A couple of nights ago I suddenly realized that I needed to immediately complete the transcripts for my two high schoolers who are graduating in a month. I’m ordering the diploma from a printing service because even though it’s lots more expensive than getting a standard one, it will look so much more professional and I’m also ordering a matching leather case for it to be presented in. A diploma can only be granted by a legitimate administrator of established schools, including parents who are extended this status under compliance to state law regarding homeschooling. So obviously a printing service can’t grant you a diploma (unless it’s one of the fake diploma mills that will give you the piece of paper you want – for a price), and this particular company will only accept orders from legitimate sources. Part of how they ascertain that is that they require your child’s transcripts before they’ll print your diploma for you. I like that they’re being responsible and am happy to send them our official transcripts. It’s just that I thought putting the transcripts together was for the far off future back in the winter when I realized we’d be graduating the kids early this year, and the far off date is already upon me!
You know how you can look at the date and not mentally correlate the date to an event? Well, that’s what I was doing. I know that they’re graduating on June 6, but I wasn’t mentally connecting it with needing to have my paperwork finished by now. But I suddenly realized I have to order the diplomas (and gowns) with enough time that they arrive in time for the ceremony, and I can’t do that without their completed transcripts!
Yikes, was I feeling pressured, figuring out what official titles for their classes were, credit hours, state requirements! Fortunately I have all the info organized as to what they’ve done educationally over the last years so it was mostly a matter of officially filling in the blanks, once I figured out what the format needed to be, how to compute credit hours, how many credits were needed in our state to graduate, etc.
I’m getting close to having them completed – I still have to compute their GPAs, and I’m finding a minor formatting issue annoying because it’s affecting some of the spacing so my dh will have to see if he can help me figure that out when he gets home. But I feel so relieved to be finishing it so I can get this out of the way – I’m pretty good at paperwork and technical details but what I enjoy about it is having it finished!
I’ve been so busy with putting together the Torah Home Education Conference, researching options for the two oldest kids for next year, trips I’m arranging for our homeschool group, and trying not to neglect my other kids and responsibilities, that I haven’t had much time to reflect on the significance of these transcripts. What it means is it’s the official end of homeschooling for these children and the beginning of letting them go to start their independent lives. It’s starting to hit me that two of my kids probably will be away next year and…well, I have mixed emotions. I’m so happy for them that they’ve grown up so well – you can’t imagine the gratitude I feel to see the the wonderful people they are. But watching them get ready to take the next step in their lives, away from home, is tugging at my heart.
Avivah
You menioned a graduation ceremony w/gowns. What is a homeschooling graduation and who attends?
What it is depends a lot on if it’s a personal or group ceremony;group ceremonies can differ quite a bit from one another as well.
Our ceremony will be done in conjunction the umbrella program we register with, together with all the other graduating seniors. There should be about 40 seniors and 500 guests, I believe. I’m not sure why you asked who attends – family and friends, of course! 🙂 It should be a lot of fun and of course I’ll post on it when we get to that point!
Not knowing much about homeschooling, my first thought was that a homeschool graduation would be at home — as in the living room or something.
Then, I realized that that obviously didn’t make too much sense.
An event with 500 guests – wow! And 40 seniors — are they all homeschoolers? Do all the kids know each other? Who will mc the event and what’s the name of the organization with whom you are registered who organizes the graduation?
I didn’t realize that there are opportunities like these for homeschoolers. Until your post, I assumed that you had to go to school to go to a graduation.
Oh, I can understand the confusion! Some people do make personalized graduation ceremonies which are very lovely and meaningful. I was at one like that several years ago that was really, really nice – truly a celebration of the graduate.
Yes, all of the graduating seniors are homeschoolers, and while some will know one another, they won’t all know each other.
As far as the detailed questions, I don’t feel comfortable responding to those on my blog so I’m responding just so you know that I’m not ignoring you! The host will be a nationally known speaker.
Most people don’t realize how many opportunities homeschoolers have that duplicate and far surpass schooled kids. There are even proms and dances for homeschoolers, but also many more activities that kids in school wouldn’t generally have access to. A graduation ceremony is really just about honoring a student for reaching a milestone in his life – we tend to think of it being done a certain way (and for my kids it will be somewhat formal) but there are many different ways to create a space to honor the child and his accomplishments.