Our first homeschool graduate {Part 1}: Planning a homeschool graduation ceremony

The Graduation Day of Our Daughter
Alexis Noelle Brough

 How do you put into words a day that was 14 years in the making?

A day that at certain points in time I had my doubts we would ever see.
How do you put into words the Grace of God that allowed such a moment?

The accomplishments.

We worked for weeks to craft an event that would express what our hearts could not speak.

 Our very handsome door-greeter and program hander-outer.

The Dad who was intent on keeping everything running on time.

We were so very honored to have my Mom fly in from Ohio to attend this momentous family

occasion and to play the prelude and processional for Lexi's graduation.

 

Very dear friends from near and far came to share in our joy!!

 Just before "Pomp and Circumstance".....

Lexi asked that the administrator of our homeschool program begin with a general greeting and a time for all our guests to shake hands and introduce themselves.

Then came the reflections from Dad......

.....followed by reflections from Mom.

Lexi's Dad spent many hours working on a power point presentation that we called

"A Pictorial Transcript" of her life and adventures as a school girl.

 Reflections from the Graduate

 Our Pastor came and challenged us all with a powerful charge from the life of Jesus

taken from John 2.
"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."

The Presentation of Diploma

Prayers of Dedication by Dad....

 .......and our precious Pastor.

 

Recessional

 Alexis Noelle Brough

2016 High School Graduation

Summa Cum Laude

That's a wrap!! Celebrating the end of the school year!

So this has been a BIG school year for us!!
So much growth and........drum roll please.......

OUR FIRST HOMESCHOOL GRADUATE!!!

Schoolwork wrapped up three weeks early for these two hard workers!!

They busted their tails finishing up what they had on hand, 

and because they were already working in next year's Paces,
we just let them be done!!!

They were thrilled to get to sleep in while the rest of their siblings

got up and went off to work for the morning!!

This girl also busted her tail to get her high school work finished in the nick-of-time!!

She started the year needing to complete TEN courses all while working.
Her employer loves her so much that not only is she a crew leader,

but she's now training as an assistant manager!

To celebrate the very last day of school, they all got to forego their standard daily

uniforms and have a water war!!!

They had such a blast and made tons of fun memories in the process!!!!

Homeschool Co-op Award Night with Craft and Bake Sale

 Just as we were finishing up our school year, our homeschool assistance program

had a heart warming student awards night.

We heard from our piano teacher's students in a little recital,

and our student body gave recitations and sang some of the music

they competed with during the school year!

Each student received academic and character awards,

and the evening wrapped up with a lovely reception.

My Family and Consumer Science Class hosted a mini-craft and bake sale with all the proceeds 

benefiting the home-school program.   The girls had made some extra sewing projects

throughout the year, and then made some cutie baked goods to sell too!

 We all had such a delightful time together celebrating all the accomplishments of

each student and what a wonderful year we had together!!!

Fun sewing project #7: Beginning Quilting

 The last several weeks have been such a blur, 

and now I'm playing catch-up.

So much has happened that I want to journal!!

Our final sewing project for my Family and Consumer Science 

Homeschool Co-op Class  was a doozy!!

It took just about 3 weeks for us to finish this project, but we had so much fun in the process.

 

 We had a lovely guest teacher come in to show us the basics of this

home arts textile craft and she brought lots of goodies to share.

She made these adorable rag baskets {pictured above}

 for each of my students and myself out of scraps

of fabric she had collected.

She showed us lots of examples that she was working on that were so very

inspirational to us!!

 

 The girls learned about choosing colors to have a color co-ordinated finished product.

 The girls learned how to use the rotary cutter to cut strips of fabric and 

then their squares.

 They had fun deciding which pattern they wanted for their quilt piece, and

making sure all the directionals went in the same direction!!!

 Pressing, pressing, and more pressing!!

 It was so exciting when the top of their quilts were finished,

and we could begin to see the reward of all that hard work!!

 Learning the basics of machine quilting:  The "stitch-in-the-ditch!"

 This project was pretty intense for these girls,

and they were all delighted with their finished pieces!!!