It seems like I have always struggled with my weight. During my middle school years, classmates teased me, calling me names such as “Thunder Thighs.” In high school, no matter how hard I ran on the cross country course or how many diets I tried to follow, I always felt like the fat kid. I wanted to lose weight but could never seem to achieve my dream body.

The battle of the bulge continued into adulthood. Most new mothers understand the challenge of losing weight after after their baby’s birth. When the twins were babies, I searched online for a free website that would help me lose the leftover pregnancy weight. I discovered SparkPeople, an awesome site full of tools for setting and achieving my health goals.

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As part of the Homeschool Review Crew, my twins and I had the opportunity to read three books by Carole P. Roman. At first glance, I feared her books would all be too juvenile for my twelve year old daughters, who stopped reading picture books years ago. I almost declined the opportunity to review them until I peeked inside the Carole P. Roman books and collections on Amazon. On the pages of her books about Ancient Greece, Ancient China, and Ancient Mali, I discovered interesting facts my girls might enjoy exploring.

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The attendance calculations are in. Officially, my twins have six weeks of school left this year. I am excited about trying out some new resources in several subjects while sticking with this year’s tried and true curriculum for math.

Here’s our plan:

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I have always had an aversion to arts and crafts kits because of the potential for messes or the possibility that a project will require a large proportion of my time and creativity. If I buy a kit, my kids should be able to complete the projects without much assistance, leaving me free to take pictures, documenting their creativity. When I first glanced at the Super Beads kits produced by Zirrly, my radar was up, trying to detect any potential problem before I agreed to review the product. Although younger kids may require the help of a parent or older sibling, I was pretty sure my twin twelve year olds could complete the projects independently.

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If you have been reading my blog for long, you know that we just sent our oldest daughter, Rebekah, to attend a YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Taiwan. I used to think mothering young children and homeschooling a houseful was hard, but the challenges of launching a young adult, particularly overseas, dwarf those earlier struggles.

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Most of my kids love math and art, so we were excited to review the MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle from NatureGlo’s eScience. I loved the idea of using videos and other online material to supplement my twins’ math studies, allowing them to learn about concepts that I never encountered in math class when I was in school.

If my girls had been behind in math, we would not have taken on this supplementary study just yet. However, since they are already tackling Algebra at age twelve, I decided to scale back their main curriculum work a bit to make room for MathArt.

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When the Homeschool Review Crew offered me the opportunity to review a product from Parenting Made Practical, there were many great resources to choose from. Videos like Navigating the Rapids of Parenting and Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think as well as the book, What Every Child Should Know Along the Way all looked interesting, but then I saw the one I knew I needed to watch—Dating, Courting & Choosing a Mate… What Works?.

Since my oldest kids are eighteen and nineteen, I expect a wedding or two in the not too distant future. Adding my twelve and thirteen year old daughters to the mix, I keep expecting dating to become a hot topic. Even though none of the kids have brought it up, I need to be prepared when they do.

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This week has been a blur—homeschooling, writing, and going to regular activities as if it were a normal week, yet knowing that it was not. Every time I remembered that my oldest daughter, Rebekah, would be flying halfway around the world for a five month missions adventure, I pushed the idea to the back of my mind. Perhaps I could avoid dealing with the tumult of emotions the reality of her impending departure elicited. I was not in denial; I was simply taking Jesus’ words to heart and not borrowing worries from tomorrow.

So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings. Matthew 6:34 (GNT)

It was an anxious drive to the airport and an emotional return trip Thursday morning after we dropped her off. Tears threatened a time or two, but I held them off by focusing on getting home. A texting session with my daughter helped me hold it together until she took off on the first leg of her trip.

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From the time our oldest daughter turned two years old, we planned to homeschool her. Friends and extended family often asked if we would teach her at home all the way through high school. Our answer was always the same: “We’ll see!”

Each year, we continued to have God’s peace about continuing to homeschool, and in August 2016, our firstborn completed her high school work. Of course, we had to host a celebration to commemorate the occasion.

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On Friday morning I was driving my twelve year old twin daughters to their arts enrichment program when the topic of homeschool reviews came up. We talked about the math, science, and history curricula we are currently reviewing, and then I mentioned the video about dating, courtship, and marriage that I’ll soon be reviewing.

“Oh, that must be for when your kids are older,” one twin piped up.

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