Awards Ceremony

Each year we try to celebrate the end-of-school with a special awards ceremony. This year, it happened to be on Memorial Day Sunday which made it that much more special. The children homeschool through ACE's Lighthouse Christian Academy and this kind of celebration is highly recommended. We all really look forward to it. Our theme scripture this year is from Psalm 27:3-4. When the days get long and trying, as they sometimes will do, I try to remember that our highest aim--the reason we do what we do, is because, in the end--when it is all said and done, we desire for our children to live in the house of the Lord forever.

Although Kaderick is not officially enrolled in school yet, he is already busy learning. He works on language and expression skills daily and he has learned to recognize the signs when he is going to have a masto reaction and will take us by the hand and lead us to the kitchen pointing to the cabinet where we keep his medicine and scratching at his ears. He's also quite accomplished in the school of mischief making. Smile.

The following picture is a little accumulation of all the things we did/learned during the school year. It was quite a stack! Our main subjects included, math, english, social studies, science, word building, literature and creative writing, art, geometry, world geography, music, health, life of Christ, physical science labs, piano, PE, coloring, counting money, telling time, baking, list and menu making, cooking class, babysitting, first aid, how to take a pulse and blood pressure, how to sort laundry, ironing, planting, canning, weeding, cleaning house, scripture memorization, personal hygiene, daily devotions, poetry, and changing diapers.

It's a big job and one I couldn't do alone. My students are self-motivated (up every morning at 6am), disciplined and hard working. My husband is a supportive provider. This homeschool teacher has a crush on the principal. Wink. 

We began our little service with a pledge to the Bible.

Following that, were pledges and history on both the Christian and American flags along with the meaning of their colors. A story was read of William Driver the sea captain who coined the term "Old Glory" in reference to our country's flag. 

A special song was "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" by Ray Boltz.

We passed out completion certificates and awards were given for the efforts of our students. 

Kayla has completed the 10th grade with a gpa of 94.4%

Kalli has completed the 6th grade grade with a gpa of 94%

Kammy has completed the 3rd grade with a gpa of 98%

Kaite completed a loosely structured pre-school program this year. She learned letters and numbers and can write her name and ABC's. 

They all worked hard and we worked hard to help them learn the material, not just get a passing grade. If you think I'm proud, you are right--I am!

Our activity for the night was "Story Rocks." Small rocks are decopauged with random pictures of people, places and things and placed in a jar. The jar is passed around the room and a story is started. Each person adds a little more to the story using the photo on their rock as their inspiration. As with life, you're never quite sure how the story is going to end. The Bible lesson continued here....while we are never sure the details of tomorrow, we can always know that with a goal of dwelling in the house of The Lord, our ending is secure. We can trust "The Rock."

My students and I are ready for summer! 

Our celebration table.

Patriotic trifle.

Cherry Limeade.

And because I couldn't resist, here are a few cute kid/Memorial Day photos. They are a bonus for your viewing pleasure. Smile.

Kaderick saluting.

Side note: The little fire truck was Rick's as a boy. Kade loves to play with it and I thought it looked quite parade-ish and American in this little vignette.

It's fun to dress up, to decorate, picnic and to BBQ, we love to wave American flags and act patriotic, but on Memorial Day, and every day, it's important to remember the sacrifices so many have made for our freedoms. 

As said by Dave Meyer:

We have been entrusted with a rare treasure

 God ordained it 

Our fathers fought to establish it

And more than 1.3 million men and women have died fighting to protect it