with all our might,
Hold common dreams about and find
True union of heart and mind,
If we two had no greater care
Than what we both should eat and wear?
We never knew love’s brightest flame
Until the day the baby came.

And now we could not get along
Without their laughter and their song.
Joy is not bottled on a shelf,
It cannot feed upon itself,
And even love, if it shall wear,
Must find its happiness in care;
Dull we’d become of mind and speech
Had we no little ones to teach.
No children in the house to play!
Oh, we could never live that way!

By Edgar Guest

"Precious, no doubt, are these little ones in your eyes; but if you truly love them, then often think about their souls. Nothing should concern you as greatly as their eternal destiny. No part of them should be so dear to you as that part which will never die. The world, with all its glory, will pass away; "The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." But the spirit which dwells in those little creatures, whom you love so well, will outlive them all, and whether they spend eternity in happiness or misery will depend a lot on you (speaking from man’s perspective).

This is the thought that should be uppermost on your mind in all that you do for your children. In every step you take about them, in every plan, and scheme, and arrangement that concerns them, do not leave out that mighty question, "How will this affect their souls?" "

                                                                    From The Duties of Parents by J. C. Ryle