Homeschool Graduation Day!

Well we did it! DJ has successfully graduated high school, as a homeschooled child. I have to say it was a perfect day, and how often can anyone ever say that. We had a tragedy a few days before. One of our beloved church members passed, and she loved DJ so much, and all the youth. Then we had 2 police officers shot in a horrible incident. But the actual day was wonderful. We had family from out of state, his Xbox friends, that he never had met in person made the long trip to spend his special day with him. Plus, of course all of our local family, friends, and beautiful church family. DJ, and my husband gave wonderful speeches, and his sister chickened out, lol. As for me, I had all I could do to not cry let alone give an awesome speech. It was warm enough to swim, and the younger kids did. The teens mostly just hung out, as teens do. The food was awesome, and I have to give a public shout out to 2 facilities. First, a big, and huge thank you to Pastor David, and youth Pastor Allen, at Fanning Springs Community Church. They always support the kids, and are wonderful leaders, and pastors. Plus the church let us use the building for our ceremony, and Pastor David gave the Invocation. If you are in the Levy, Dixie, or Gilchrist county areas, of Florida, and you need a church with a great youth mission, check them out. Second, the Fanning Springs State Park. We rented a pavilion and the Recreation Hall. The prices were affordable, the building was lovely with a full kitchen, bathroom, deck over looking the springs, and two refrigerators. For 85 dollars you get the building from dawn to dusk. You do have to put down a 100 dollar check, which you get back after they check the building and make sure nothing was ruined, and you left it clean. They were super nice to us, and helpful. We actually did all this in April, and I am so grateful for that decision. All it has done is rain pretty much the whole month of May.

I am hoping to get back into regular blogging. I have one more child to go, and I can already tell High School is going to be a challenge for her and me. They also did their play, Shrek the Musical, so watch for a post about that. They all did amazing, and DJ now thinks he wants to get into Musical Theater when he goes to Santa Fe.

I will be posting my plans for 9th grade for Caitlin soon. Her High School years will be much different than DJ's. I have learned so much, lol.

Oh, and check out that awesome guitar cake, all hand made by a very good friend.  She is amazing.  I won't put her name here, but if you need an awesome theme cake, message me with your email and I will give you her info.  She does it as a hobby, lol.

Almost Time

It is almost time for our first homeschool graduation.  The program has been created, the menu created, the church booked, and the reception hall reserved.  I have purchased some of the decor, but I still need to get the diploma, and get some pics done through the years.  I have to check with my son to see if his girlfriend is doing the slideshow or not, and what his entrance song will be.  We are keeping a very simple menu.  We are not fancy, so I see no need to have a fancy party.  The party is at the springs, and they have very strict rules about decorations.  I will share the program details on the next post, so stay tuned if you need ideas.

I am also in the midst of starting to plan 9th grade for Caitlin next year.  I have not accomplished much, lol. 

Drama is really heating up now, even though the show is still 2 months away.  It takes up a lot of time, but both of them really love it, and it covers their Arts credit for high school.  We continue to walk at least 3 days a week to be sure to get our PE credit, and we are doing a Health course in may, only 8 hours, but it is a great class.  

Homeschooling Outdoors

This is my absolute most favorite time of year, here in Florida. It is warm, but not too warm, and being outside is not uncomfortable. No bugs, no snakes, well mostly no snakes. We did see a Water Moccasin sunning itself on a big log, but we were nowhere near it. We used to do outdoor homeschooling all the time. Then, when my son hit is Junior and Senior year, it just became almost impossible with the amount of time needed to do his school work. He is a Senior this year, but has a much better control of his time spent on classes, plus he needs volunteer hours. Even though we volunteer all the time, I often forget to get signatures, so it doesn't really help. Take that into consideration if you are logging volunteer hours. Get the forms signed. Anyway he is volunteering every other Thursday. So, Caitlin and I get to explore some of our local springs while we wait for him to finish. So many things to see and learn about. I have missed our Outdoor Homeschooling days. So peaceful and relaxing. We always try to learn something new, either about the spring we are visiting, things that go on there, such as diving, wildlife, or plants. This week we are just going to the springs for fun, no school, just fun. Can't wait. When we get towards the end of the school year, I am plenty ready to relax, lol.

Planning A Homeschool Graduation: Step 3

I have moved on to step 3 of planning our homeschool graduation. This morning I ordered his cap and gown, in the school colors he chose. I used this website.   Our long distance invites have been sent out, and a general event page has been created on FB.  Today, or tomorrow I will work on the rest of the invites that need to be mailed.  The others will be hand delivered. If I don't complete it this week, next week I hope to have the ceremony program created. 

Everything is happening so fast now.  I also applied for the FAFSA, and started gathering what he needs to apply to college.  I created his wood burned money/gift box, I will share that next week, as it needs to be stained.  I also found a huge, heavy lovely glass mug, at the dollar tree, and am going to etch something funny on it, and have it for people to put coins or one dollar bills in.  I should have that done next week, also.

If you would like me to create a wood burned keepsake box for your graduate, leave me a comment, or visit my Etsy shop to see the one created for my son, and place a custom order there. 

After researching many catering websites, we have decided to buy a warmer, and do hot dogs, and a couple of salads for food.  It is just so much more frugal to do that way.