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CHOICE 2024/2025

CHOICE Homeschool Group
 

High School Graduation

 

CHOICE likes to give their families the chance to celebrate their students' success by having a group graduation! We are very proud of the moms, dads, grandparents, and other family members who put so much time and effort into giving their children a home education. When it is your turn to graduate a child, here are some options for graduation:

1. Location Recommendations:

  • The Whitefield sanctuary is large with plenty of space for you to invite lots of family members and friends. They have a stage and sound system that would help make the ceremony nice. The multipurpose room in the church building or the cafe in the gym both have a kitchen with plenty of tables and chairs to host the reception.

  • The Holy Trinity fellowship hall is a small space, but it can still hold a small graduation. They have a stage and sound system that would help make the ceremony nice. They have a kitchen and plenty of tables and chairs to host the reception.

  • New Life Christian Center has allowed us to host classes and events before, such as Kindergarten Graduation and ETC classes. They opened their church to us during the pandemic when other places closed down. We can check with them about using their church if you want. Their sanctuary has plenty of space for a High School Graduation. They also have a kitchen and a seating area with tables and chairs for the reception.

  • We have also used churches that one of our members attends.

2. Cost:

  • CHOICE always charges a "graduation fee" to help cover the total cost of the graduation. It has been as low as $30 before, and it has been as much as $50 before. Of course, it all depends on how many graduates we have, how many people we need to pay, and how many supplies we need to buy.

  • Church Donation

    • The churches never charge us for using their facilites, but we still like to give them a gift. The amount in the past has been $50 per event, but it can be any amount that the families can agree on.

  • Commencement Speaker, Guest Speaker, Piano Player, Sound Person, Master of Ceremonies, etc...

    • These people never charge us for participating in the ceremony, but we still like to let them know that we appreciate their giving of their time to make our day special. We have given these people up to $25 each in the past. It can be any amount that the families can agree on.

  • Graduation Cake

    • CHOICE will pay for the cake so you do not have to include this in your graduation fee.

  • Reception Food

    • A lot of times it works for the Junior moms to donate a potluck style snack or lunch table. If you would rather just buy food, this cost can be included in the graduation fee.

3. Theme:

  • Usually the theme for graduation is a specific color. We have blue and yellow supplies because that is the color that the graduating class chooses the most. We have had a graduation where the color scheme was purple. It can be anything the graduates want.

  • You can theme the decorations, the food, the caps and gowns, and more.

4. Graduate Tables:

  • Each family usually sets up a table to show the accomplishments of each child from Kindergarten through Graduation. It could be photos, school work, art work, sports equipment, etc...

5. Photographer:

  • If requested, you can have a photographer that takes lots of pictures so that you can enjoy your day with your graduate.

6. Family and Friends:

  • Invite family and friends to help celebrate the graduation. You can invite as many people as the location will hold.

  • The Junior class parents always help with decorating and running things the day of the graduation so that the senior parents can enjoy their day without having to do anything. You will need to include their family in the count of who will be attending that day.

7. Church representative:

  • Make sure you have someone either in the group or someone from the church who knows how to turn things on like the lights, air conditioning, sound board, and video screens. If it is someone from the church who is not in our group, maybe consider taking up a love offering from the families to give them as a thank you for helping out.

8. The evening before the ceremony:

  • It is helpful to decorate the night before so you don't have to the next morning.

  • Set up for the reception so that all you have to do is bring in the food and set it out.

  • Have a rehearsal with everyone involved in the ceremony so that it runs smoothly the next day.

9. The day of the ceremony:

  • Have printed programs to give to attendess. They could include the year, the school, the graduates names, the parents names, a small bio of each student, the order of ceremony etc. The Junior class can hand these out at the door.

  • The order of ceremony could be as follows:

    • Processional

    • Welcome by the Master of Ceremonies

    • Invocation

    • Salutatorian or Valedictorian Speech if the student qualifies for those positions and is in CHOICE

    • Special Speaker

    • Commencement Speaker

    • Presentation of Diplomas

    • Benediction

    • Recessional

  • Reception

    • The reception can be lunch, snacks, or just cake and ice cream. Spend some time together celebrating the graduation. Take pictures by a photo backdrop and let the students be with their families.

These are only some ideas of many. There are people in CHOICE who have participated in or have directed a high school graduation before so ask around if you would like some ideas or input. Attending a Member Meeting is a good way of getting several ideas or volunteers at one time.

If you would like more information about this year's graduation ceremony, please email choice4school@gmail.com.

**Click here to see a list of the supplies CHOICE has for you to use if you want**