If you planned your own DC's graduation . . .

[Lucy the Valiant]

1. What was the best thing you did? 

2. What are things to avoid / be careful of?

 

[cintinative]

I haven't, but I have been to a couple and I do have a comment.

The words "open house" indicate to me that you can come and leave anytime.  So when I see those I don't expect to walk in on a ceremony with multiple speakers.  It's super awkward to walk in not knowing that the parents and the youth pastor are all speaking in turns and you arrived after they started. So, this is my vote for communicating the order of events and time commitment clearly. 

The one I went to in a park pavillion was nice and short. The parents both read something and she switched her tassel and that was it. The rest was hanging out, etc. In this case, they did indicate when the "graduation" bit was happening so people would know what to expect. I think they did word it as a "brief ceremony" and that was pretty accurate. 

 

[Eos]

We've had beautiful diplomas made by our kids' favorite local artists/friends and then have all the guests sign it, similar to our Quaker wedding certificate.  The wording has been something like We the undersigned are loving witnesses to _________'s successful completion of her homeschool journey.  

I make all of the graduating child's favorite foods.  Each of them has said a "speech", thanking the community for supporting their education and being specific about the mentors who are present. Sometimes community members say something but it's mostly been about the graduating kid speaking their thanks.

I don't think there was anything to avoid.  My graduates and I planned them together so I avoided anything they didn't want.  Two didn't want a slide show of photos, one wanted just some photos to look at, one wanted fireworks.  We were always in our yard, but I remember wanting to have a thing for my eldest where we were on top of a cliff and he climbed up to us - he was a climbing guide and quickly shut that idea down.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Eos

[Zoo Keeper]

Homeschool diplomas dot com did a very nice diploma. Reasonable cost, fast shipping. We used it for two of mine so far.  https://www.homeschooldiploma.com/personalized-high-school-diploma-for-homeschools.html

Neither of my children to graduate in the past few years wanted a big party, nor could we have a big party (thanks, Covid!)  A small gathering of select friends/family was a better fit for their personality and the circumstances. 

Graduation announcements to friends/family was appreciated.

I kept *my own* list of cards/gifts that came in so that I could appropriately nag remind about thank you notes. 

[EKS]

On 12/23/2021 at 6:45 PM, Lucy the Valiant said:

1. What was the best thing you did? 

The best thing I did was to make a video with photos of my son that stood in for what might otherwise have been a "speech."

[prairiewindmomma]

We used homeschooldiploma as well. I did a slideshow set to music that was a fun overview of his homeschool career—digging rock samples out of a cliff, museum field trips, him + stack of books when our rainbowresource order arrived, etc. Most of those attending really have no idea what we’d done daily for all of those years, iykwim. 

[Farrar]

Does anyone have options other than Homeschooldiploma? Their stuff looks nice, but I don't like all their options. I'd love to just see if there's another company or two out there. Or a really nice Etsy shop?

[prairiewindmomma]

All I could ever find on etsy were templates for printing your own.  I wanted hand calligraphy and a decent looking seal.

[Farrar]

I'm a pretty skilled calligrapher, so I can actually calligraphy the names. I'm torn about the design. And this is extra dumb because my kids DO NOT CARE. But I have been looking on Etsy. I just didn't know if there were some other options out there.

[Lucy the Valiant]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

I'm a pretty skilled calligrapher, so I can actually calligraphy the names. I'm torn about the design. And this is extra dumb because my kids DO NOT CARE. But I have been looking on Etsy. I just didn't know if there were some other options out there.

My kids do not care at all, either, but I am considering asking a close family friend (and hero of theirs ❤️ ) to actually do one in a graphic design style; not calligraphy exactly, but something unique / still very classy. 

My kids are very patient with me, but lovingly rolled their eyes at me when we began the conversation of "we need to mark this significant accomplishment in your life." We have come to a very happy compromise, I'm glad to report. 😉 

(ETA: I *adore* over-thinking these things, LOL.)

Edited December 30, 2021 by Lucy the Valiant

[MamaSprout]

Just popping in for a 2022 PSA. Get your discounted 2022 New Year's decor and paper products to decorate for your 2022 graduation party. :-)

[skimomma]

We just did this last year.  We had big plans for a very large indoor event (it can still be snowing here in May) but Covid changed all of that.  So we ended up with a (very) cold outdoor event and a much smaller crowd.  It turned out great but it was not what we had wanted really.  Aside from the Covid complications, some things we did that might be useful:

1.  We did open house style but as others warned, we did put a timeline on the invites so people knew when to come (or not) with regards to the "ceremony."

2.  We did have a ceremony that lasted less than 20 minutes.  I spoke for about 10 with a history of dd's education.  Then dd spoke which was mostly thank you to her mentors.  There was not a dry eye to be seen.  Some of dd's musician friends surprised her with a bluegrass rendition of Pomp and Circumstance.  They were serious troopers considering how cold it was.  We did take a video.....which is my next suggestion.  If you are outdoors, consider wind in recording and/or amplification.  You can hear everything in our video if you try really hard but the wind really messed up the sound quality.  

3.  Egg salad sliders.  No idea why but they seem to be a ridiculous hit.   We had 75 with an additional 75 of two other types of sandwich.  The egg salad ones were gone within 20 minutes.  It was frightening.

4.  Dd was not huge on tradition but did want a cap and gown.  Rather than buy her own we just borrowed one from her best friend that was graduating from a local high school the following week.  They thought it was kind of cool that the hat and gown graduated them both.  I just thought it was kind of cool that dd did not get egg salad on any of it!  And that we saved the money and waste.

5.  If you are still grappling with Covid, add a half hour open zoom for before or after the party to have time with people that cannot attend due to quarantine and/or caution.  We had ours after with the ceremony so we could play the recording. That way dd was not on the hook to "entertain" participants the entire time.

6.  Our homeschool did not have a formal name or colors.  We struggled to decide on decoration colors.  We settled on using the colors of the college dd would be attending.  The bonus is that we saved it all to use again if dd graduates from the school she is currently attending.  And if she doesn't, it is local and we can pass it on to someone else.

We did have a lot of hurt feelings as our original guest list would have been about 250 and we settled for 100 after cutting out anyone from out of town (most of our extended families) and less close local people in an attempt to keep it Covid safe.  I don't know how else we could have done it.  The family was understandably upset (and still is) but it was not just mixing people from all over the place in a single party but also trying to come up with safe lodging for everyone who normally would have stacked up on people's floors, campers, and guest rooms.  Not to mention many are not well suited to an outdoor event in cold weather and there are deep divides within our families about Covid safety measures.  I was not going to have some kind of war over masking at an already stressful time.  It was also a very last minute event as the local Covid mandates were in constant flux.  We had about two weeks to go from zero to party that was going to have to be in our small city yard which was not going to work with a very large event.  So out of town people would not have had time to get off work or get plane tickets.  So it was what it was.

 

[chiguirre]

We didn't plan on a DIY homeschool graduation because dd was also getting her AA and we thought that would be her big, in-person celebration. Of course, Covid trashed that plan. Dd didn't really want a DIY ceremony, so we just took pictures with her brother's recycled cap and gown. The CC didn't send out honors cords since they were doing a virtual graduation so dd borrowed a stole from the Navy recruiters. All in all, it was sort of a bummer, and the cherry on top was that dd was one of the last groups to graduate boot camp without being able to invite parents. So we watched that on streaming and didn't get to do liberty weekend. 

I sincerely hope Covid doesn't squash your graduation plans like it did ours. 

I recommend using a borrowed cap and gown if you can. They're not cheap and you'll only use it once (maybe twice if it works for your college's ceremony.)

If your plans do have to change, making a short film and posting it for friends and family takes some of the sting out of missing the big event.