Coffee Talk: Graduation Edition

Happy Sunday, friends! We’re having a graduation party for C this afternoon, and I have a lot to do, so I’ll need to keep this Coffee Talk short and sweet.

Yes, our middle child graduated from high school this week. Her ceremony was on Thursday.

Since she went to a cyber charter school, they had the ceremony at a local hotel. It was different, in that we didn’t know any of the other families or the teachers, but I’m really glad they did an in-person ceremony anyway. We were allowed to have 4 guests at the ceremony, so the other kids went too. It was nice for C that they both could be there.

For anyone just catching up, C moved from our local public school system to a cyber charter school in 8th grade. She never liked school very much, not even in preschool. In elementary school, she would cry and fight us to get on the bus, and by middle school, she was begging to do cyber school.

There are a lot of options in Pennsylvania, so I started researching them. We ultimately decided to give it a try for the 8th grade, and if it didn’t work out, she could go back and start high school with the rest of her class. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Learning at home turned out to be much better for C. She could write her own schedule and work at her own pace, and she had enough other opportunities to socialize through our church and the neighborhood. It was still challenging in it own way, but the flexibility it provided was great for her. She’s been much happier since switching over, and it was cool to watch her grow and mature through the experience.

Here are a few more of her senior pictures. We had Alison come over one night to take them for us. C made both of those dresses, by the way!

Fortunately, because she was in a remote learning environment prior to Covid, that didn’t take much away from her high school experience. Of all three kids, she was the least effected by the pandemic, so that’s a silver lining, I guess!

It’s been a long road, and while I’m grateful and relieved to have this major milestone accomplished, it’s also a bittersweet time for this mama. Two down, one to go!

My dad is in town, and we’re having some friends and family over this afternoon to celebrate. I picked up her cake yesterday, along with a bunch of snacks and drinks, and we’re planning to order pizzas later on. It should be a fun day, but a long one.

I want to get out and run before it gets hot, and then we have church, and after that we’ll start decorating. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!