Our Homeschool Journey as Encapsulated in A Photo (a Button and a Facebook Page)

Just a quick note this morning to let folks know I have finally created a Facebook page for Training Happy Hearts.  Feel free to click on over and "like" it, as well as to let your friends and fellow homeschoolers (afterschoolers, parents, grandparents, etc.) know about it.

I have also finally created a button and button code grab box.  (Posted above, but, also, over there on the right sidebar for easy grabbing anytime.)  Let me tell you, it wasn't easy for this not-so-tech-savvy mama to do this, but I figured it out.

<a href="http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg519/traininghappyhearts/traininghappyhearts.jpg" alt="Training Happy Hears" width="125" height="125" /></a>

The photo Mike and I chose for the button might seem like an odd one to some, but as we scanned through many photos from the past year, we found this one symbolic of our journey.

• Marking the Way:  The rocks in the photo were stacked by my children like a cairn.  For those who aren't aware, cairns often mark hiking trails, much like this blog helps us (and we hope others) navigate the journey of training up children.

• Sunshine and The Beach:  The photo was taken at a local beach as sun streamed down on us.  The beach is a place that truly feeds our family's soul.  Every time we relax at and explore local beaches, we recognize anew how richly blessed we are by all the marvels of God's great design.  and sunshine?  We love it.  Plus, the way the ray of sun in the photo is shining down and expanding in the reflection in the water reminds us of how God's divine love can shine through each of us.

• Five on a Foundation:  The taller cairn in the photo has five rocks, just like we have five people in our family.  And, it rests on a large, solid foundation -- just as we balance and build our lives best when we rest in God.

• Three, Free and Forever Learning and Growing:  The smaller cairn has three rocks, just as we have three children.  It was the result of spontaneous concrete math problems that the children decided to explore on the day the photo was taken.  It was a gorgeous November day.  we had decided to go for an impromptu beach hike to enjoy the temperate weather, get some exercise and do some nature study.  Once on the beach, the children began stacking rocks, then other 3-d nature art.  They observed wildlife,  chatted with some photographers who happened to drop by the beach and then began practicing math problems with stones. Exploration and learning flowed naturally and the afternoon unfolded with a glorious balance of play and learning.  Thus, the stack of three reminds me of freedom our choice to homeschool affords us to take advantage of gorgeous days and to learn often in natural environments.

• Simplicity, Balance and Beauty:  although you'd never know it if you walked into our home, which remains a space-in-progress, a key vision our family shares for our physical, mental and spiritual spaces is one of simplicity, balance and beauty, all as a result of God's grace and pointing back towards God with gratitude.  This photo captures that vision for us.

So there you have it.  The symbolic story behind the button.  I will spare you the details of the frustrated-mama-trying-to-figure-out-how-to-create-the-thing story and leave it at that.  

Please feel free to share our button wherever you wish and, if you know of any free tutorials on how to make a similar blog header banner, let me know.  After all the finagling I had to do between Microsoft Office Picture Manager, Publisher, Photobucket and Blogger -- not to mention trying to read the foreign language that HTML code is to me -- while trying to create our new button and grab code, I am game for trying an easier method for updating my blog header!  I also welcome design advice, because, as you might have noticed, it is not my gift.

Thanks!