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Anybody doing an 8th Grade Graduation for their DC


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I have never heard of a cap and gown graduation for grade 8. 
 

I do know of some local preschools doing one. My boys use to attend a twice weekly (two hours each of those days - so a total of 4 hours weekly) French preschool. They always did a cap and gown graduation. But it was cardboard caps they decorated, and got to keep, and the gowns were made from fabric, one size fits all. They just re-used them ever year. I was told the reason they went to cap and gown is so that they wouldn't be any concern about what to wear for the graduation performance. This was when the kids would sing a few songs on the stage. 

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We had an 8th grade graduation growing up, but no cap and gown. We had an awards ceremony and a dance. Everyone just dressed up.  I loved it because I got to get dressed up, my grandparents came, I got gifts, lol. 

 

So yes, we did celebrate my odd's 8th grade graduation, but no cap and gown. For us we had a weekend last year where their grandparents were all coming for a recital and a co-op play. So we had a barbecue that weekend and invited aunts and uncles and neighbors too.  We had a table set up to show off awards and things she'd accomplished over the year (and we put her sister's stuff out too.) We had graduation cupcakes, and a few people brought her gifts or gift cards. It was a nice celebration of her hard work over the years. We will do the same for little sis in a couple of years. 

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I made homemade caps for the kids' fifth grade "graduation." We took photos in them and went out for a special celebratory lunch somewhere kinda fancy. We'll probably do similar next year for 8th grade, though I don't know if I'll make caps again. I only did them for a fun, cute thing before. They may have outgrown that now.

 

I've also never heard of a full cap and gown graduation for middle school. When I was teaching, the 8th grade graduation was very special and beautiful because it was a called Meeting for Worship where each graduating student had a special time allotted for people to speak to them. But I don't think I could recreate anything like that at home anyway.

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No. My srs don't even like to do cap and gown ceremonies. My sr this yr asked if we could avoid the whole homeschooler graduation thing and celebrate instead by having our entire family go out to eat (all siblings and our grandkids) at a special local restaurant. (May not sound like a big deal, but it means taking 15 people out to a rather expensive restaurant ;) )

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Nope. Moving from 8th to 9th is no different in this house than advancing to any other grade.

 

The charter school 12th grader is going to have a cap and gown in a couple weeks, and the homeschooled 11th grader is planning a friends and family party rather than a stuffy ceremony for when she gets there.

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We're having an 8th grade "promotion" for our daughter. There won't be a cap & gown, but I'm making her a homeschool "diploma" and we're having a family party. She's planning to attend public high school, though, so this is a big transition. She isn't just graduating from 8th grade, but is also graduating from homeschooling. I'm also making her a "yearbook" of sorts - a nice photo book of all our years homeschooling from K-8.

 

Our local middle schools all hold 8th grade "promotions". They don't wear caps & gowns, but the kids dress up, get a diploma, and they hold a formal dance (with catered dinner!) for the students. Many of the parents host big parties. It seems a little over the top for 13-14 yr olds, but I understand. Most of these kids are headed to different high schools, so they are saying goodbye after 9 years together. It's nice to recognize those transitions for kids.

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If you're looking for caps & gowns, I know that the homeschooldiploma website sells them. I've also seen them in the Oriental Trading Company catalog, but I'm not sure if they sell larger sizes or only the smaller gowns for kindergarten & elementary graduations.

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I admit we don't even do 12th grade graduations. I only went to my own because my mom made me, lol. So far, my two oldest have chosen to skip their college graduations as well. Maybe we just don't care much for ceremony?

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Nope. Never heard of an 8th grade graduation. However if it's typical in your area I "might" consider it.

 

For my senior this year, we did not do a cap and gown. We took him out to eat and presented a nice diploma. He opted not to do the nice community homeschool ceremony nor any party at home.

 

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Not us. I didn't do anything special moving up to eighth when I was in school and that was an actual school change. We're already above 8th grade level, and are planning to fluidly continue on. I could see doing a graduation/ promotion if one was going to a brick and mortar highschool though.

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My ps 8th grade graduation wasn't cap and gown. It was kids walking up when their names were called and getting a piece of paper no one kept.

No.  I roll my eyes at every graduation ceremony preschool-11th grade. I don't see any difference in going from 8th to 9th and 2nd to 3rd or 10th to 11th.  I also don't do end or beginning of the year parties/promotions for grade levels either. We just enjoy being done, taking a break, and vacationing. I'm fine with graduation parties/open houses after earning a diploma, earning a degree, earning skill training/certification, etc. Those are completing something, not celebrating getting part way through like 8th grade graduation does.

A graduation ceremony for 8th grade goes back to the pre-Great Depression days when most people didn't go on to high school because there was little need for it.  It was celebrating the end of a chapter for those kids.  Now everyone is required to go to high school, so the 8th grade graduation ceremony is just an antiquated tradition that doesn't really fit with our lives now and it hasn't for a very long time. I'm not a sentimentalist or traditionalist.

 

And I'm just not a big party or ceremony person.  I don't do big production birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and Christmases.  Yes, we celebrate them with gifts and sometimes parties but making them a huge production is contrary to my temperament and the temperaments of people in my household.

My older two didn't want to do the homeschool cap and gown ceremony for high school graduation, so they didn't.  They did want an open house so we did that.  We had their senior photos and homeschool diplomas on display and there were food, dessert, gifts, streamers, family and friends.

Both are now engaged to be married next year and neither really care much about wedding ceremonies with everyone present.  One is planning an elopement out of state for the short, simple ceremony outdoors with just the two of them and an officiant with a reception for family and friends back home.  The other is currently planning a civil ceremony and reception for family and friends.  I had a small wedding as a concession to my husband-I would've been just fine with an elopement.

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I arranged a tiny immediate family only 'promotion' ceremony for my 8th grader.  I ordered cap & gown off Amazon ($25 each), a fill-in-the-blank certificate (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FW5I73U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 $3 when I ordered) and paper covers ($10 total) I used MS Word to print, and made cupcakes.  The ceremony included mp3 files playing 'Pomp" and Whitney Houston singing the anthem. Then I said a couple of sentences about our accomplishments in home school, presented a transcript, reading trophy, and his completion certificate.  Finally, I pinned a 'Class of 2021' pin to confer Freshman status.  Then we went to lunch.  It was over in less than 10 minutes, lol. Pictures took longer. When I was in 8th grade, my public school did not have cap & gown but rather dressed up for a promotion ceremony for the entire grade followed by a semi-formal dinner dance. Since he is leaving home school for public high school, I believe a rite of passage was in order to mark the occasion. My younger got to dress up for the fun of it. He is still in middle school as a rising 7th grader, but older brother did get a cap/gown photo when he left elementary in public 4th grade, so this makes up for that.  FYI - the decorations were from Amazon (~$10 for plates, napkins, cupcake supplies, banner & balloon), the trophies, pin and other medals from Crown Awards online (~$25 for a couple medals, trophies, pin & shipping).

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Edited by J&JMom
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