Over the years, we learned to visit the used book booths when at homeschool conferences and to stop in libraries when traveling to see if they had a book sale section or room. It seemed we could always find some treasure for each member of the family. Once, a friend and I got a call that a local school was throwing their entire library collection into their school dumpster. What do you think we did?? Minivans here we come!

We’re open when we’re home. Very few people use it, as I said, so it’s no problem. I mail books to people who request them, after they pay for the postage. Eventually, if the books haven’t come back, I ask for them back. I do not charge fees, other than the postage fee.

A few years ago, probably in self-defense, my husband installed a 12 ’x 26’ building next to our house, finished the walls, and provided electricity for the lending library. Life intervened with some unforeseen events, and I’m still setting up the library with a goal of it being officially open to memberships in 2024.

Even before I was introduced to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy, I knew the greater value of narration versus multiple choice. During the summer months, I turned my children loose to browse the shelves of our public library for summer reading, to find whatever interested them versus what they were “told” to read because they could be quizzed on it. To this day, I still believe the most successful reading program is both reading to your child from conception and finding books that they are interested in reading.

My goal is to be a complete alternative to the public library by offering a variety of Christian creation based resources including books, audiobooks, dvd, cd, games, and homeschool curriculum. In the future I’d like to add homeschool resources such as a laminator, comb binder, and science equipment like telescopes and microscopes. Starting soon I’d also like to add programs such as story times, summer reading programs, and book clubs. I want to have all of the resources that my family used at the public library. I feel that God has called me to run this library and that this is my mission field.

With no grandchildren at the time, I just couldn’t see the books sitting on shelves or in boxes with no one to read them and love them… As the children moved out, the books moved in.

If you had known mom, you would know she would be mortified by us putting her name on this project, and we did refrain from calling it Little Lisa’s Library or something cute like that. But, sorry mom, we are doing all this because of you.

We set up bookcases at one end of our walk-in basement, the end with the door.  Over the years the library space worked its way around until it took up two thirds of the basement. My husband built nice brick steps to get people safely down and around the house, but on snowy days I had people come in the kitchen door and down the basement stairs so they wouldn’t slip and die.

From Jeannette Tulis, Green Door Children’s Heritage Library, Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. My love affair with libraries began early. I was the youngest library card holder in Elmhurst, IL. I think the librarians had pity on me as I checked out stacks of books and so they relaxed the age restriction for qualifying for a card….

I have always been a collector of books. My whole family is full of readers – my grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, and siblings. We all read. And read a lot. My grandparents and my parents each had rooms in their homes dubbed  “the library” that were packed to the gills with books of all…