Did you do anything special for your child's 8th grade "graduation"?

[Luv Bunnies]

When my oldest graduated from 8th grade, he was in a specialized school due to his Asperger's. They had a smallish ceremony that included achievement awards for all grades and diplomas for the 8th and 12th grade graduates. My parents, brother and sister came and we all took him to lunch afterward at his favorite restaurant. He has since transferred to a public high school and will graduate in the big ceremony next year! After all it's taken to get him through school, we will definitely be having a party at our house for him!

My youngest DS is graduating 8th grade in June. His school has an early evening ceremony complete with Pomp and Circumstance and diplomas. We're planning to take him to dinner afterward. He said a few of his friends are having parties so he can make the rounds after dinner. We're leaving for Disneyland a few days later.

 

[ceemys]

Nope. We only have senior graduation here. No K and no 8th grade. I didn't when I was in school and don't understand it now. lol We do a concert every summer as a family to celebrate moving to the next grade level though.

 

[Glennie5]

When DS graduated from Gr. 8 we had a pool party at our house for the graduating class (there were 2 grade 8 classes) We had about 47 kids here and just had hot dogs, chips, popsicles and watermelon. We ended the night with a camp fire.

 

[pixiewings71]

We took DD out to lunch, just the 3 of us, after her promotion ceremony. Then we took her to Best Buy and bought her an iTouch. That was all we did, no party, no big celebration, no big deal.

 

[minkydog]

When my oldest graduated from 8th grade, he was in a specialized school due to his Asperger's. They had a smallish ceremony that included achievement awards for all grades and diplomas for the 8th and 12th grade graduates. My parents, brother and sister came and we all took him to lunch afterward at his favorite restaurant. .

Christians teachers did a similar thing when he and two other classmates left 8th grade to go to HS. The teachers allowed to the children to where their own caps and gowns. They made cupcakes and other snacks and served pizza afterwards.

Now DD20 was something else altogether. We left home two days after the end of school with her, Christian, her 9 gerbils and our travel trailer and didn't come back for two months. 6000 miles with the parentals. She wasn't thrilled at first, but after a while she decided it was the best vacation she had ever had. Glad we got it in before high school.

 

[traces7]

Thanks for all the responses! Guess I still don't know what I want to do, didn't want anything elaborate like a party. The ceremony is from 7-9 pm on a Monday night, so don't think we'll go out to eat that night, we work til 5 pm. So, I'm not sure what if anything we'll do! Interesting to see what everyone else does though!!