5th Annual Graduation Luau

Officially summer vacation has begun! Every year the start of summer is marked by our Annual Graduation Luau. I think out of all the things I do with my extended family, this has to be my favorite. It's a time to dress up, eat some good food, watch some entertainment, and give honor to our children. The weather always cooperates and is beautiful. It makes for an unforgettable night spending quality time as a family!

We are very proud of our graduates this year! We have one going into kindergarten, and one starting high school! Where does the time go?








This year we started our evening with the ceremony. We wanted to make sure all the kids remained cleaned and polished for photos; a must for mom. We grilled Hawaiian Chicken for our after party. It was delicious!


Ariel and Gabriel led us in the elementary school song and pledge. You can see from the photo that it's been a little too long for Ariel.

Everyone's favorite part of the evening is the talent portion. All of the kids get the opportunity to share with us something special they learned from the past year.

 Zechariah started off by impressing us all with his Bible memory verses. Each time he does Bible study with Grandma; his homework is to work on a specific verse that goes along with the lesson. He excels at this!

  

He quoted for us:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
Luke 2:52

When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, then I will remember my promise with you and all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.
Genesis 9:14-15

My son, keep the teaching of your father, and don’t turn away from the teaching of your mother. Always hold it in your heart.
Proverbs 6:20-21

Gabriel tried to explain to us a new math concept he learned this year. Lattice Multiplication. He showed us a very large number, and gave us the answer after explaining how he got there. For most of us, this was over our heads. We smiled and applauded his words of wisdom, trusting he knew what he was talking about.

You can tell Gabriel really enjoys being in the limelight. He took as much time as we would let him. Towards the end of the school year, his class studied crayfish. We were all fortunate to hear his extended report on the inner workings of the crayfish.

Ariel played us a few short songs on her oboe. She has improved greatly over the last year, and promises that she will stick with this instrument next year too.


This year at school, Mikaela learned several different dances. She was kind enough to give us a couple dance lessons. We learned the Electric Slide and the Tush Push.

Once the talent part of the evening was complete, we did something new. I love new ideas! We all filled out a worksheet to put inside our school time capsule. We didn't share our answers out loud; we simply folded the paper up, and put our name on the outside. In the next few years we will be able to read our answers, and fill out new worksheets. It should be interesting to see how our lives progress and our knowledge expands.

The questions we answered:

What did you learn this year as a ... Student, Dad, or Mom?

What did you like best about your teacher?

What was the best thing your teacher taught you?

Most interesting project you did this school year?

What did you learn about yourself?

What miracle did God do for you this year?

How have you grown physically, spiritually, and mentally?

The last part of the ceremony is the presenting of certificates and diplomas. Each child receives a certificate for their participation of doing Bible study with Grandma. The diplomas focus on their completion of the grade they were in, and their special abilities.

Let it be known that Zechariah did an awesome job learning addition and subtraction, calculator skills, and excelling at winning games!

This certificate is presented to Gabriel for excellence in completion of the third grade with special interest in planetary science, for hitting 8000 in his number book, and winning 3rd place in the KidZone essay contest!

This award is presented to Ariel for outstanding achievement in completion of the sixth grade with gifted classes and the arts including drama, drawing, and oboe.

I present to you the Class of 2013!