How to Plan a Personal Homeschool Graduation Ceremony

What does a personal homeschool graduation ceremony look like? That’s what I wondered after our son announced he wanted a smaller, more personal service instead of participating in the large one hosted by our local homeschool association.

I had heard of personal graduation ceremonies, but I had never attended one. I began scouring the internet for ideas. While I found a few informational pieces for homeschool group graduations, I could not find much about ceremonies just for individual graduates. It was evident we would be carving our own way.

Not all of you homeschool, but perhaps, like some of our graduation guests, you’re curious about what a homeschool graduation looks like. And some of you are here looking for ideas so you can begin preparing for your own graduate’s special event.

Graduation can be as unique as the homeschool graduate. Use this article as a catalyst for planning your own celebration.

Decide on the Date and Location

For us, deciding on the date meant determining when all of our son’s siblings and grandparents could attend. At first, we considered hosting the event in our home, but we soon realized it would be a bit crowded to do that. So, we reserved our church sanctuary for a Saturday afternoon.

Choose a date and location for your graduation ceremony at least three months in advance. Even earlier if you’re reserving a popular venue. Depending on the size of your guest list, your home may be the perfect place.

Extend the Invitations

We sent out invitations four weeks before graduation. Our son helped with the guest list for his graduation service. Also, we made a guest list for the small family BBQ celebration to be held later at our barn.

I created an invitation through the online photo lab at Walmart. Photos of our son were incorporated on the cardstock invitation. It was a crazy busy time for us, so I paid a little extra to have our return address included on the envelopes. In 2023, I think that bumped the total cost to around one dollar per card.

I was very pleased with the quality of the invites. They have all kinds of styles to choose from. We chose a rustic theme since our son earned several certifications through the community college in Construction Technology and because the BBQ with close family and friends later would take place inside our barn. You may choose to purchase invitations, make homemade invites, or simply invite folks via a conversation.

In addition, I ordered some “Advice to the Graduate” cards from Amazon and included those in the envelopes with the invitations. I thought folks would have more time to put some thought into what they wanted to say if they received them in the mail four weeks before graduation instead of hurriedly filling one out at the ceremony. Plus, anyone who could not make it to the graduation could mail their cards of wisdom to our son. We did have a few extra cards available in a basket at the graduation in case someone forgot to bring their card. But most folks remembered to bring them. A few mailed them with their cards of congratulations. Some close friends and family members wrote longer letters filled with love, advice, and encouragement.

Later, we had such a fun time reading all of them. I plan to put them in an album so he can look back and cherish those words of love and wisdom.

Incorporate School Colors

If you homeschool several children, determining your school colors can be challenging. My solution was to allow each student to have his/her own school colors. Why not? Honestly, you don’t use school colors much when homeschooling. So, when graduation day arrives, the graduate’s school colors are essentially his/her favorite colors!

Our son’s favorite is blue, so I incorporated blue, white, and black in the invitations, the programs, and the décor.

Amazon has lots of graduation décor in different colors. I ordered some cute adhesive wrappers for miniature chocolate bars. Those were shared with our guests after the graduation service.

Also, I ordered some tabletop décor and a few balloons for the BBQ later. You can also find party goods at party supply stores and dollar stores.

Acquire a Graduation Cap and Gown

The cap and gown are optional. If your graduate wants to wear one, please don’t deny them this delight. The cap and gown we ordered from Amazon was twenty dollars, and that included the tassel with the graduation year charm on it.

It is also fairly easy to find a recent graduate who will loan you their cap and gown for you to use.

The only thing you’ll probably have to order is a tassel with the graduation year charm. These are inexpensive as well. And, if anything, the tassel is what your child will want to keep—more so than a cap and gown. If your student has worked hard and earned a diploma with honors, there are websites that sell cords of distinction for them to wear.

Prepare the Transcript and Diploma

Even if your young adults do not plan to attend college, they still need high school transcripts. The topics of recordkeeping and transcript preparation need a whole different blog post. But, for now, just refer to  https://hslda.org/post/why-every-teen-needs-a-transcript-and-how-to-get-one, and you’ll learn why all graduates need transcripts.

You can order a diploma or create your own. After looking at various diploma templates online, I then designed one myself. I printed it on paper thicker than the normal copy paper. I ordered a padded cover for the diploma and used it when presenting the diploma during the ceremony. You may want to frame yours or roll it up and tie it with a ribbon.

The Graduation Program

Encourage your teen to help with the planning of the program. Our son’s only request was not requiring him to talk! That sounded easy enough, but then that left all the planning up to me!

I wanted some of the normal formality that marked this as a special event, But I also wanted to create something unique because that is what homeschooling embodies—tailoring education to the learning style and talents of each student.

I spent two days listening to various processional music because the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” seemed too formal for our son. I like traditions. But, sometimes, we hold onto tradition just for tradition’s sake. Homeschooling gives us the time to ponder why people follow certain traditions and wonder if we’d like to do something differently.

When researching for music alternatives, a lot of military marches popped up. That didn’t seem like the right fit, either. Finally, I googled jazzy processional music and stumbled upon a modified version of “Pomp and Circumstance” on a humorous YouTube video by the extremely talented woodwind specialist Ricky D. Roshell. I contacted him and asked if we could use just the recorded music portion of it for our son’s processional. He said, “Absolutely! Please use it.” A few months later, I let Mr. Roshell know how many smiles broke out when the jazzy part began. It immediately set the tone of the event – formal with a twist of fun.

After the planning was complete, everything was approved by our son. He didn’t know ahead of time what his sister would include in the video (we promised no embarrassing photos!) Neither did he know what his dad and I planned to say during the service. But overall, he knew what would take place. I didn’t want him to be stressed but to simply enjoy the day.

Since we wanted the ceremony to flow as “smooth as jazz,” we printed out a guesstimated time flow of the events and gave a copy to all those who had a part in the program. We wanted our ceremony to stay under 45 minutes.

My husband, our son, and I met with the sound technician two days prior to the ceremony for a quick run-through. This helped everyone know what to expect, and we were able to test the video and music to make sure there were no snags.

If you need extra hands on deck, make sure to send them a thank you note and perhaps a little token of your appreciation.

Also, you may want to provide your guests with an order of events. You can create a program or bulletin using a variety of computer programs or even a simple Word document. I used CANVA and was pleased with how they turned out. We printed them ourselves.

For public viewing here, I removed the names from our program in the photo above. But, like homeschooling, our graduation service was a family affair. One of the graduate’s sisters created the video presentation. Another sister prayed. The brothers-in-law led music, and a nephew handed guests little chocolate bars as they left the ceremony. I gave the welcome, and his dad gave the commencement address. His dad presented the certificates he earned at the community college and I presented him his high school diploma.

Ask your graduate who they’d like to participate in their graduation. There may be a pastor or close relative that would make the service extra meaningful to your teen.

Final Touches

On the day of graduation, my husband and I greeted our guests at the front door of the church. After all the guests were seated, my husband and I walked in together to Roshell’s rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance.” We stopped at the front of the church and turned around to watch our son enter in his cap and gown. He entered just as that delightful jazzy part began. That upbeat part helped me blink back the little tears of joy.

The ceremony went perfectly. It was important to us to keep it Christ-focused while celebrating our son’s milestone. In our comments, we recognized the graduate’s hard work. But we also mentioned numerous times how God was always working throughout our homeschooling journey. We all grew and depended on Him daily. Also, during the commencement address, my husband imparted biblical wisdom and encouragement to the graduate.

The graduation was a joyful and memorable event. The only thing we forgot was to pray at the end. Which would have been so special, but we got caught up in the turning of the tassel, the applause, and the emotional hugs. We just forgot! Thankfully, we had opened with a prayer and we had another prayer at the family BBQ later that evening.

After our graduate marched out to the recessional music, my sweet hubby escorted me down the same pathway. Wow. We had come a long way from our wedding aisle to our youngest child’s graduation aisle. The three of us stood in the church foyer and spoke with our guests as they left. Many folks had their photo taken with the graduate.

That evening, we celebrated with a family BBQ. We decorated with blue and black graduation table toppers, balloons, and small vases of greenery. There were photos of the graduate clipped with clothespins to twine on the barn wall. A gift table held gifts and a basket for cards. We also had two photo albums of our son for folks to look through. One was a family album, and the other album focused on homeschooling adventures with samples of his work, artwork, and lots of field trip photos.

It was a hot June day, so we had kiddie pools and water balloons set up for the younger guests. Those proved to be very popular. Also, our oldest daughter planned some fun games. One game included kids and adults chasing the graduate through the animal-less pasture. Various gift cards, candy, and small trinkets were attached all over the graduation gown he was wearing. The guests were trying to capture a prize!

Plan for lots of food, fun, and hugs. And photos!

We savored the day, knowing our son would be venturing out on his own soon. And I would begin a new chapter of life as a retired homeschool educator–but forever be a loving mom.

Have you already experienced a homeschool graduation? If so, what made it special?