Homeschool Grad

Having so many children at such different stages is so fun.   On the one extreme, we have our oldest "graduating" from our homeschool tonight...officially.  It is so hard to make homeschooling "official" when it is so unofficial, but at some point you have to pick a time and place, and so tonight it is!

On the other extreme, we have our two littlest.  They have found a new activity which makes me so glad we live in an old farmhouse.  They start off in our little pool outside.  It is cold water and they swim and swim.  Then, in their soaking wet suits, they walk/run into the house, down the hall, and into the bathroom on the main floor where they fill up the "hot tub".  That's right, we now have a hot tub (which is a regular tub filled with warm water....!)  They then sit in there for a few minutes, get warm, splash water all over the floor, then jump out, scoot/slip back down the hall on the other wet footprints, where they somehow make it back to the pool (often falling all over the wet floor on the way out) and the whole cycle starts all over again.  They do this all day long.

One child is picking grad dresses, makeup and hair-dos.  The other children are throwing sand at each other, wearing goggles, don't even know she's graduating, and just wonder what's for lunch.  I find is all so amusing.  One of the little ones asked, "What's grad?"  "S is finishing high school."  "What's high school?"  "Don't worry about it....all you have to know is there are going to be desserts there."  "Yeah!  I love grad!"

So they are excited about grad for all the wrong reasons, thanks to me.

My goal tonight, as always, is to not cry.  I never achieve this goal, but people are getting used to this fact I think as I am up at the front a lot.  It seems every year there is a child graduating from either gr. 8 or gr. 12.  We are so blessed to be allowed to speak to our daughter tonight for just a few minutes, to give a blessing to her in front of those who will be there.  This is such a unique part of the homeschooling journey as I was her main teacher for every single grade!  Who better to give the blessing than the parents?

Homeschool graduations might be a little boring compared to the regular way, but I still love them so much.  There isn't a dance or a big meal, but we are still going to make it special by connecting with another family whose daughter will also graduate tonight.  Then the next night we're going to get together as families and have a big swim/volleyball party with a lot of their friends.  What I love is that our daughter expected our whole family to be there.

In a lot of ways, nothing will change for her.  She'll still be at home after this, continuing her piano education, continuing to teach others from our home, but it is still important to acknowledge she has accomplished a lot, she's studied a lot, she's at a new stage of life.  She's an adult now.  Making it a little more formal will perhaps help her just in her mindset so that she can go from this point on knowing she's "a big girl" now.

The verse I'll be sharing with her tonight is this, Psalm 144:12, "May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, and our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace."  She will need to be a woman of strength and inner beauty, "cut for the structure of a palace."  But King David knew this could be possible, but only if God was on His side.  That is my prayer for her.