Class of 2010--My Daughter's Graduation

The evening was absolutely lovely.

My daughter (M.) spent most of the day, with a girlfriend, decorating the church. I spent most of my day preparing veggie platters, pinwheels, bean dips, etc.

We're guessing that about 80 of her closest friends came for the event which began with another girlfriend playing the harp as people were seated. Also, during that time, played a slide show of pictures of M. growing up. Once everyone was seated, my oldest son welcomed everyone, opened in prayer, and led the audience singing a few hymns that M. had previously selected.

After the singing, M. delivered a speech that she had written thanking us, her parents and family, and her friends, other key adults in her life and shared a bit of what her dreams are for the future.





Next, the family was given time to share. Her father talked about his feelings of watching his only daughter grow up into a lovely young woman and charged her to always follow Christ and live a life of prayer. I spoke more about her homeschooling and the things that she enjoyed doing for school projects. I also shared about her gracious spirit--with M. bad attitudes and sour moods are rare occurrences. I then read her a letter from her brother (and best friend) in Haiti. After the brothers were given the opportunity to share we presented M. with her diploma.




You can purchase very nice diplomas from Homeschool Legal Defense Association (without being a member) and HomeSchoolDiploma.com. We bought M.'s from HSLDA, as we did for her older brother, but I have seen the ones from HomeSchoolDiploma.com and they are also of good quality.

Along with the diploma, we also crowned M. as our Princess with a tiara sent from her aunt in Florida who could not attend.


Next, was a time of prayer. We invited anyone who wanted to come up to the podium and surround her and pray for her and her future. This was such a special time, a time the Holy Spirit moved. I wish you could all have heard the prayers that were sent up to the Throne of Grace for our precious daughter.



Her two best friends followed the prayer with special music. The one girl plays the harp and the other the violin. M. chose Be Thou My Vision and You Are My All In All for these selections. Following them, our youth leader led the group in singing Jesus, All For Jesus.

After the closing prayer, the entire crowd was invited to the fellowship hall for refreshments.




I've seen homeschool graduations done many different ways. For our son, Shea, we had a covered dish at an outside pavilion with volleyball following. That is what he wanted. That's what's so great about homeschooling...you have the freedom to choose...choose what's right for your family...choose what's right for your child.


How have you done your homeschool graduations? I'd love to hear your stories.

Blessings,