Dear Daughter,

I am exactly like the perfectly organized, behavior-chart-keeping, dirt-digging-for-science-class homeschooling mom.

Except the complete opposite.

I work full days outside of the home. I’m not a scholar. I watch TV. I play hooky from church occasionally, and so much more.

Basically I’m a hot mess.

But you already know that.

Oh, how I'd like to kidnap one of those textbook homeschooling mamas, put her in my closet and let her out for about an hour and a half during Literature and Composition.

Hehe. That could never happen.

Still, My Brown-Eyed Beauty, the decision has been made. We are homeschooling. Boy, are you in for it! Because, what in the blazes do I know? It was so much easier when you were four years old. I taught shape recognition like a beast.

But it’s likely to get a little dicey for us in 9th grade. Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart for sure. It’s out there now. And, I’ll ask you to look away when folks clutch their gut and die laughing when I tell them.

You can work it out with your therapist in a few years.

Because I am willingly taking the academic bull by the horns in the hopes of instilling things of much more value into your tender heart. I only have a few more years to prepare you for literally everything the world will chuck at you.

There is so much more that I still want you to know.

• Life is hard. In the times it is not, rest up, because it won’t last.
• You are beautiful no matter what demands this crazy world tries to put on you.
• There is power in being a lady. Carry yourself like one.
• Don’t quit until tomorrow.
• Algebra can be fun. Geometry can’t.
• A test will NEVER determine your value.
• Learn to express YOURSELF well. You are unique and the world needs you.
• Don’t give any boyfriend husband privileges.
• There is life beyond a classroom.
• Good friends are more precious than gold.
• This home will always be your safe place to fall.
• When you fully grasp what Jesus did for you, it will wreck you. And it will be magnificent.

It's not that I can't teach you these gems while you’re in school, it’s just that the opposition will drown them out a good bit. Kind of like today when I cranked up Let’s Groove Tonight so loudly I could hardly make out your plea to turn it off.

And trust me, you will come face to face with those messages soon enough. I want you to be strong and fierce when you fight that battle.

So to my Littlest, I love you tons. I am not perfect, but give me these next few years to help you carve your path. You are the last to fly out of my nest.

I can’t wait to watch.

NOTE: This post has been edited as a letter to my daughter from an earlier post of mine.