Graduating my first homeschool student

May 16th, the last day of school for my high school senior, will be here soon. She has been homeschooled since 2nd grade, which means other than a few classes at co-op and dual credit at ACC, I have been her teacher for the past 11 years. Probably feeling like every other homeschool parent before me and after about to graduate their first high school senior, I am not ready.

What have I been doing to get her and I ready for this big life event? Well, big picture stuff has included campus tours, scholarship applications, and discussions about college majors and degree plans. That part has been cool. What has been stressing me out a little is all the little things for the actual graduation. I did get the ball rolling this month, though:

I ordered a cap, gown, and tassel from Amazon. Actually, I ordered it twice because the first one was too short. Thankfully, Amazon does easy returns. The robe is a beautiful matte reddish-maroon color and has a nice drape to it.

We took graduation pictures at the Japanese Tea Gardens in San Antonio over Easter weekend. There were quite a few other graduates there getting photos done as well. We took both cameras, and my 16 year-old took the best photos with the Canon 50mm lens. That lens really is the BEST for portraits, and I am thinking about ordering a second one so we have one for both cameras.

After choosing our favorite photos from the 400 that we took (no kidding, 400), I uploaded them into Sam’s Club’s photo website to create and order graduation announcements, invitations to her graduation party, and thank you cards.

I ordered a diploma from HomeschoolDiploma.com. It was easy to customize, the price was affordable, and I think she is going to love it.

So, while patting myself on the back for getting so much done in the last week or so to get ready for graduation, I am still a bit at a loss about the actual ceremony part. Currently, I am thinking about doing a short diploma presentation at her graduation party at the end of May, which nothing has been done for other than picking the date and ordering invitations.

Is there a point where I will feel ready for this moment? Maybe when she is in her cap and gown and I hand her the diploma? There is one thing about homeschooling- the parent is often learning right alongside the student. This is totally one of those times.