Dawg Family Musings: Joshua’s Graduation

This last Saturday, we graduated our first homeschool student & our oldest son. I was asked to blog about it……so here it goes. First of all the ceremony. The Ceremony was similar to a bacalalaurette but different. We wanted to bring in things from our family etc. I did his program through Word. They had free templates and since Joshua is a pianist this is what it looked like:

My husband opened with the welcome and welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. We then sang some hymns. Joshua chose the opening hymns that we sang and accompanied those. He chose “Be Thou My Vision & Come thou Fount”. We wanted to bring in the music of our families, so Joshua played the Old Rugged Cross while myself, my husband, my parents and father in law sang. My grandfather was a poet and was named after the Poet Lord Tennyson. His name was Alfred Tennyson Vaughn, so it was only fitting to bring in his poems. He left tons of poetry behind (gifts), so Joshua chose 2 and his brothers each read a poem from Grandpa. This meshes in the Multi-Generational faithfulness.

Ultimate Tribute Each day is another step In our journey of life And successes from accounts past And learn how to apply their Lessons to encounters to come. If we seek the ultimate good, we can do To make each day better For others in need Our reward will be to hear Our mater’s tribute, “Well Done, good and faithful servant” “Inasmuch as you have done it For the least of these, You have done it unto me”

Stairway to the Stars Life is a stairway of days Adding up to months and years Each little step lifts you higher Until your star appears. The Stars invite us, “Keep climbing Until your star shines bright; Then those who follow after you Can see the source of your light.”

My husband, who HATES to be the center of attention and for people to focus on him, did a fabulous job of talking about Joshua, his life, our homeschooling journey, all the way to today.

He & I did the presentation of the diploma (which I ordered from here:http://www.homeschooldiploma.com/)

Then Joshua wanted to say a few words, which were eloquent.

Then we had our pastor do a “charge” for Joshua. He charged him on what to look for when he had other men as accountability partners. How to look for Good quality Christian, Godly men. How to stay strong in the faith and going forward.

We then had Joshua sit in a chair up front and had the men that were there lay hands on Joshua and pray over him. Our associate Pastor, David Russell led the prayer and it was God honoring and blessed. We then had a slide show of his life. We used Windows movie maker to do it and I was surprised at how easy it was.

Joshua then did a piano concert. One thing special about the concert was the second song. It was done by his great Grandmother, who went home to be with the Lord in January 2011. She knew nothing about Theory and Joshua was able to pen her music on paper for it to be played. Very touching & special moment! Here are the songs he chose: My Tribute Dino Kartsonakis “To God Be the Glory” Jesus is the Truest Friend written by Dorothy Noble, arr. By Joshua Noble In the Hall Edvard Greig Claire de Lune Claude Debussy Rustles in Spring Christian Sinding Prelude C# minor S. Rachmaninoff Onward Christian Soldiers Rudy Atwood It Is Well Rudy Atwood Doxology Anthony Burger THE RECEPTION: We had tables……and more tables. I hired a friend to keep things going so I didn’t have to. Ladies from our church helped with the food and brought in all kinds o things for the table. It went with what I had already gotten. We got clear plates from Sam’s, napkins from the Dollar Tree. I made several things ahead and froze them like Piggies in a blanket etc. For drinks, we had drink dispensers of water, Blackberry Lemonade, soda & Coffee Punch.

We had the slide show going , plus chairs for people to sit at. We also had tables for people to sit at. These tables had random collage photos of Joshua and then on top was vinyl tablecloths covering it so people could look at them while eating.

A dear friend of mine for the last 12 years did an INCREDIBLE book cake. It was made of chocolate with marshmallow fondant. It had Joshua's top 4 books. I then bought (appropriately) a music box baby grande piano to go on top of the cake. It had the 18th variation programmed on it!

His school tables were against the wall. I had a frame of his 12 years of school & photos. I had his booklets that he’s made throughout the years there. I also had his scrapbook that I did with Picaboo on the table & upright.

I also had a photo frame that did a slide show of photos. I also had a civil war scrapbook on the table, along with lapbooks, awards from awanas, Bible Bee & other places.

His last 2 tables were the displays of his artwork, his music accomplishments with awards, plaques, grade cards from the guild, his guild pins and even a copy of the piece that he dictated of his great-grandmother’s that was in a frame with her photo. We also had a variety of his favorite books on the table sitting upright. The last table was dedicated to his Titanic stuff. It included his Titanic unit study, books, uniform and anything else that he wanted on there, including dishes from each class.