Recently I posted a picture of my beach sand collection on some social media sites because after my recent trip to Australia and New Zealand, I added 4 new beaches to it. Well, I was amazed at the feedback I received! Many of you asked to find out more about how I do this, particularly how I display them.

First, let me tell you what this collection is all about. You probably already know that I love the beach. As a marine biologist the ocean fascinates me, and the beach is a truly restful place for me. So many of my family’s trips over the years have been to beach-y locations.

When we were first married, my husband and I had very little extra funds for things like souvenirs. But I wanted to keep some kind of memento from places we had been. We were gifted (very generously) a trip to Barbados for our honeymoon, and one of the beaches there was made of pink sand.

It was so stunning to see, but the pictures didn’t do it justice. So I grabbed a handful of pink beach, put it in a small zippered sandwich bag, and brought it home. It stayed in that little bag for quite a while.

Because we live in Florida, we took a few trips to the beach the next summer. I noticed that the sand there was very different as compared to my Barbados pink sand. Thus, my collection started.

Now I needed a place to store the sand so I could see it. The perfect solution? Glass spice containers. I found a really inexpensive set at a thrift store, painted some of the caps different colors and filled them with sand. I added little tags to each bottle with the name of the beach, its location, and the date we visited.

As my collection grew, I wanted a better place to display it as compared to its current location on top of a bookshelf. The little wall shelves from IKEA were a perfect solution. They are narrow, inexpensive, easy to install, and come in different sizes.

My traveling has increased over the years – one reason is due to my children having grown and the other is due to my traveling to film for science DVDs and to speak at conferences. So my beach sand collection has grown even more.

It is amazing to see how different each beach is. Beaches are made by the materials either on land or in the water near them. The wind and waves churn and erode those materials until they become small particles. If there is very strong wave action, sometimes the tiny sand grains are washed away, leaving a rocky beach. Volcanic land can cause black sand beaches to form from the crushed up lava. Pink sand beaches are made from small bits of shells and corals in the area.

There are also purple, green, orange, and red beaches, depending on the minerals in the rocks or shells in the area. It is truly a great way to remember where we have been as well as an inexpensive way to bring back a memory from our travels.

The post Collecting Beautiful Beach Sand first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

What? How can I say that?

Well, I’m just being honest. I knew the upcoming year was going to be filled with, let’s face it, hard work. And I just couldn’t be absolutely, completely happy about that on the inside. But as I faced this feeling year after year, I began to realize a few things.

You see, a productive life is a messy one. As a farmer, if you have oxen that you are using on the farm, then you will have a messy barn, won’t you? There will be hay strewn throughout their stalls and, of course, the byproduct-of-eating-hay strewn all over, too. That means there will be more work to keep things in order. And it won’t ever really be completely clean, will it?

I used to sigh out loud and think to myself as I looked over my house, “Yep. We live in a barn.” And this was before I really understood this proverb. It seemed that no matter what cleaning plan I had or what chore schedule I made, we always had messes.

But take another look at the first part of that verse: “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty…”

I would sometimes let my thoughts go this direction, “If I had no children, of course my house would be clean and ordered. Or at least if I didn’t homeschool them, I would have a few hours each day to stay on top of the clutter.”

But, of course, I really didn’t want that. I love my children. I LOVED watching them learn and grow at their pace and with loving and supportive encouragement. I knew that they were a gift from God, and we felt that God had called us to homeschool.

And it would be work. So it would be messy.

But let me just say that ANY productive life is messy. We were created to work for a purpose. Many people think that work was a curse that came with the fall of Adam and Eve. But think about it. They LIVED. IN. EDEN…a place where the ground was rich, and there was no disease. So the plants grew richly. Adam and Eve were instructed to tend that garden.

Tending was work. The fall introduced toil, sweat on our brow, weeds, and disease. But work was a part of who we were created to be.

It gives us purpose, productivity, dignity. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

Working gives us great satisfaction. We have purpose and are productive. Of course, we then model that for our children…a good work ethic, working unto the Lord.

And mess will always be a part of that.

So as you begin your school year, smile a little when you see those little messes that pop up. Thank the Lord you have laundry to wash and food to feed your family. Be grateful for the work ahead of you. As our lives are filled with little ones who we are charged to raise, rejoice in the fact that our mangers are not empty and we are working for an abundant harvest.

Once you jump into that pool, after the initial shock you find that the water is refreshing and holds you up. Let’s focus on these things as this year begins!

Have an extraordinary day!

Sherri

The post Why Is Homeschooling So Much Work? first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

When my kids were younger and learning to do these chores, I remember biting my tongue when guests would use our bathroom.

The kids cleaned in there this week, not me.

Oh, and they were the ones who messed it up in the first place.

It was a struggle to balance the feelings of realizing that our life with little ones included some beautiful messes, wanting our house somewhat sanitized for guests, and being frustrated at looking at all those dust bunnies under the couch taunting me.

This week I am traveling to Atlanta to speak at the Teach Them Diligently Convention. One of my workshops is titled, “Homeschooling and Homemaking: From Misorganzation to Miss Organization.”

One section of the workshop deals with trying to get a handle on these areas that can be hard to stay on top of. I call these cleaning issues Detail Cleaning, because we don’t necessarily need to do them each week, but if we never do them, we’ll have deep, dark corners of our home that make us shudder as we walk by.

The idea behind this chart is to divide your house into eight sections. Your house sections will look a little different from mine, depending on your house configuration and what chores are more important to you. You may want to include one for a large back porch or a garage. You may not have a room dedicated as a school room, but you might want to include a long hallway, foyer, and storage closets.

Once you have your divisions, then all you need to do is dedicate 30-45 minutes in your week for detail cleaning. I do mine on Friday mornings. So on my calendar, every Friday morning at 10:00 has Detail Clean. Now how do I know where to clean? I look at my chart. The first Friday, I will clean areas in my kitchen. I pull things off the counters and clean behind them. Gone are those crumbly toast crumbs! I pull out the step ladder and wipe down the top of the fridge. I clean the kitchen window and wipe down the vent hood over our stove with grease cleaner.

The next Friday I will tackle detail cleaning in the master bedroom, getting the ceiling fan, using the vacuum hose to get under the bed, wiping down our blinds, and other detail areas I don’t get to each week.

You see, these are areas that we just can’t tackle during the regular weekly cleaning. It also gives us a chance to hit those areas that our kids might not be covering while doing their chores. And if we designate a time to do them, we can be sure eventually they will be covered. In fact, if we follow the chart, these areas will be cleaned every other month! And without us having to overfill our schedules. Just 30 minutes a week!

Now let’s say you have a field trip planned one Friday. That’s OK. I find that if I have something on my calendar, then I will make a point to move it to another spot in my schedule so I am sure to do it. If it isn’t on my calendar at all, I never seem to get it done. So look for a small space of time Thursday afternoon or Saturday morning. And if you just can’t get to it that week, just push that detail cleaning area to the next Friday, and you’re good to go.

It is so important that we intentionally take time to plan. If we don’t, the unimportant things will easily fill our days. This is one way I have found to get a small handle on some areas where I have felt out of control.

The post An Unbelievably Simple Plan for Cleaning Success first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

Hanging file folders in a file cabinet work well, but file cabinets take up space, and you can only have so many of them.

Years ago, I began using magazine files to store many of my papers. Magazine files are designed for storing magazines, and they are oriented in a portrait layout instead of the landscape layout of traditional file cabinets. So how do I use these portable containers for organized storage?

Enter the backpack folder.

It is designed with the dividing tabs on one end of the folder and a side opening for easy filling. They fit perfectly inside magazine files, allowing you to have an organized method of storing your important papers. Never seen them before? Actually, backpack folders are easier to find than you may think. Of course a quick internet search will provide you with plenty of sources to purchase from, but I have found them in Target and even the dollar store.

I love using this method of storing paperwork!

Because magazine files only require shelf or desk space, you can store this file system anywhere. I have a designated spot on a bookshelf for most of mine, but I also have some on top of a desk and a decorative one on a shelf with other materials. It hides my stuff in a beautiful way but also keeps it handy when I need it.

And because the magazine files are self-standing and portable, you can slide one out and bring it wherever you need it in your house.

When it comes to household organization, I like to think outside the box. I look at the available space I have and try to make it as useful as possible. This is one “trick” that has worked great for me.

If you are struggling with a paperwork monster that is difficult to contain, let me encourage you to try several methods until you find one that works best for you. But don’t invest in expensive storage containers until you do a trial run using maybe boxes and folders you have on hand. Then when you find something that works, you can be on the hunt for fun and pretty containers. After all, if we have to keep things organized, we can at least do it in a beautiful way!

Have an extraordinary day!

The post How Magazine Files Can Help You with Storage first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

Yes, it builds skills and teaches them a good work ethic, but it also helps me out!

Well, one of the problems we have had is identifying whose clothing item belongs to whom. (Sorry, after 21 years of teaching grammar to my kids, I just have to use the “who” and “whom” correctly – it sounds so formal, and you guys know I am not a very formal person!)

Anyway…I had read about so many strategies to remember who gets which clothing item: sewing on colored tags (lots of work), sticking with certain wardrobe colors for each child (not happening), different brands for each child (DEFINITELY not happening), just make mental note as to who gets what (Now you’re just being crazy!).

None of these methods seemed doable to me. We have three boys and a girl. When the oldest outgrew something, it went straight into the drawer of the next boy, then the next, and so on. And when the youngest boy outgrew his clothes, I am not ashamed to say that some of those items ended up in our daughter’s drawers (maybe with some lace added).

I was not about to sew and re-sew different colored ribbon tags, and I knew my mind couldn’t keep track of which child had which shirt, so I needed an easy, inexpensive method of marking their clothes in a way that I could alter the markings as the items passed down from child to child.

Enter my secret weapon:

Yes, a simple Sharpie marker. I mark a single black dot on the tags of my oldest son’s clothes (even the toes of the socks). Then when an item gets passed down to the next child, I add a second dot. The third child has three dots on his tags, and the fourth child has four dots. No re-sewing or elaborate buying plans necessary!

I keep another marker in the laundry room to re-mark any tags that become faded, but that is all I do. No step-by-step program. No expensive materials. Just dots on the tags. And if my third son gets a new shirt for a birthday or Christmas, I just put three dots straight onto the tag. Everyone will know it is his. For shirts that have no tags, I try to find a hidden spot on the inside seams (unless it’s a white shirt). And that’s it. It takes care of 99% of our problems.

No more comments like, “You are wearing my shirt again!” or “Mom, all my shorts are missing!”

So with the sorting out of the way, we can get down to business and defeat the Huns finish folding the laundry.

I hope this is helpful to you – or at least a bit entertaining. Have a great day!

The post An Easy Way to Mark and Identify Hand-Me-Downs first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

Well, you get the picture. That’s why I like to hang clothes whenever I can.

But sweaters are difficult to hang because the hangars leave dents in the shoulders, causing the sweaters to become misshaped. You put them on, and you have these little sweater-dents.

This new method of hanging sweaters makes me so happy, because it gets rid of the sweater-dent plague and keeps bulky sweaters from taking up precious drawer space. Win-win!

So here is how you do it:

Lay the sweater on a table. Then fold it in half lengthwise.

Place the hangar so that the hook is in the armpit space and one hangar arm crosses over the sweater arm while the other hangar arm crosses over the body of the sweater (a picture is worth a thousand words…).

Fold the sweater arm and body over the arms of the hangar.

Then hang up and enjoy the organization beauty!

This makes me so happy! I hope you try it out and free up some drawer space. Lovely!

The post Organization Tip – Hanging Sweaters first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

I always seem to come up short, too.

At the beginning of the school year I have plans to stay on top of my household cleaning, meal preparation (I will incorporate at least two crock pot meals and a vegetarian meal into our menu each week!), home filing and school portfolios, car maintenance (Isn’t it time for another oil change?), and a whole host of other things I need to keep track of.

I try to plan a bit better each year, too. I buy that new, beautiful organizer that has all the blank spaces I could ever use in order to tailor it to my family’s needs. I print out chore charts. I put together a chalkboard menu planner. At least I can say that my planning is neatly and beautifully organized!

Then life enters my plans. I have a sick child that needs to go to the doctor. The refrigerator stops working, and I need to deal with getting it fixed before all our food goes bad. Our printer breaks, and I can’t print out that test my child needs to take. We’re out of laundry soap, and I need to make yet another trip to the grocery store. Something always seems to take precedence over my perfectly laid out plans.

So why plan at all?

Proverbs 16:9 says “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

It is important to plan our days. We need to know our responsibilities, see what has to be done, and make the most of the time we are given each day to complete those tasks. We are not to be idle or lazy.

I know, I know.

But every time I try to do this, it seems like a monkey wrench gets thrown into my plans. I have things all worked out. I put everything into its respective little box in my color-coordinated planning system. I should be able to move through the day, checking things off one-by-one as I get things done.

Sooo…take a look at that previous paragraph I just wrote. I used the words “I” and “my” seven times. When I really step back and look at what’s going on in my head (which is for me best done when I write it down), I realize that I am taking ownership of my days, of my household, of my children. But they aren’t mine at all. I am given them as a steward. I am responsible to raise and train my children, keep my household and love and support my husband and family. I am responsible to minister to those the Lord brings to me. I am accountable to be a good manager of what we own.

Yet the Lord is the one who has given these things to me. So I need to be ready to hear him when I am going in a different way. When things don’t go as I have planned, I need to respond selflessly. My gut reaction is to say, “I did not need this to happen today. This has totally messed up my plans!”

Yes. I am selfish. I want things to be done my way. After all, they are good things! I am trying to keep a well-run home, educate my children, share with others. Why can’t these kinds of things go more smoothly?

Because God sees that I need to rely on Him more and on me less. I am to plan, because that gives me a structure from which to work. But I need to realize that God desires me to be obedient to Him, to give my schedules over to Him, and to trust Him. He is still building character in me.

And I want my children to see that. I don’t want them to think that I am perfect. I want them to know that I am following my Lord – seeking His ways over my ways.

So as I look over my broken lesson plans and am reorganizing my chore charts, I am mindful that these plans are a framework and a good way for me to set forth our days ahead. And no matter how lovely they look, God will make them more beautiful as He adjusts them to be exactly what I need to be doing.

The post Is Planning Just Setting Myself Up to Fail? first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

Now that Christmas is over, there is something inside me that clicks, making me want to clean, declutter and re-organize everything. I continue to repeat, “Do we really need this?” to my kids, or “Are we using this?” to my husband.

As we begin to put away the Christmas decorations and find homes for new gift items, I try to make myself get rid of at least one old item for every new one.

A new pair of shoes means getting rid of an old worn pair. A new necklace means finding one I never wear and putting it in the give-away box. New sheets or towels? Time to go through the linen closet and find some worn items to use as rags.

And I get this way about our homeschooling, too. Is that new curriculum I bought over the summer just not working as well as I had hoped? Is one of my children struggling with a subject this year? Maybe I need to do a curriculum double-check. Perhaps I need to take a look at our schedule and see how I can alter what we are doing to make learning a bit easier. Maybe we should drop that extra class (or maybe we should add one).

This is a great time to clean out, organize and reevaluate lots of things in our household, and I encourage you to do it. During these last few days of break, take a little time each day to sort through one or two areas in your house that are a source of organizational frustration. Perhaps one shelf of toiletries that needs to be cleaned out or that junk drawer in the kitchen. Yes, we all have them, it’s no big deal.

Take some time to pray about areas in your homeschool day that are stressful, and ask for wisdom to take a new approach. And understand that it is OK to change curriculum if it is just not working. I know it probably means spending some more money, but you can likely resell the old curriculum, and this is one of the blessings of homeschooling. If a course of study is not working for our children, we have the freedom to change it. Every child learns differently, and we don’t have to make them fit into a cookie cutter plan just because it is the newest thing or it was on sale. Husbands, give your wives permission to make curriculum mistakes. After all, we can’t assess it unless we use it, and sometimes it just doesn’t fit!

And most importantly, if you do change educational course mid-year, know that you are NOT behind a semester. You have actually given your child a 6 month head start in studying in a way that better fits their learning style.

 It’s a great way to begin the new year!

The post Keeping it Clean first appeared on Sherri Seligson.