Homeschool Graduation – A Traditional and Personal Celebration
Planning a homeschool graduation? Read on for Kym’s experience and insight while planning a homeschool graduation for her youngest child.
It’s hard to believe, but our homeschool year – and our entire homeschool journey! – is almost at an end. In just a few short weeks, my youngest student will be graduating, and we are especially busy getting coursework wrapped up and planning our graduation celebrations.
Planning a Homeschool Graduation
We belong to a homeschool oversight group that plans a graduation ceremony for our high school graduates each year, and it’s a very special event that includes many of the features of a traditional high school commencement, as well as some personal touches. The class size varies, and with it the amount of customization that we can do. We’ve had just two grads participate in a ceremony, and we’ve had a couple of large classes. And by “large”, I mean about fifteen students!
This homeschool graduation ceremony is planned over the course of several months so that we can schedule the planning meetings, and spread out the hours spent on preparing. At a very reasonable cost to the families, the oversight group provides the cap and gown, a diploma, and graduation announcements for each student. We also arrange for a photographer to get photos of the entire ceremony and to do family photos as well. There’s a cake reception after the ceremony.
Our commencement exercises include the traditional things you’d expect at a large school ceremony – Pomp and Circumstance, presentation of diplomas, and a commencement address – and with a small class size, we can include a couple of worship songs (usually led by grads!), a slideshow of photos of each of the grads accompanied by music of their choice, and a program that includes a brief bio of each of the grads. The opening and closing prayers are offered by dads, the emcee is someone most of the grads know and respect, and the commencement address is given by a pastor nominated by the grads.
Since homeschooling parents have taken such a personal responsibility for education, it is only fitting that the parents present the diploma and turn the tassel for their student. This is a meaningful part of the ceremony, as each set of parents comes up to meet their child on the platform. Mom presents the diploma and Dad turns the tassel. The student presents Mom with a rose or small bouquet, and there are hugs all around.
Do you know the history of some of the traditions surrounding graduation? The use of a gown started in the 12th century, when scholars wore long robes with hoods to stay warm in unheated universities. The mortarboard cap became popular with students and artists by about the 14th century, and represented superiority and intelligence. The use of a tassel on the cap is much more recent, just in the last fifty years or so. It was just a decoration, but moving it from left to right is symbolic of moving from candidate to graduate. Throwing that cap is a tradition started in 1912 by graduates of the Naval Academy. That class was commissioned from the time of graduation and received their officers hats. They didn’t need their caps any more, so they tossed them in the air and the tradition was born. “Pomp and Circumstance”, written by Sir Edward Elgar in 1901, was played in 1905 when Elgar himself received an honorary doctorate from Yale. Princeton and Columbia chose to play it at their commencements, and it quickly become associated with graduation processionals.
If you’re planning your own ceremony or celebration for your homeschool graduate, you might be wondering about a presentation diploma. We got our diplomas, senior portrait frames, and some of our grad announcements from HomeschoolDiploma.com (See the Homeschool Coffee Break reviews of their diplomas and other products: Diplomas for Homeschool Grads and Homeschool Diploma – Celebrating Homeschool Graduations).
How do you plan to celebrate homeschool graduation? Leave a comment and let us know!
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Hi Sara, we have a few years before our two teens graduate (2022) but my family has been to many homeschool graduations over the years (bloodline and homeschool family). Several years ago I thought that these graduates (and their families / supporters) deserved a special recognition for their accomplishments. I, therefore, had a special graduation tassel with custom homeschool charm produced for such recognition. My hope is that one day this tassel can become a symbol for all homeschool graduates to be recognized in a class of their very own. Anyway, if anyone might be interested, here is the website (info needs some updating but 2019 and beyond tassels are available): http://intlhomeschooltassel.com/
Congratulation to all the 2019 homeschool graduates!!!!
That’s a nice idea. I think homeschoolers should have their own special graduation items and traditions! Thanks for stopping by.