Homeschool 8th Grade Graduation Celebration

In researching how we wanted to celebrate our oldest son’s graduation from 8th grade, I found a large amount of variation. People’s opinions on 8th grade graduation ranged from “give ‘em a pat on the back” to full scale ceremonies and elaborate gifts and parties. Most of my homeschooling friends opted for the former, no celebration. My option differed, I knew I wanted to commemorate this milestone with something special. I was inspired into this opinion by my friend’s (LR) sweet MIL (DR). LR & DR plan the most beautiful birthday parties and at the last party DR had inquired about how I would be celebrating 8th grade graduation. She was passionate in suggesting that I make announcements and celebrate the milestone in some special way. I think she’s right. I love homeschooling, and it is a lot of hard work. I’m proud of our whole family for working hard and working together to homeschool! I wanted to celebrate! Milestones ought to be recognized and celebrated. I also wanted to keep from going overboard. We have 3 children, so whatever we decided to do, we kept in mind that it is going to have to be replicated 3 times in kind.

We ended up planning a glamping trip with some friends the first weekend in June. These friends also have an eighth grade grad. I decided we’d use that for the big special event, adding just a few special grad themed touches. I let the other mom know what I was planning just in case she wanted to join in, but seriously, no pressure! I tried to keep things low-key so she wouldn’t feel obligated into doing too much more than she wanted (she is one of my friends who planned to do nothing for 8th grade graduation, so I really roped her along on this one).

I made candy leis for each grad.

I invested in letter-shaped dishes “G”, “R”, “A”, and “D” to fill with jelly beans (I figured I’d be reusing them for at least 2 more 8th grade graduations, 3 high school graduations, and possibly college and beyond graduations in the future!

We got a devotional and a bookmark for the grads. The bookmarks had tassels as a nod to the traditional tassels on the mortarboard caps.

I found “then” and “now” photo frames at Michael’s craft store for each grade (I was shopping with my mom and she suggested that these were “so perfect”!).

I bought a big vibrant apple-green table cloth and black permanent fabric markers for all the attendees to sign the tablecloth with (this was mom’s idea). All the younger siblings had fun decorating the table for the 8th graders with the supplies.

My mama friend, brought photo props and the kiddos had fun with those too.

I did a few other things for our son that we didn’t take on the camping trip.

I made an eighth grade diploma on Microsoft word (copying the verbiage from one I found online) and printed it on nice paper.

I did a DIY photo shoot, and made announcements using Shutterfly to send to our nearest and dearest.

Instead of a graduation mortarboard cap we bought him a new baseball hat and gave him a card with $80 ($10 for each school year).

🧑‍🎓 Did you have an eighth grade graduation?

🧑‍🎓 Did you do anything special for your children when they finished eighth grade?