Planning a Homeschool High School Graduation

Today is day 2 homeschool high school senior portraits for the updated 10 days series for planning a homeschool graduation. Also, look at more ideas on my how to homeschool high school page.

Early on I realized that I could go ahead and get Mr. Senior 2013’s official portraits done.

And I could purchase his cap and gown as we hashed out the other details on venue and menu.

Homeschool senior portraits were important to him.

But I learned while graduating my other seniors that it was not the same for each one.

For example, my second graduate was not interested in formality or tradition.

And my third graduate was a mix of both.

First, determine what is important to your senior.

Too right away, we had to determine if he wanted a senior ring or not.

Homeschool Senior Portraits Matter Most

Breaking with tradition, he didn’t want a graduation ring.

I knew a regular, but no ordinary ring would be worn by him longer.

Grandma and grandpa wanted to make that purchase for their gift to him.  So that was one long term project done.

I love how sometimes he was traditional during planning and other times not so much.

Loving the details about planning, earlier in the year I had put together some color boards.

In my mind, we could then go from there to choosing a cap and gown for his high school senior portraits.

That approach made sense to me or so I thought at the time.

{Picture Source: The Craft Begins)

We spent wasted hours poring over color schemes. 

Being the boy that he is the color scheme above is close to what he ended up liking best, or he thought so too at the moment. Of course with less peach and more terra cotta color at the party is what he thought he wanted.

All I could think of was a green cake when I saw that color scheme.

All Mr. Senior 2013 could think of was an ivory wedding cake and a wedding theme which he wanted to be sure to steer clear of.

We backed up and started with what was easiest to pick out first and that was his favorite color for his cap and gown. He knew right away he wanted royal blue.

(Picture: Graduation Source)

There it was. Our inspiration for our color scheme and party just got easier.

We ended up going with Graduation Source because it was a  big company, had some great reviews and it was fast and pretty painless to deal with.

Overflowing Inspiration

Also, I went ahead and ordered only the diploma cover because guess I was creating his homeschool diploma too.

All of it was at our home fairly quickly and all I had to decide now on was how to get official senior portraits.

As I figured out, the color scheme could wait a bit longer because I needed to focus on senior portraits. I knew I wanted other pictures too of him showing things he loved.

After looking at a lot of senior packages from photographers, I knew I wanted more control input into the pictures and how many we got.

So I ended up getting my girlfriend who has a DSLR camera and is not an expert and knows less about her new camera than I do about photography. 

I coordinated the photo shoot because I knew what type of settings and expressions on my son’s face that I wanted to be sure to capture.

Let me tell you the extent of my knowledge of photography.

I know one very important thing and that is that light is everything.

I know the prime time to take pictures is either close to sundown like between 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. or shortly after sunrise. That’s it! That is the extent of what I know to make pictures beautiful.

On the evening of the photo shoot, my girlfriend came to my house first because working with that amount of time, you need to work fast. I wanted some inside pictures too.

Creating Events To Remember

I picked out 3 outfits ahead of time for my son to change into as we went along so I was sure to have a variety to select from.

I wanted to capture moments that he was proud of like his music or piano at our house and his car.

So we were able to snap several pictures and ended up with these that we liked the most.

After that, I grabbed his change of outfits, his cap and gown and we headed to a local historical park.

Another important thing to me was getting some pictures outside in a natural setting that would have a background that inspired our Texas heritage.

When it comes down to it, I am a simple girl and like simple country charm with a hint of formal. This park is close to our home and the perfect setting for our outdoor pictures.

If all possible, I encourage you to have one photography setting outside. You would be surprised at the places that make great photo shoots and I will list some for you in a minute.

Unforgettable Outdoor Photos

Look at my list though of what I brought for our outside pictures after choosing a location.

• I brought three different outfits for my son to change into.
• I brought a step ladder because I wanted some pictures of the photographer looking down at him.
• I brought my point and shoot camera too.
• I brought a chair so we had a place to lay some of the clothes on.
• If you have a girl think about bringing makeup to touch up her face or to wipe any sweet, but shiny oily faces.
• I brought some cotton pads for my son’s face to wipe away shiny spots too and of course hairspray and hair brush.
• I also brought some flip flops or sandals because we took some photos of him barefooted and so he could put those on his feet as we walked to another part of the park.

As you can tell we got a variety of poses and pictures to choose from.

Do not leave the decisions for the poses and positions you want to see your child in up to a photographer, even a good one. Though most professional ones will consult with you prior to the shoot so that they can understand your child’s personality, you are the only one who knows them the best. A photographer will love you for having a list or better yet pictures from the internet if you found some.

I came up with all the poses either by finding poses online close to what I liked or understanding what my son liked best. He is not an over the top person when it comes to taking pictures either so we knew we didn’t want glamorous. Girls like that kind of stuff better.

High School Senior Portrait Tips for DIY

When thinking of an outside place for a portrait think outside the box.

• Like I mentioned an old historic building makes wonderful outdoor pictures. When we there taking our pictures a girl that was graduating too came in a beautiful formal dress. I can just imagine what her pictures looked like with a touch of class and a touch of simple.
• Think of old downtown
• Think of an arboretum
• Think of a park or place along a river or pond
• Think of the beach
• Think of the area around a museum
• Think of a state park
• Think of all the cool, out of the ordinary places you have been on a field trip to because they make great photo shoot locations
• Here in Texas, we have the river walk in San Antonio if you wanted to take them at several different venues and start early by visiting other cities.

More Homeschool High School Graduation Planning Resources

• Start the Planning Day 1.
• High School Senior Portraits Day 2
• Invitations Day 3
• Graduation Menu and Party Venue Day 4
• Home Graduation Ideas Day 5
• DIY Decorations Day 6 
• Table Decoration Ideas Day 7
• High School Graduation Gift Day 8
• Free Editable High School Diploma Template Day 9 
• Graduation Celebration Day 10 

By using one photographer, my girlfriend, for these pictures and a professional photographer at the party, we saved a bundle already.

I knew at the party I would be tied up with details for our guests, but my mind could be less stressed because I knew I had pictures already that were important to me.

Take inspiration from something simple and capture pictures way ahead of time because without one, it is hard to determine the color scheme for the party or for invitations.

No rest for the excited, because right after that, I had to determine details for the invitation. Next post I will share the details on invitation and venue.