It’s Time to Celebrate! A Party for Our High School Graduate

I love to commemorate the milestones in my children’s lives and so when my kids graduate from high school I like to give them a very special party.

It was only a few days before the party that my son who we were celebrating, accidentally burned our barn down. He was one disheartened young man looking at the destruction caused by the fire. I am so thankful that he wasn’t hurt, nor his sister who was trying to help!

All of our tables and chairs were burnt in the fire and we had to go buy more tables. We rented the chairs. I was prepared with rectangular tablecloths but when replacing the tables, we ended up purchasing more rounds, so I made do with the tablecloths I had by making table runners for the round tables.

What a beautiful evening September 11 was with perfect weather. I had so much fun and it was an honor to have friends and family join us for the celebration. I can hardly believe that my 5th child has graduated from our homeschool!

Justus determined, when I asked him what he would like for food at his graduation, that he wanted Greek gyros. I was a little surprised but was quite intrigued with such an unusual request. Usually it’s American, Italian or Mexican. Anyone else hear me on that?

My son-in-law built me this wonderful buffet server that you can see in the photo above. We get a fair bit of breezes where we live and so having a place for my plates and napkins is so nice! I can never set the tables ahead with plates because the slightest breeze will cause them to go flying.

In the terra cotta pots that you see on the top of the server, I planted some Vinca flowers (They are a great flower that bloom and bloom!) with oregano and basil in the other two pots.

Justus doesn’t really enjoy coffee, so I asked him what special drink he would like. He said, “Arnold Palmer”. I had actually never heard of that but it’s super easy to make. There are recipes online for it but basically it is 1/2 tea and 1/2 lemonade mixed together and served over ice.

A Mezza platter is different Mediterranean appetizers, like a charcuterie board but with a different type of assortment. We had pita chips, feta cheese, red bell pepper, figs, pistachios cucumber slices, radishes, Greek olives, Spanish olives, dried apricots, hummus and a flat bread from Trader Joe’s that I cannot remember its name.

The menu consisted of:

Gyros with Greek Chicken (recipe can be found here)

Tzatziki Sauce

Mediterranean Bean Salad

Herbed Greek Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese

The dessert table…

Dessert:

Baklava

Greek Butter Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Justus’ favorite cookie)

Vanilla Ice Cream

After supper it was time to start the program!

My husband said a few words and then we played a little game. It was “How well does Justus know his friends?” We had asked 10 people ahead of time to give a memory of Justus. We then had Wesley come up, along with Justus, to the platform. The idea was to read the memory and then have each of them answer who they thought had submitted the memory. Russell told the boys the names of the 10 friends they could choose from.

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I had thought to play the game a bit different but Russ misunderstood and so we ended up playing it this way. If I was to do it again, I would have the friends not just give any memory but a funny one.

Our pastor said a few inspiring words followed by Audrey, Wesley and Justus…

I actually slipped in a speech too. I knew I would be a nervous wreck and say my speech all wrong if I did it live, so I cheated a little and prerecorded my message. It was such a relief to not have to think about it that evening!

Of course we had to have a slide show. They are a lot of work to put together and I spend days upon days doing it but I’m so glad I’ve persevered once I’m done.

And for the culmination of the evening and the reason we came together…. Justus’ b-i-g moment!

Walking up to the song Pomp and Circumstance we then presented Justus his diploma.

Justus with his younger sister. These two are the only ones still at home so they’re pretty close. I’m really thankful they have each other.

I had to share this picture of our adorable coffee trailer and the sweetest little girl that faithfully served drinks all evening.

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What an absolutely delightful evening we had! There was a happy lighthearted air all around and everybody seemed to have such a good time. That makes me feel so good as a hostess when that happens!

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I only have one more homeschool student and she is in 10th grade. I might have to have a celebration for myself when I’m done, right? It really is a privilege to homeschool and I’m so thankful we have the opportunity.

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Do you homeschool through highschool? Have you found it to be hard or easy?